"Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) - Rotor Blade Sword - 'Angel of Verdun' - Rita Vrataski (First 'real' prop build)

[caross]

tl;dr, I made my first real prop from a movie, the Rotor Sword from Edge of Tomorrow, and I would love any feedback from this very experienced audience. I'm humbled to be here and thank you all for your welcome.

I truly enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow (2014), which led me to read "All You Need Is Kill' by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Given that I also fly/flew helicopters in earlier days, the Rotor Sword triggered something primal, sending me down a multi-week exploration and build. I am not an experienced prop maker by any means, but I do have a good, self taught, background in 3D Printing and Parametric Design using Fusion 360. As I always seem to get more out of a project if I tie something real to the learning of a new skill... this was perfect. I spent many nights searching for 3D Models and came across tmax's limited run and I knew I found something fun. A few weeks of watching some beneficial Adam Savage videos about sanding and weathering of different types, I knew I was in for fun once I got a hold of the "$5 Sword" video.

I'm very new to this forum, and I'm trying to post my experience for others. I've posted my models and make on Printables as well for those interested in downloading the STL files to make one of their own.

Based on what I see here, the most usual method of posting progress is to make multiple posts in a thread, which I will try to follow here.

But, I would LOVE to hear from others on what you think I did well and what you think I could have done better. I've learned a lot by building this first build, but I'm sure I'm the newbie here and will be happy to soak up any guidance, advice, hints, or criticism on this adventure.

Thanks for reading,
-c

 

[caross]

Phase 1 - 3D Printing
I've posted the 3D files at the Prusa site, Printables.com for other 3D printer enthusiasts.

I split the tail rotor blade into 5 main parts and printed them individually at 0.2mm layer height with 5 perimeters. Since I knew I was going to be doing some post-processing (sanding, weathering) on the surface, I wanted enough plastic on the surface for me to be able to remove a decent amount without exposing the infill. (Lessons Learned 1.1: 4 Perimeters and 0.3mm layer height would have been sufficient.)

I split the blade model with the Prusa Slicer at 205mm height and used the tool to add two hexagonal pegs to lock everything together per segment. The model allows for wooden dowels to be used to 'thread' all the pieces to add rigidity. Two pegs and the wooden dowel were a little overkill, but I wanted people to be able to hold and use the final prop without worrying about it cracking.) Each peg was 60mm long, allowing 30mm to be sunk into the individual blade segments themselves. (Lessons Learned 1.2: 40mm would have been plenty; 20mm sunk into each segment is enough.)

Each piece took ~14 to ~16hrs. Reducing perimeters and increasing layer height would have helped save material and increase print times, but I had no deadline nor did I have a filament limit. I was concerned about wobble-artifacts in the print because I was printing in this orientation. Turns out I probably could have dialed this up to 120% speeds and got things done a little more quickly.

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Bring a helicopter nerd on top of a 3D printing and sci-fi nerd, I wanted to add a little authenticity to the rotor blade. So, I did some research, and this blade is modeled off of the Bell UH-1 tail rotor. The tip is cut at an angle, so I decided to add a little to the back-story of the prop. Most rotor blades (main and tail) have rounded end caps that can house tip-weights (for weight and balance) and LED lighting for night-time operation. So, I chose to print a 10cm thick end-piece showing the exposed metal infill that is continuous through rotor blades. Also, the rotor blade's trailing edge (the sword's knife edge) is typically a solid aluminum bar running the length of the rotor's airfoil. I modeled this into the print with a combination of 100% infill modifiers and instructing the printer NOT to print top or bottom layers for this simple tip piece. This lets the internal infill show through.

Once complete, I would just CA-Glue this to the tip of the blade.

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[jake88]

Looks great! I also am a big Edge of tomorrow fan. I heard a sequel is possibly in talks. Tom wants to do it for sure.

 

[Sundowner]

This turned out great! I tried one ages ago but I'm ready to tackle this one. Thanks for uploading the files!

 

[caross]

Looks great! I also am a big Edge of tomorrow fan. I heard a sequel is possibly in talks. Tom wants to do it for sure.

Oooh, I would be very interested in this. I hope they expand on ideas in the book.

