DrMatt Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 I really want to help out and troop with the 501st... and this is my first build. I was told by my local Garrison that I should make a build thread, so... here it is! (I'm really worried that I'm going to get to the end of this and there's going to be some major change I need to make.) Thanks for Francois for the help (and the creation of the CRL)... No matter! Here we go... I'm primarily using Big Fred's STL files. Printing primarily on an Anycubic Kobra 2 Max (also have (my first) smaller Creality Ender-3). I wanted to do the "easy" pieces first to start to understand the process of building.... big pieces without much detail - jetpack and shin armor. Because I didn't have a large printer yet, I had to print these in pieces and then glue them together. It's much easier to print on a larger printing in fewer pieces, but I did learn how to deal with seams. With increasing confidence, I printed out the chest pieces and started to work on those. I continued to print out every other piece as my confidence grew. Started to develop my own understanding and process of filling, sanding, painting... and sanding and painting and sanding... Currently I'm working on the helmet. After learning that one of my belts was loose and destroying my prints at the very end, my fourth-try helmet was finally printing. I'm currently on the paint phase of the helmet. I'm kinda proud of my work on this. Now I've caught you all up on my build. Here are some pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMatt Posted September 26 Author Report Share Posted September 26 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKSpartan[Staff] Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Welcome to FISD Matt. looking forward for your advances 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shashachu[TK] Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Welcome, Matt! (I'm from the GGG and am the one who suggested you start this thread.) Looks like you're making good progress! If you haven't noticed already, you're very limited in the size and number of photos you can upload directly to the forum, so we suggest you host your photos elsewhere (eg imgur or similar) and embed links instead. And if you haven't already, definitely peruse the other build threads here to get guidance and inspiration from folks who have already completed their builds or are farther along. Looking forward to seeing your progress! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AsBlondeAsLuke[TK] Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Hi Matt! I am also from your local garrison. Welcome! Building from 3D prints is a very long yet rewarding process because you genuinely get to say: "I built this from scratch." I don't have expertise on the Imperial commando, so as Sha Sha suggested, read all of the other builds for guidance. Sometimes you can learn a lot just from what went wrong on someone's build and when they are kind enough to share that experience to spare the rest of us from making that same mistake. Printing in smaller pieces and gluing it together is an excellent way to go. I learned that from building clone helmets. Trying to print them in one piece meant a bunch of frustrating half-finished prints. With some glazing spot putty, you can get those seams quickly filled in. I just started using an autobody filler to speed up filling in the print lines faster than Bondo alone. I just started using this filler, in conjunction with glazing spot putty for the deeper print lines, to speed up finishing. https://imgur.com/XzDu2fr Here's what it looks like, combined with glazing spot putty on a current project (a gauntlet for another costume.) https://imgur.com/7iQ8djF Looking forward to meeting you, Matt, and following your build. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doggydoc[Staff] Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Hello Matt. Welcome to FISD. Things appear to be progressing well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmrhodes13[Staff] Posted September 26 Report Share Posted September 26 Hello Matt looking forward to seeing your progress, one big thing for printed armor is the finish, make sure you remove the print lines before paint, good luck with the build 3D printed components must have no visible print lines and must be smooth for a realistic appearance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sly11[Admin] Posted September 27 Report Share Posted September 27 Welcome Matt, looking forward to your build progress. Exciting to see another one under construction 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ukswrath[Staff] Posted September 30 Report Share Posted September 30 Welcome Matt, look forward to your build 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMatt Posted Monday at 03:48 PM Author Report Share Posted Monday at 03:48 PM Here it goes! My first time with detail painting... Four colors... Wow! I need to do a bit of minor touchups (I'm a detail kinda guy), but it turned out well! Phew! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMatt Posted Monday at 04:59 PM Author Report Share Posted Monday at 04:59 PM On 9/26/2024 at 8:04 AM, shashachu said: Welcome, Matt! (I'm from the GGG and am the one who suggested you start this thread.) Looks like you're making good progress! If you haven't noticed already, you're very limited in the size and number of photos you can upload directly to the forum, so we suggest you host your photos elsewhere (eg imgur or similar) and embed links instead. And if you haven't already, definitely peruse the other build threads here to get guidance and inspiration from folks who have already completed their builds or are farther along. Looking forward to seeing your progress! Thanks, ShaSha! I'm hoping to meet you in person during a troop... soonish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMatt Posted Monday at 05:02 PM Author Report Share Posted Monday at 05:02 PM On 9/26/2024 at 8:25 AM, AsBlondeAsLuke said: Hi Matt! I am also from your local garrison. Welcome! Building from 3D prints is a very long yet rewarding process because you genuinely get to say: "I built this from scratch." I don't have expertise on the Imperial commando, so as Sha Sha suggested, read all of the other builds for guidance. Sometimes you can learn a lot just from what went wrong on someone's build and when they are kind enough to share that experience to spare the rest of us from making that same mistake. Printing in smaller pieces and gluing it together is an excellent way to go. I learned that from building clone helmets. Trying to print them in one piece meant a bunch of frustrating half-finished prints. With some glazing spot putty, you can get those seams quickly filled in. I just started using an autobody filler to speed up filling in the print lines faster than Bondo alone. I just started using this filler, in conjunction with glazing spot putty for the deeper print lines, to speed up finishing. https://imgur.com/XzDu2fr Here's what it looks like, combined with glazing spot putty on a current project (a gauntlet for another costume.) https://imgur.com/7iQ8djF Looking forward to meeting you, Matt, and following your build. Thanks for the info. I've found that painting on a thinned coat of glazing spot putty works well for me for the lines. Then, for the deeper grooves some straight-from-the-tube glazing putty. It's a process! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrMatt Posted Monday at 05:03 PM Author Report Share Posted Monday at 05:03 PM On 9/26/2024 at 2:18 PM, gmrhodes13 said: Hello Matt looking forward to seeing your progress, one big thing for printed armor is the finish, make sure you remove the print lines before paint, good luck with the build 3D printed components must have no visible print lines and must be smooth for a realistic appearance. Yup! Made sure of that... Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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