Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [REFORGED HELMET UPDATE]

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

One Kylo Ren Lightsaber! (near enough) All that's left to print is the bottom piece, the inside details of the crossguard, and the saber clip. Had to cut the crossguard down the middle, and print in 2 pieces, which is fine, but for some reason I got a little bit of warping, so Will require a little more work sanding/filling. But the rest of the saber is more or less faultless. It's printed very cleanly, much to my surprise!



The scale seems about right. It's around 27cm tall. It's got decent weight to it aswell. Little top heavy, but that makes sense. With a steel rod down the middle, it should help a little.

But overall, very pleased with how this has turned out, and with the small tweaks I've made to the bottom pieces (once re-printed) I'll be much happier with the overall profile. I think I've got it relatively accurate. I just hope I can do it justice when it comes to painting..

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Looks great! You'll be able to hide that seam in finishing no problem. It seems like a pretty clean print overall.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Test fit! Cannot tell you how excited this made me! (Sad I know..) The faceplate is now attached to the main dome. Hot glue for now, but I need to tighten the right side a little before permanently welding together. May weld with my soldering iron, but will probably just use some milliput which is what I used on the joints on the inside of the helmet.

The little side pieces I will also attach before painting. The nose part is easy to connect, so I can add that, and secure it at the end once everything is painted.

Got to fill a tiny bit once glueing is done, and then I will do a finish coat of XTC-3D. This should smooth out any little imperfections left from sanding. Another light sand, followed by some wet sanding on the parts that will be chrome, to get it as smooth as possible, and then we should be ready to paint! I'm not sure though whether to wait until the lightsaber is ready to paint, and do them all together? I think it would probably make sense.



More updates soon

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Little update. I reprinted a few parts of the lightsaber I wasn't completely happy with after seeing them in the real world compared to on screen. I'm now much happier, and it's now ready to be sanded.



As for the helmet. I have no attached the faceplate to the main dome, and managed to get a nice tight fit. For most of it I tacked it in place with a little super glue, and hot glue. But one part was being a pain, so I had to zip tie it tight, and then weld it together using my soldering iron. It made a tough bond, but just to be sure, I then went around the inside with some putty.

I've now sealed everything with a final layer of XTC-3D, which has made everything nice and smooth ready for it's final sand before painting. I'm likely going to wait until I have the lightsaber ready to paint before painting the helmet. Mainly because I need to do some paint tests, specifically the Alclad. I don't have a proper airbrush, it's a cheapo one that uses air cannisters, so I need to make sure that the Alclad paints co-operate with it. It should be fine. I also need to see how different alclads interact with eachother, and proof of concept my painting technique for the saber, as I have no idea if it's gonna work the way I intend in my head.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Been a while since I've updated the thread. Got quite a lot done since my last post. The helmet has been sanded through the grades, and then wet sanded from 400 grit, through to 3000 grit. It took a while, but it was worth it, as I ended up with a smooth finish, with next to no imperfections left over from sanding.

I then primed the helmet, but apparently didn't take any pictures of it primed, so here it is before I had done so.



After priming the helmet, I sprayed on the textured paint (Plastikote Stone). This was on the main dome part, and the nose pieces. I covered the faceplate completely for this (most of it had been taped off anyway) as the black parts of the faceplate don't seem to have the texture and are smoother. The side pieces also don't have the texture, so they were taped off too. (they're actually a more matt finish than the rest of the helmet).

Here is the helmet after the texture had been sprayed on. I lightly rubbed some high grit sand paper over the helmet, just to knock off any particularly large bits of texture, that stuck out a bit too much.



I then sprayed on the black, which is a standard satin black spray paint.



The finish is just a tad too shiny for my liking, but the satin clear coat will dull it a little, which should make it just right. The texture may be a little too much, but I don't mind it personally.

Next up for the helmet is the chrome! After that, it's a little bit of weathering, and adding the visor and it will be done. May not update on the helmet now until it's finished.

Next post, lightsaber progress..