 

[caross]

This turned out great! I tried one ages ago but I'm ready to tackle this one. Thanks for uploading the files!

Thanks, I learned a lot during the process.

If this does make it into your make queue, please let me know the results.

 

[caross]

Phase 2 - Sanding / Painting

I'm a fairly experienced 3D Printer/Maker, but Phase 2 is a relatively new space for me. I've done little repairs or gap fills before, but never at this scale. So, I learned quite a bit along the way.

I purchased a tube of Squadron Products—White Putty a while back, as it was recommended to me as a decent solution to plastic gap filling. At the time, I had no immediate use, but it was on sale, and I could just have it for when I needed it in the future. As I mentioned, I've not spent a lot of time repairing plastic models, so I more or less forgot about this product in my toolkit. When I opened the tube, it was a clear-yellow with a honey consistency. The tube said "white", so I assumed it would get opaque and white when cured. Nope, it separated.

I ended up using this honey-liquid to patch the gaps on the entire blade and blade tip. It acted like epoxy, took about 3 hours to dry, and shrank a lot - but since I had never used this product before, I just went with it. It worked reasonably well to wick into the cracks. It wasn't till the rotor tip end that I started seeing THICK white putty. Realizing my mistake, I then squish-mixed the remainder of the tube and now had a half tube of cold cream cheese.

Perhaps it is purely my stubborn nature, but I wasn't about to start over, and failed forward. I'm glad I did. The only real cost of my learning was I had to make 2 additional patch/sand cycles.
(Lessons Learned 2.1: Mix your putty, as it separates over time.)

The typical cycle was:

• patch holes/gaps with putty, smooth out with gloved finger
• 2-4hr dry cycle
• sand with 120, 240, 400 sandpaper
• light coats of grey primer spray paint
• 2-4hr dry cycle
• sand with 600 sandpaper
• highly-accurate hand testing to see "is this smooth enough?"
• repeat...

While the blade was drying, I would work on the handle/hilt/pummel.

(Lessons Learned 2.2: Take the time to have a proper hanging point. Either use part of the existing design - as I did with the handle, or add something to the model, like the screw hook in the wooden dowel, or design in a hanging point in the 3D model if you can. And by telling you this, I'm not admitting that it fell, blade tip first into my tomato planter.)

The end of phase 2! Patched, sanded, primed, sanded, patched, sanded, primed, sanded, pained, sanded, assembled, de-assembled, sanded, patched, painted, sanded, painted, assembled!


(Lessons Learned 2.3: Don't assume primer will cover your patching and sanding sins. Yes, it can reduce minor surface imperfections, but it isn't a magical substance. Spend the time to sand it until you can't feel any difference with your hands. Especially on a flat, smooth surface. If it is supposed to be perfect and smooth, like a real rotor blade, then it should be smooth before you try to paint it.)

(Lessons Learned 2.4: Don't let perfection get in the way of 'good enough'. Once I was done with this project, I realized how much weathering it needed and any of those imperfections I was sanding out would have been fine for the end result.)

 

[DamnYankee123]

Fantastic. Looks like you nailed it. Still on my list to make an all aluminum version.

 

[joberg]

Great project/tuto and engineering that blade in 5 sections Everything is looking sharp!!

 

[caross]

Fantastic. Looks like you nailed it. Still on my list to make an all aluminum version.

That would be really impressive.

I was very tempted to buy a "timed out" Rotor Blade off of ebay, but I think that would have raised flags within the home procurement and finance teams and likely caused unnecessary budget pressure.

If you every do it, please make sure to post it!

 

[caross]

Great project/tuto and engineering that blade in 5 sections Everything is looking sharp!!

Thanks, I'm trying to contribute. The web has been so good for my research on the original, the replicas, and all types of tutorials.

I feel like every one of these tutorials/posts lets the next person to build one benefit from a lot of the learnings and experiences.

 

[Godspeed]

Great looking rotor! I love the modifications you made to make it closer to a real-life example.

If you're looking to cut down on 3d printing time without sacrificing strength, a .6 nozzle is a great upgrade. I do 2 perimeters with that and it's strong enough, up it to 3 if youre really worried. You could also look at switching to a different infill like the standard rectilinear or gyroid and dropping the infill percentage down. I rarely go above 10-15% because infill ultimately has less effect on the strength of a prop vs. the amount of perimeters.

