Lich King Build

Here's today's update!

Printer is still rocking it, and producing really great results. I'm hoping to have the helmet printed by this week, then it can move on to the next piece. While it is printing the next part, I'll start doing the touchup on the helmet.

Since I'm probably going to wear this actual printed piece, I plan on painting it grey so I can see the imperfections, sand/dremel/Bondo the helmet and then seal it in resin to harden it. The walls are only 2mm thick, so I'm going to need to strengthen this a bit. Then a final paint job and the helmet will be done.

It's starting to look like I'll be able to print almost this entire build, which is kind of exciting. I know there are other members that are printing Iron Man suits, so I'm guessing that this may be the fully 3D printed Lich King. One part that will be printed and then cast in latex will be the boot covers. They will need to flex in the toe and heel area, so I will cast them after print/cleanup.

Here is the start of the chainmail that I'm working on. Lich has chainmail on the arms, waist and legs. He also has scalemail on the biceps of each arm. I'm hoping to make as little chainmail as possible, by attaching it to the armor on the inside. It will look like it covers the whole body, but it really is only where it's visible.
Chainmail.


What it looks like in the bag. Yes, just 5,000 rings in that bag...and I have 5 bags!


Helmet almost finished!


Top view of helmet.

Looks awesome, can't wait to see it finished


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The helmet is done printing!!!
In the pictures below, you'll notice that the helmet is white and black. This is because I ran out of the black filament, and switched over to the white. I doesn't matter, since I'll now be sanding and bondo-ing the entire thing. Then sanding and painting.I'm now printing the arm pieces which include the hand covers and the forearm gauntlets. Next will be the elbow "pad" (armor).

Amazing Job!!! im following everyday your work !!!

woody1k said:

Amazing Job!!! im following everyday your work !!!

Click to expand...

Thanks! I was hoping that someone would enjoy this build. More updates soon. The hand guards are printing right now.

this might be a stupid question, but if im lucky i have access to a 3d printer too, would you be willing to share the sliced files? i just need the helmet, im gonna make the rest by hand, but theres so much intricacy on the helmet, id prefer to print it

EyeofSauron said:

this might be a stupid question, but if im lucky i have access to a 3d printer too, would you be willing to share the sliced files? i just need the helmet, im gonna make the rest by hand, but theres so much intricacy on the helmet, id prefer to print it

Click to expand...

Disclaimer: these are NOT my pep files. They were originally made by luciferX10. I simply converted them to .obj and then .stl. The only mods I did was slice them for printing, made them solid (no holes) and removed some areas that I didn't want printed (such as he straps that I'll use real leather on).

Having said that, I'd be happy to email you the sliced and fixed .stl files. PM me your email.

yeah i know its someones pep file, but you did a great job with slicing, and cleaning them up, so it needs allmost no cleanup ill send you a pm with the email

This is looking great!!

Fantastic lookin, will be interesting to see how it looks painted.

Big picture update today!

First of all, thanks everyone for the nice comments. I love hearing suggestions that anyone may have on how to improve this build, so feel free to let me know your thoughts/ideas.

Build Update: As mentioned earlier, the helmet is completely printed. In the pics below, you'll see that I'm currently giving it a once over and cleaning it up. Basically prep for paint! I'm currently finishing up the sword print, and it has a number of intricate areas that take 6+ hours to print. This is mainly in the handle section where the skull and horns are located. While those print, I've started to bondo the bland area.
I've printed the two hand plate armors, and one of the forearm gauntlets. I may have to reprint the gauntlet, as I think it's a bit small. I won't know until I get the elbow "pad" armor done.
On the to do list: clean up the chest armor to prep for printing. There are a number of issues with the conversion from pep to 3D, so I have to spend some time cleaning up the 3D files and slicing it.

Enjoy the pics! More coming soon!

Here's the helmet from 2 days ago. I had just started sanding down the bondo. It was very tough getting it in all the areas on top of the helmet due to the fragile spires.


After applying bondo and sanding, I like to shoot the piece with primer. It really makes the imperfections stand out. I then either add more bondo or do more sanding.


I'm using my Dremel with the flex shaft attachment. This is a lifesaver! The buffing pads are perfect for sanding the bondo and plastic.