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Lightsaber progress!

So much like the helmet, I've got quite far along now. Due to printing at 0.1mm layer height, and it being a very clean print, sanding on this took no time at all. A light sand for all parts, followed by a coat of XTC-3D. Once that had dried, it was all sanded through the grits again, and then primed.



After wet sanding the lightsaber, like the helmet 400-3000 grit, it was primed again, and is now ready to paint. I had to do a little extra work on the saber than originally planned. The ends of the cross guard kinda snapped off and flew across the room, so I had to print a new piece, and attach it, which meant a little more filling and sanding, but it didn't hold up progress too much.



The lightsaber is now ready to paint! One small thing to do before hand though was to make the cable clips. I used some 5mm aluminium and drill a 3mm hole. I then cut out the clips individually and shaped them. I cannot tell you how piddly it was. But they came out pretty good, and the cable I have fits nice and snug.



That's all the progress updated for now. Much like the helmet, I may not update now until It's finished.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Small little update. I got the wire clips attached. Used some epoxy glue, and they seem stuck down nice and strong. They seem to be more or less in the right place. The cable for anyone interested, is actually a steel skipping rope. I searched for hours to try and find an electric cable with a translucent red sleeve, but was unsuccessful, but by chance, came across this. Not too expensive either. £5 or so for a 3 meter rope.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Some updates.

Painting well under way, and we are quite close to completion now.

Been using Alclad paints, and they are pretty good. Take a little experimenting, and having a cheapo airbrush probably isn't helping, but I'm pretty happy with it so far.

Helmet faceplate is chromed. Alclad glossy black base coat, followed by Alclad chrome. It looks pretty metalic to me.



Lightsaber has received the same treatment. Glossy black base, followed by chrome. I then sprayed Alclad copper over the chrome. The plan is to then spray a black over it, and gently sand (wet sand?) back through the layers, picking up the chrome and copper in hopefully a natural way.





Wet sanding all the pieces has meant the paint has gone down nice and smooth, and I'm really pleased that it has. If I had a better airbrush, I may have got an even better finish, but oh well.

More updates soon!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Test fitted the lightsaber. 8mm stud through the middle, and thankfully everything is nice and snug. Also has really nice weight to it. The bottom Parts are permanently attached now, the cross-guard is the only thing that's loose.



I was planning on getting the black down today. I planned to use some waterbased acrylics for the black layer, so that it would rub off easier. However, after testing the paints I got, they didn't airbrush well. So I've ordered some different ones which will hopefully work better, and give the finish I want.


I did use my test piece of plastic to try some Humbrol Enamel black I had lying around. It sprays well, but weathering was quite difficult. Wet (damp) sanding at 800 grit did rub the top layer off, and give a decent natural look, but it was pretty easy to go overboard, as enamel paint is pretty durable, and you have to sand a little heavier than I would like.

Here's the result of my test.


Over the weekend, I should be able to get the lightsaber near enough finished. Helmet is well on the way too. All I need to do is paint a part of the Chrome black (waiting for new paints), weather it a little, do some blending/fixing on paint job, and then add some finishing touches such as the visor and a few other bits.


On a separate note, I wonder if it would be possible to have this thread moved into the general Star Wars section? Knights of Ren sub seems a little dead.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Paint for the lightsaber is done! Atm, not done any real weathering, so it looks like it does in The Last Jedi.

Weathering is pretty easy from my tests. Some 2500 grit paper slightly wet, and gently rubbing, takes the paint off pretty well. That will be the next step. I won't go crazy, I have some good reference for the look I'm going for.



Helmet is coming along nicely too. Little sneak peak before I attach the nose piece. Once that's attached, all I have to do is a little weathering, install the visor, and a few extra bits, and we're done!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

I have finished! I'll dump all the images of the completed helmet and Lightsaber below, and I'll also do my best to explain what I did to finish the piece off.