 

[caross]

Great looking rotor! I love the modifications you made to make it closer to a real-life example.

If you're looking to cut down on 3d printing time without sacrificing strength, a .6 nozzle is a great upgrade. I do 2 perimeters with that and it's strong enough, up it to 3 if youre really worried. You could also look at switching to a different infill like the standard rectilinear or gyroid and dropping the infill percentage down. I rarely go above 10-15% because infill ultimately has less effect on the strength of a prop vs. the amount of perimeters.

Good points.

This was printed with 5 perimeters on a 0.4mm nozzle. I was really worried about how much I would need to patch and sand. In previous builds I have exposed the infill through too much aggressive sanding. That was a mess to fix. So, I went too far the other way.

100% agree on your strength conclusions. This was Gyroid at 10%, if I recall, and it is more than sturdy.

 

[Godspeed]

Good points.

This was printed with 5 perimeters on a 0.4mm nozzle. I was really worried about how much I would need to patch and sand. In previous builds I have exposed the infill through too much aggressive sanding. That was a mess to fix. So, I went too far the other way.

100% agree on your strength conclusions. This was Gyroid at 10%, if I recall, and it is more than sturdy.

Ah, gotcha. I saw the honeycomb pattern and thought that was your infill. Guess it's just a part of the model?

 

[caross]

Ah, gotcha. I saw the honeycomb pattern and thought that was your infill. Guess it's just a part of the model?

yea, actually that was my little "realism" addition. It is a piece that I added to the tip to show what the inside of most rotor blades use for their structural reinforcement.

 

[caross]

Phase 3 - Distressing / Weathering

This was my biggest area of learning. I've done many many things that covered Phases 1 and 2, and I've ended up with a lot of fun things to display, gift, and just enjoy. The thing I've learned most by investigating props is weathering. Nothing every looks out of box new. Everything has wear and tear and looks like it has been in use for years - and that is what makes everything the most convincing to my eye. It doesn't have crisp lines or perfect edges - it looks beaten up, used, etc.

I spent so much time before making things look perfectly smooth or squared. What I really wanted is this to look like it has a back story - it took a long while to get there for me, and I think I have to say this is the first time I'm really impressed with what I've made. I don't mean that in some half-assed humble brag way, for real. I like what I've done before, but I've never been able to convince myself that this could have been used for a movie or by the character.

I don't have many pictures of this phase because I never felt I was at a point that was picture worthy until the end. I kept feeling like... "oh ****, well, that was too much" or "Now how am I going to get that off now!". But that's the point I guess, it needs wear and wear is uneven, messy and sometimes the nick in the sword doesn't line up the way I wanted it to... that's OK!

I stated with really rough 80 grit sandpaper and started to knock down square/sharp edges. I forget which video I was watching on YouTube, but it talked about the back story and how that would go into the wear on the object itself. This is a tool of battle - it is used to hack and defend, and the wear would come from certain angles. The hilt would get kicked and banged up more than anything. Then the rotor root bolts, and obviously the blade itself. So, I started being really rough.

This was probably the first point I said to myself, "damn, that was too much, it looks like someone sat on their back deck and hacked at this with a mat knife". And, yea, that is what happened. But I kept at it, adding different colors of black/grey/silver, wiping them back, sanding, etc.

<INSERT A LOT OF PICTURES I DIDN'T TAKE HERE>

Once I got to a point where I was OK with all of my mistakes, I put it together.

I then moved on to the stencil. Which, I have no picture of. Again, I was too worried about mistakes and blundering through this the first time. So, I'll have to explain my process.

My wife has a Silhouette cutter that she uses for her projects (stickers, cards, etc) and I've seen the leftovers she has when cutting large letters for a project - STENCIL like stuff. So, I did a bit of free-font searching and found something that worked for me, Gunplay. She cut me a set and I trashed all the letters, keeping the stencil. And with blue painter's tape and large sheets of paper to mask out the rest of the blade, I just went for it by lightly spraying white spraypaint. It turned out quite well.