This is after the first application of bondo and a shot of primer. I then went back in with the Dremel and started to sand out more areas. In this pic, you can see a large ridge on the helmet. This was due to a 3D modeling error I made. I didn't want to reprint the piece, so I'll just be filling it in with bondo and smoothing it out.


Another shot of the helmet. I had sanded off the imperfections on the lower (chin) portions at this point.


Part of the sword (Frostmourne) getting a shot of body filler. It also helps strengthen the joints.


A recently printed piece for the sword. Just came off the printer and needs a bit of cleanup.



Forearm gauntlet.


Hand plate.

Looks awesome. What type of 3d printer are you using?

BlackKaos said:

Looks awesome. What type of 3d printer are you using?

Click to expand...

I'm using a Rostock MAX.

Another update! (If anyone cares :lol )

The sword is completely printed and glued up...well, except for when I broke it in half today. :facepalm
Here's a shot of the whole sword. Different colors due to different plastics and some primer while cleaning it up.


Closeups of the skulls on the handle.



This is where I split it. It actually snapped on a glued joint. I've since epoxied it and have coated the sword (see next post).


Lower portion of helm after sanding and first application of covering primer. The primer I chose will fill in the printing lines.

Just a quick overview of how I make my 3D prints from Pep files.

First, you load the pep file and make sure it is unfolded. It doesn't matter how ugly the unfold is...it just needs to be unfolded.


Next, export the file as an .obj. This is a 3D format that most 3D print software can interpret.


I then open the file in Netfabb. This is where I will resize the print and "slice" it into pieces that the printer can handle. Since all of the pieces are much larger than my printer can handle, I have to print them in sections, then glue them together.


After slicing the piece in Netfabb, I import a piece into Repetier. This is the software that runs my printer.


I then slice the file again...but this time with Slic3r, and it's for the actual 3D print. Each layer is about .2mm thick. This is one layer on the printer.


Here's the piece that I'm currently printing. As the printer makes the piece, the software shows you what's going on in real time.


Finally, here's the actual piece that's being made on the printbed!

After realizing how huge all of my pictures have been, I've decided to resize everything starting with this post. I apologize if the pictures took forever to download. :rolleyes

I have now coated 1/2 the sword and the lower portion of the helm with Styrospray. I was going to use this on a foam build I was working on, but I thought that it would be a great alternative to using bondo on everything. It is self-leveling and hardens up nice. It can be painted and sanded, so I'm going to give it a shot. Of course, I'll still have to use body filler for significant areas of touchup, but this should handle about 90% of my issues.

The stuff comes in two 1 gallon containers. You mix 1:1 by volume.


My Styrospray coated sword.


Styrospray coated helm. Just the lower portion right now.

Wow, this is super cool!

Maggie said:

Wow, this is super cool!

Click to expand...

Thanks!

It appears that my epoxy fix is holding, but I want to make sure I don't any other failures down the road. I am going to fiberglass and resin the sword blade and handle. I'll run a strip of glass down each edge of the blade and I'll also wrap the handle. This should give it plenty of strength without changing the appearance.

I've started to prime the Styrosprayed areas and it looks great! It has added strength and save me TONS of bondo time.

Currently printing the shin armor.

More pics later today!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

TRAGEDY!!!!
And then redemption.

3 days ago, when I said that there would be more picture updates, I had an incident involving the helmet....I accidentally knocked it off the workbench. :facepalm
As I was working on another piece, my arm bumped into one of the pointy spires on the helmet. I jerked back from it, since it actually punctured my skin (I have the bloody hole to prove it!), which then caused the helmet to fall off the bench. After the dust had settled, the two large front pieces had sheared off the rest of the helmet.
Normally, gluing some plastic back together isn't such a big deal...but these pieces were large, heavy and were a pain in the rear to get back together.

Here is the first piece getting put back on. After getting the super glue to hold, I slathered up the repaired joint with some epoxy. On the outside and the inside of the helmet. I then did the same for the other piece the next day.


Here's a (blurry) shot of the broken helmet piece. That small 1" black spot in the center is all I have to work with. That small section is what glues that huge piece to the rest of the helmet. Between the epoxy and the styrospray, it should be all good now.


I also managed to get the shin piece completed! It turned out perfect!!! It's the right size, all of the pieces fit perfectly together. Below are some pics of the piece, along with some shots showing how well it fits on my leg.