Lightsaber



Few more pics to come, but 10 pic limit, so scroll down and check out out the rest

In my last update, I had sprayed the lightsaber black, and also but on a satin clear coat. To give the lightsaber it's finished look, I used some 800 grit wet and dry sandpaper, and made it slightly damp, dabbing off excess water with tissue paper. I then gently rubbed in the areas I wanted the remove paint. I did this all over the lightsaber until I was happy with the final look. This same affect could have been achieved with dry brushing, and it would have saved a few days of painting, but I feel rubbing through layers of paint gives a much more authentic look, as you can see that the paint has been chipped off.

That was pretty much it for the lightsaber. I did a little bit of a wash over the lightsaber, but it's subtle, and only in a few places.

I'm really happy with how this turned out, and turnover from printed parts to finished piece was little over a week, which is pretty good!

See next post for the helmet, and what I did to finish that!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

See previous post for lightsaber finished!

Kylo Ren Helmet




After painting the metal parts, all I had to do was weather the piece, and attach the nose piece, and add a few extra details, like the visor, and the fabric inside the helmet.

I used a flat black acrylic in my airbrush. I didn't have a lot of control over how much paint comes out of it, so had to be very light. I sprayed over the metal pieces with the black. Once it had dried a little, I went in with some wet and dry paper, and lightly sanded the metal back, revealing it through the black. I the repeated the process again, but this time, just to re-blend it in. I then used a black wash over the rest of the metal I hadn't touched, wiping away excess, to dirty it up just a little.

Once I was happy with that, I attached the visor and fabric inside the helmet.



not pretty but it works. I had printed a frame for the visor, and stuck a small piece of aluminium tube in the middle, to give it a little added strength. I then stretched my material over the frame, making sure it was nice and tight. I superglued it down, and then added some foam spacers on the top and the bottom of the visor. That was then hot glues into the helmet. I also added fabric on the sides, which cover up the holes. This was superglued down.

I then attached the nose, which was very simple. That too was hot glued into place. I then added some extra foam inside the helmet.

That was the helmet near enough finished then. The last couple of steps was to do some dry brushing with some humbrol silver I had lying round. Only a little. I also used some flat black acrylic to dull down the side pieces, as they were too glossy.

And that was the helmet finished!

Cannot tell you how pleased I am with this! When I was sanding, I was a little worried that It didn't really look like Kylo. Something seemed off, but the minute I peeled the tape off, and the black and chrome were revealed, It was such a relief. I feel I've ended with something pretty accurate to the movie version. Of course getting hold of the BF2 game file helped massively, but remodelling the helmet was a real challenge, even with that as a base, and I'm really happy that I've ended up with something that translated from the screen on my computer, to a physical object, so well. I lost some details during printing and sanding that I had to get back, which at times was a real challenge, but as I say, really happy with this!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build

Bonus pics!



Boba is no longer lonely!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

All your hard work really paid off, both the saber and helmet are really impressive! And I agree, it's a shame this sub-forum is basically dead, your work deserves to be seen.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

mrwax said:

All your hard work really paid off, both the saber and helmet are really impressive! And I agree, it's a shame this sub-forum is basically dead, your work deserves to be seen.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I did ask for the thread to be moved to the general SW forum, but not heard anything back yet. But it's all good. I had a lot of fun making these!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

For anyone interested, I put a write up of the project on my blog http://www.magnaprops.co.uk/3d-printed-kylo-ren-helmet-lightsaber/

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

Really nice work! Great writeup, too.

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

ChickenHaunt said:

Really nice work! Great writeup, too.

Click to expand...

Thanks

For those interested, I'll have the STL for the Lightsaber up some time next week. Will post a link here!

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

I have now released the files for the Lightsaber

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2912753

I have also put together a guide on finishing the 3D prints

http://www.magnaprops.co.uk/guide-how-to-make-an-awesome-3d-printed-kylo-ren-lightsaber/

Please let me know if you have any issues with the files

Re: Kylo Ren Helmet + Lightsaber Scratch Build [FINISHED]

I have now uploaded the helmet file!

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2947654