Once I took a step back I could see the object as a whole, and I really started to like the work I had done.

I wrapped the handle with standard electrical tape, and I think that turned out nicely as well. In the movie the sword shows up with both a partial wrap and a full wrap. I went with the full because I was a little annoyed at the quality of my handle, and I think I made the right choice.

I then followed the Five Dollar Sword build - which is an amazing technique demonstrated by Adam Savage. I assume everyone here already knows about this - but I'm blown away. It feels like cheating it is so perfect for my build. And, now that I'm re-living this process though the retelling I am even more impressed how well it handles the weathering. Perfection.

I started some detail work, and used lots of browns, blacks, cream and a little bit of green to muddy things up a little.

Multiple passes of different colors laid down, rubbed in and wiped off left a trail of wear that is just lovely. The original model had modeled holes in the hilt/rotor tilt arm, and I thought I might as well throw an M3 Cap Head screw in there to give it a little 'extra'.... and damn if it didn't!

This was a surprisingly forgiving process. If it started to go wrong, I wiped it away and it what was left was fine. So, I kept amping it up, large swath of brown were ground into the handle and corners and cracks - every one gave it a little more realism. I decided to re-watch a few scenes from the movie and realized I could throw a little blue Mimic blood in spots - and if you look closely you can see a few spots where it was never cleaned off completely.

Then came the serial number plate. I had no idea how I was going to do this. Do I print it on plastic, do I spend money and print it on metal foil like the real ones on helicopters? So, I did what I always do and dive into research. And almost like it was made for me... another Savage video of distressing an old box with some special labels. There is a comment in there that even if it is bad, rip it off, leave the residue, and keep going. That is exactly what is done in real life; emulate it here.

So, I got a color laser print of the serial number plate, cut it to size, glued it on, and went for broke...

I started scratching away the surface with 120 grit, and began wearing away edges, paint and... to my surprise, I got great results on the metal foil edge itself. It started to look like hack marks. So pleased!

I hit it with the red spray paint at the tip.


I found myself spending 10-20 minutes messing with it, 'ruining' my creation a little at a time.. and it just kept getting better.

I hit everything with a light coat of satin clear coat to lock it all in... and done.

 

[caross]

But, of course I wasn't done. I saw this incredible make video of the same prop by daBuild and the RPF make posted here, and focused on his Rub-N-Buff highlighting... and had to do it.

so, last update. Last until I find another cool thing to do to it, I guess. ◡̈

 

[joberg]

Great tuto once again As you know, the wear & tear is a game of layers and more layers of different colors. Stencil/paint looks A+

 

[PSG1]

tl;dr, I made my first real prop from a movie, the Rotor Sword from Edge of Tomorrow, and I would love any feedback from this very experienced audience. I'm humbled to be here and thank you all for your welcome.


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I truly enjoyed Edge of Tomorrow (2014), which led me to read "All You Need Is Kill' by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. Given that I also fly/flew helicopters in earlier days, the Rotor Sword triggered something primal, sending me down a multi-week exploration and build. I am not an experienced prop maker by any means, but I do have a good, self taught, background in 3D Printing and Parametric Design using Fusion 360. As I always seem to get more out of a project if I tie something real to the learning of a new skill... this was perfect. I spent many nights searching for 3D Models and came across tmax's limited run and I knew I found something fun. A few weeks of watching some beneficial Adam Savage videos about sanding and weathering of different types, I knew I was in for fun once I got a hold of the "$5 Sword" video.

I'm very new to this forum, and I'm trying to post my experience for others. I've posted my models and make on Printables as well for those interested in downloading the STL files to make one of their own.

Based on what I see here, the most usual method of posting progress is to make multiple posts in a thread, which I will try to follow here.

But, I would LOVE to hear from others on what you think I did well and what you think I could have done better. I've learned a lot by building this first build, but I'm sure I'm the newbie here and will be happy to soak up any guidance, advice, hints, or criticism on this adventure.

Thanks for reading,
-c

I love it! Looks awesome!!!

 

[caross]

I love it! Looks awesome!!!

Thanks, appreciate that.

Learned a lot during the process.

Like anything, if you have the tools/materials/means everything is easy. This was a lot fo fun