Although I really enjoy making things and the processes involved I’m not much of a collector and there aren’t many props I actually hanker after owning. One fairly major exception to this is the Golden Idol from RotLA. I’m still kicking myself for not buying the Idol money-box I saw in my local comic shop fifteen odd years ago.
Given that I had some spare time at work recently I thought I’d model up an idol I could run out on my 3D printer. There are a few models already kicking around on the internet however I felt a better level of accuracy could be achieved.
I used photos of the Propstore Idol for the majority of my reference, and photos of the Gobler Idol to fill in any blanks.
The mesh was built in Silo 2.0 using poly modelling. The model build was fairly smooth, only running into difficulty when it came to the hair. I tried a number of solutions but eventually settled on displacement mapping which I applied using a trial version of 3DS Max.
The finished mesh had to be very highly subdivided for a smooth displacement so I optimised it before print.
I printed the model in quarters. This allowed each piece to be run without supports and none of the sections was so large it needed to be run over night (not everyone in the household appreciates the chattering of a 3D printer). This also meant I had to go through the pain of attaching the pieces together and filling the gaps.
The pieces were glued together and then the sand/fill cycle began. Car body filler was liberally applied then ground away to get the model as smooth as possible before painting.
This took a few weeks of sanding on my lunch hours.
I know the original statue was vac-metalised however this process was a little outside of my budget. I ran a number of miniature tests to determine the best gold finish I could achieve. I experimented with Plasticote gold spray paint, Rub n Buff antique gold, liquid leaf, Gedeo gold coloured mirror effect leaf.
The rub'n'buff was OK and the gold spray was pretty similar. The liquid leaf ate through the gloss black undercoat but eventually set. The effect was similar to the previous two but with a higher gloss finish. The mirror leaf looked great however I'd applied it over a red base-coat and any gaps in the finish were extremely obvious. I decided the best option was to apply this leaf over an undercoat of gold spray.
Before I started the final paint work I masked the eyes as I intended to paint these in later.
In my previous experiments with gold leaf I have always used a brush to apply the size. After testing this however I noticed that the texture of the brush marks was actually showing through the leaf. Fortuitously Volpin props has recently been working with gold leaf (on a fabulous Elder Scroll you should totally check out) and through that I got the idea of applying the size with an airbrush. I'd been um-ing and ah-ing about acquiring one for a while and this seemed like the perfect excuse to finally give in to my tool buying urges.
I have a few different types of gold size. I'd been thinking that Japanese gold size might be good for this job as it is a bit thinner and might self level more easily however I discovered (on a test piece thankfully) that this stuff ate through the layer of gold spray paint I'd already applied. This being the case I went with a water based acrylic size.
I ran this through my newly acquired and exceptionally cheap airbrush. I kept a couple of scrap pieces of idol to hand so I could test drying times without touching the actual model.
After giving the model a liberal coating of size I waited for it to become tacky. When it was ready I applied the gold leaf as swiftly as possible, trying not to give dust any opportunity to settle on the tack. This went… OK. Bit patchy in places but I’m applying multiple coats. Eventually I got fed up of trying to airbrush the size on as it took ages and kept beading and running off the surface. I went back to using a brush.
Despite layering up the leaf the finish so far is not quite as smooth as I might like but it has given the idol an interesting antiqued appearance.
This is pretty much where I'm up to now. I’m building up a few more layers of the leaf to ensure complete coverage before I remove the masking and paint in the eyes. The model's available on my Thingiverse page if you want to have a go at making one yourself.
Given that I had some spare time at work recently I thought I’d model up an idol I could run out on my 3D printer. There are a few models already kicking around on the internet however I felt a better level of accuracy could be achieved.
I used photos of the Propstore Idol for the majority of my reference, and photos of the Gobler Idol to fill in any blanks.
The mesh was built in Silo 2.0 using poly modelling. The model build was fairly smooth, only running into difficulty when it came to the hair. I tried a number of solutions but eventually settled on displacement mapping which I applied using a trial version of 3DS Max.
The finished mesh had to be very highly subdivided for a smooth displacement so I optimised it before print.
I printed the model in quarters. This allowed each piece to be run without supports and none of the sections was so large it needed to be run over night (not everyone in the household appreciates the chattering of a 3D printer). This also meant I had to go through the pain of attaching the pieces together and filling the gaps.
The pieces were glued together and then the sand/fill cycle began. Car body filler was liberally applied then ground away to get the model as smooth as possible before painting.
This took a few weeks of sanding on my lunch hours.
I know the original statue was vac-metalised however this process was a little outside of my budget. I ran a number of miniature tests to determine the best gold finish I could achieve. I experimented with Plasticote gold spray paint, Rub n Buff antique gold, liquid leaf, Gedeo gold coloured mirror effect leaf.
The rub'n'buff was OK and the gold spray was pretty similar. The liquid leaf ate through the gloss black undercoat but eventually set. The effect was similar to the previous two but with a higher gloss finish. The mirror leaf looked great however I'd applied it over a red base-coat and any gaps in the finish were extremely obvious. I decided the best option was to apply this leaf over an undercoat of gold spray.
Before I started the final paint work I masked the eyes as I intended to paint these in later.
In my previous experiments with gold leaf I have always used a brush to apply the size. After testing this however I noticed that the texture of the brush marks was actually showing through the leaf. Fortuitously Volpin props has recently been working with gold leaf (on a fabulous Elder Scroll you should totally check out) and through that I got the idea of applying the size with an airbrush. I'd been um-ing and ah-ing about acquiring one for a while and this seemed like the perfect excuse to finally give in to my tool buying urges.
I have a few different types of gold size. I'd been thinking that Japanese gold size might be good for this job as it is a bit thinner and might self level more easily however I discovered (on a test piece thankfully) that this stuff ate through the layer of gold spray paint I'd already applied. This being the case I went with a water based acrylic size.
I ran this through my newly acquired and exceptionally cheap airbrush. I kept a couple of scrap pieces of idol to hand so I could test drying times without touching the actual model.
After giving the model a liberal coating of size I waited for it to become tacky. When it was ready I applied the gold leaf as swiftly as possible, trying not to give dust any opportunity to settle on the tack. This went… OK. Bit patchy in places but I’m applying multiple coats. Eventually I got fed up of trying to airbrush the size on as it took ages and kept beading and running off the surface. I went back to using a brush.
Despite layering up the leaf the finish so far is not quite as smooth as I might like but it has given the idol an interesting antiqued appearance.
This is pretty much where I'm up to now. I’m building up a few more layers of the leaf to ensure complete coverage before I remove the masking and paint in the eyes. The model's available on my Thingiverse page if you want to have a go at making one yourself.
