New Guy Here - Starting a Shoretrooper Helmet

[ZMcFate]

I've lurked here for years, but never got around to posting anything, or even creating an account. Figured it was about time, because I'm pretty excited about this one. I've built models off & on over the years, but during 2020 I really got back into it, and I've been re-learning a lot. About a year ago, I picked up an Elegoo Mars 3 resin printer, and started printing a few things, mostly tabletop minis and some figurines. Around Christmas time, I was able to get an Elegoo Neptune 3 Plus, and after various bits of terrain for Star Wars Legion, I've now decided to tackle building myself a Shoretrooper helmet.

Tonight I finally pulled the last structural piece of the helmet off of the printer, and couldn't wait to see how everything fit together. With a bit of load-bearing masking tape, I'm pretty excited to have something that resembles a trooper. I still have the blast shield running on the printer, and will likely do the greeblies on the snout using the resin printer, but tomorrow I'm hoping to start gluing this thing together, and then likely spending a good chunk of the summer out in the backyard with a sander and some Bondo. It's fitting a bit big, but I'm hoping that it just needs a bit of padding inside. If I end up completing the armor, maybe it'll balance out and I won't look like a complete bobblehead. Either way, it's going to look good on the shelf.

The kids so far think it's awesome, I'm a bit giggly, and my wife is just rolling her eyes. In my book, that just means I'm headed in the right direction…

 

[Tim Fortuna]

Looking pretty cool! Looking forward to the wip.

 

[masterjedi322]

Welcome!

Always loved the Shorie! Look forward to seeing your build!

Sean

 

[TerranCmdr]

Thanks for sharing! Looking forward to seeing your progress. This build is buried somewhere deep in my backburner folder.

 

[CT 6132]

View attachment 1691137
I've lurked here for years, but never got around to posting anything, or even creating an account. Figured it was about time, because I'm pretty excited about this one. I've built models off & on over the years, but during 2020 I really got back into it, and I've been re-learning a lot. About a year ago, I picked up an Elegoo Mars 3 resin printer, and started printing a few things, mostly tabletop minis and some figurines. Around Christmas time, I was able to get an Elegoo Neptune 3 Plus, and after various bits of terrain for Star Wars Legion, I've now decided to tackle building myself a Shoretrooper helmet.

Tonight I finally pulled the last structural piece of the helmet off of the printer, and couldn't wait to see how everything fit together. With a bit of load-bearing masking tape, I'm pretty excited to have something that resembles a trooper. I still have the blast shield running on the printer, and will likely do the greeblies on the snout using the resin printer, but tomorrow I'm hoping to start gluing this thing together, and then likely spending a good chunk of the summer out in the backyard with a sander and some Bondo. It's fitting a bit big, but I'm hoping that it just needs a bit of padding inside. If I end up completing the armor, maybe it'll balance out and I won't look like a complete bobblehead. Either way, it's going to look good on the shelf.

The kids so far think it's awesome, I'm a bit giggly, and my wife is just rolling her eyes. In my book, that just means I'm headed in the right direction…

View attachment 1691138

Awesome. I am also new here and pretty much in the same boat as you, lurked for years but never posted anything. I wanted to start on a Rebel Pathfinder Helmet from the Battle of Scarif but hesitated because its been 7 years since Rogue One came out. But then I remembered people are still posting threads about Stormtrooper builds from the original SW films from the 70s, so why can’t I make a post about my Rebel Pathfinder Helmet build from Rogue One that came out in 2016?! And now that I’ve seen someone else start a similar post about starting a Shoretrooper helmet build from Rogue One, I think you gave me enough motivation to start it for sure! Even though your helmet is in its raw form, still looks pretty cool 3D printed. Thanks for sharing!

 

[ZMcFate]

I'm terrible about updates, and incredibly slow at building stuff. But… made some good progress the last few weeks. Finally have it glued, sanded, painted, and as is my tradition, starting to go overboard on weathering and abusing things. Lots of little flaws, but for my first helmet, I'm still pretty darn happy with it so far.

 

[Bloop]

Looks great! From what I can tell, the surface looks very smooth, did you just sand and paint or did you apply anything as filler?
You also said you're "starting to go overboard on weathering and abusimg things." It doesn't look overboard to me looks like the damage is pretty realistic so far. Are you planning on going further (since you said "starting")?

 

[ZMcFate]

I used Rustoleum Filler/Primer - sanding between coats, and used Milliput to fill gaps as needed. (Mostly because that's what I had on hand.) Then it's got a few more coats the Montana Gold Sahara Beige on it, again sanding between each coat, up to 600 grit. So it's pretty smooth, but has just enough texture in spots to look a bit more used.

I say "overboard" because I just have a tendency to overdo it on weathering things, so I'm trying to quit while I'm ahead. I still plan on applying a wash or two of color to try and dirty it up, but that's probably as far as I'll get.

 

[Cameron]

Looks great! Nicely smoothed and painted. I have a raw kit myself and your is inspiring!

 

[TerranCmdr]

That looks so good! I was just planning to take another look at the files and get one of these on the printer myself. Have you started on the rest of the armor at all?