vaderjeff1744
Well-Known Member
PURE AWESOME!!! CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MORE!!!
cool
cool
Mynock's Sith Acolyte (SWTOR) armor build
- Thread starter DrunkenMynock
- Start date
dday
Sr Member
Now this is the update everyone has been waiting for!
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DrunkenMynock
Active Member
Another update! (I'm on fire this week! lol)
Enter Sith Acolyte/TOR Jedi chest plate V2! Unlike the original version which was done 100% by hand, this is completely CAD based, and will be 3D printed. As before, the final piece will be cold cast in 65D resin, with the outer layer cold-cast in aluminum. The Jedi version will come with a 3D printed centre oval housing, which will be comprised of two pieces that will snap together. The assembly will be hollow to allow for installation of LED lights. I will be 3D printing this in the next few days once I finish up the model, so stay tuned for more updates!
Enter Sith Acolyte/TOR Jedi chest plate V2! Unlike the original version which was done 100% by hand, this is completely CAD based, and will be 3D printed. As before, the final piece will be cold cast in 65D resin, with the outer layer cold-cast in aluminum. The Jedi version will come with a 3D printed centre oval housing, which will be comprised of two pieces that will snap together. The assembly will be hollow to allow for installation of LED lights. I will be 3D printing this in the next few days once I finish up the model, so stay tuned for more updates!
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vaderjeff1744
Well-Known Member
You NEVER CEASE to AMAZE me Taras! CAN'T WAIT to see the next update! BEAUTIFUL WORK!!!:thumbsup
Blue Leader
Sr Member
Very, very awesome!
dday
Sr Member
DrunkenMynock; I'm sure you mentioned it somewhere, but for the sake of us who have forgotten, what printer are you using, and what do you think of it?
I will be in the market for a printer later this year and have been poking around, looking at DIY models with large print volumes all the way to a fully packaged top end like Ultimaker2.
What are your thoughts?
I will be in the market for a printer later this year and have been poking around, looking at DIY models with large print volumes all the way to a fully packaged top end like Ultimaker2.
What are your thoughts?
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DrunkenMynock
Active Member
I have four 3D printers, all by a company called FlashForge. Two of them are the wooden Creator models (http://www.amazon.com/FlashForge-Pr...TF8&qid=1434955282&sr=8-3&keywords=flashforge), and two are the Creator Pro models (http://www.amazon.com/FlashForge-St...TF8&qid=1434955353&sr=8-1&keywords=flashforge).
Between the four of them, I have several thousand hours of print-time logged. These machines are modelled after the MakerBot's Replicator printers with a few minor differences and improvements on the original design. I bought 3 of them through Amazon, and have had nothing but positive experience dealing with the company's customer support.
Overall, I absolutely love these printers. The wooden ones needed to be modified a little to produce great results, but the mods were quite simple and inexpensive. For example, I enclosed the printers on all sides to keep the heat in and eliminate temperature gradients that can be caused by drafts in the room. I also bought glass print plate, and aluminum arm brackets to keep the print plate from sagging. The metal Creator Pros however, need no modification and work great out of the box.
Now, I know a lot of people chase after printers with the biggest print envelope, following the logic that bigger plate = large objects printed all at once, which is better etc. I will tell you that I would much rather print in sections and assemble than print large all in one pass. The reason is two-fold. 1) I've seen many prints fail (for various reasons) many hours into the print; sometimes the power goes out, sometimes the extruder nozzle gets clogged; belts can break, motors can burn out; gears can get worn out, etc. When your helmet is being printed in sections, it's a much easier pill to swallow to have to reprint a small section than restart the whole thing if a 90 hour print fails 70 hours into the job.
2) Also, think about object orientation on the build plate, and how much support material you'd need to use if you want to print a complex helmet all in one shot. Support structures are a real pain to clean up, and if you have a lot of intricate detail in your model, much of it can quite literally get destroyed during the cleanup process (some materials are worse for this than others). So, as a rule of thumb, i split all my models in such a way as to either completely eliminate supports, or at the very least minimize their use. I often print areas of high detail separately in the orientation that would produce the best results with the least amount of support material. A large build envelope therefore, would not necessarily benefit me here. If you go through my website and look at some of the photos of raw prints there, you'll see how clean the models come out. That is partially due to the great quality of my printers, but also due to the fact that I print in sections, generally without supports.
In any case, Flashforge is very good printer-wise, and is the brand of choice for me. I cannot really comment on other printers out there since I don't have anything else to compare to. When selecting a printer to purchase, I would definitely recommend something with a heated build plate, two extruders (not to print in dual colours, but to use one as a backup while you wait for parts), and something that is either already enclosed (keeping heat in is very important when printing in ABS) or that is easy TO enclose. The size of the build plate would be the last thing to consider for me personally; the 6x9" build plate of the Flashforge printers (and MakerBot) however, would be the smallest I would go with.
Hope that helps!
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dday
Sr Member
This is awesome! Thank you for all your input here.
DrunkenMynock
Active Member
Vader's Vault presents the most accurate Sith Acolyte lightsaber ever built! Check it out! I'll be posting some in-armor photos with this beauty as soon as it arrives.
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vaderjeff1744
Well-Known Member
MUST HAVE!!! TOTALLY AWESOME!!!!:thumbsup
vaderjeff1744
Well-Known Member
DrunkenMynock
Active Member
Alas, no build is every truly finished! Thus, behold, the Sith Acolyte Helmet!
I've worked on this build for 3 years, and in that time have come by a lot of invaluable information and insight into this character; I've known for a while that the mask is really a two-part helmet, though until now I didn't see the need do the back piece, as it was never seen in the old trailers. The unhooded Acolytes in the new SWTOR trailer "Sacrifice" changed my mind!
Basically it is my version 5 Sith Acolyte mask supplemented with a detachable backplate. In the reference material the Sith Acolyte character's helmet is quite small in proportion to the rest of the body. When I initially modelled the front mask, I scaled it up so that it would cover the face of an average person. I then made the back piece to maintain proportion with the front, which made it very accurate albeit small.
My goal in this was not to make a wearable component, but to turn the wearable mask into a screen accurate display piece - a full helmet. Don't get me wrong, the two-part helmet CAN be worn, though because of how snug it is, it may not fit all heads or be very comfortable to wear for more than a few minutes at a time. The two halves are separated for the helmet to be put on; they secure back in place over the head using Velcro straps. Some people have suggested neodymium magnets to hold the two halves together, and so I placed an order for some to experiment with. I'll be posting results soon.
(WIP photos and notes are being compiled and will be posted on my site as usual).
In other news: the redesigned and much more accurate V2 chest plate is finally ready! The new plate is reinforced with a metal rod across the central bridge (the weakest structural point), and is lighter than the old version. I have some amber LED lights on order as well; once those get here, I'll put together a lit Jedi version to give you an idea of what that will look like.
I've worked on this build for 3 years, and in that time have come by a lot of invaluable information and insight into this character; I've known for a while that the mask is really a two-part helmet, though until now I didn't see the need do the back piece, as it was never seen in the old trailers. The unhooded Acolytes in the new SWTOR trailer "Sacrifice" changed my mind!
Basically it is my version 5 Sith Acolyte mask supplemented with a detachable backplate. In the reference material the Sith Acolyte character's helmet is quite small in proportion to the rest of the body. When I initially modelled the front mask, I scaled it up so that it would cover the face of an average person. I then made the back piece to maintain proportion with the front, which made it very accurate albeit small.
My goal in this was not to make a wearable component, but to turn the wearable mask into a screen accurate display piece - a full helmet. Don't get me wrong, the two-part helmet CAN be worn, though because of how snug it is, it may not fit all heads or be very comfortable to wear for more than a few minutes at a time. The two halves are separated for the helmet to be put on; they secure back in place over the head using Velcro straps. Some people have suggested neodymium magnets to hold the two halves together, and so I placed an order for some to experiment with. I'll be posting results soon.
(WIP photos and notes are being compiled and will be posted on my site as usual).
In other news: the redesigned and much more accurate V2 chest plate is finally ready! The new plate is reinforced with a metal rod across the central bridge (the weakest structural point), and is lighter than the old version. I have some amber LED lights on order as well; once those get here, I'll put together a lit Jedi version to give you an idea of what that will look like.
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Blue Leader
Sr Member
That's really awesome. Man, I want a set!
dday
Sr Member
Taras, each post you make on this guy absolutely blows all previous updates out of the water!
Quite frankly one of the best, well put together SW costumes around.
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DrunkenMynock
Active Member
Thank you, sir! It has been a long but fun-filled journey
More cool stuff to come in the coming days!Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
vaderjeff1744
Well-Known Member
Absolutely AWESOME!!! The updates just keep getting better and better!!! Of course you know I'm probably going to want a new set of chest armor from you now too!!! Pm me details on that when you can. Also, do you have any plans to revisit & improve the arm gauntlets? Again, GREAT work! I look forward to more AMAZING updates!!!:thumbsup
DrunkenMynock
Active Member
The bracers and hands turned out quite accurately the first time I think, so I don't see myself remaking them. The lower bracer and rocket were actually CAD modelled, so the only things done by hand from the gauntlet assembly were the hand plates, fingers and upper bracers.
The gauntlet assembly is actually my second favourite thing in the build next to the helmet.
Sent from my SM-N900W8 using Tapatalk
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