The Martian helmet buildthread[CAD & 3D-print] - [FINISHED]
- Thread starter Kiwimaddog
- Start date
shaunsheep
Sr Member
just ordered dont tell the wife
shaunsheep
Sr Member
hello being trying to find the x-pla filament on the net with not much luck could you point me in the right direction
Well, X-PLA is actually just PLA and PETG combined. The one I use is sold by a company based here in Sweden called Add:North (https://addnorth.com/ ) But I would assume there are other makers out there that combine these two as well. I use it because it's easy to print with and gives me a consistent good result. It's not very good at bridgeing and overhangs though, keep that in mind if you decide to try it out
shaunsheep
Sr Member
thanks
Captain April
Sr Member
Stunned, the prints are impressive, how durable is the material? In film production 3d prints are used to generate the master parts which are cast the old fashioned way. The final hero props are cast in resin and fiberglass for strength and durability.
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The material itself is pretty durable but since it requires a lot of work to get a nice finish I'd absolutely do thermoset casts for multiple parts if used in an environment where it might get damaged( like a film set). Not really cost effective to print and finish hero props otherwise I think. Probably works fine on out of focus-parts though.
Thank you so very much crashband, It's my pleasure
Just a minor update before vacation. I’ve done a lot of filling/sanding and such and I thought of sharing a picture mid-process as it looks at the moment:
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speederbiker
Well-Known Member
Looks fantastic!
Thanks
I will have a vacuum formed transparent petg-part that will probably be painted on the inside. I am investigating though if the part can be formed with foil attached to the sheet...maybe.
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Absolutely gorgeous! I have been machining the connectors on the back of the helmet.
Thank you Sir. I would as well if I had access to a workshop which I sadly don't. Perhaps in the future.
On a side-note, I have yesterday given my vacuum forming plugs to a prop maker in Stockholm who will assist me in molding them in dental grade plaster and afterwards vacuum form the outer dome and inner Visor-parts. Also, I have finished the dissolving dotprint pattern on the sides of the main shell and I plan to send these out(as .pdf) to the people who bought my design on Etsy once I have gotten them printed on vinyl and confirmed that they work as intended.
Update-time
Since I'm on parental leave at the moment I've been able to sneak in some extra hours to work on this. Lot's still to do but I can at least get a hint of the light at the end of the tunnel.
First of, after vacation I thought I would mold my Vacuum forming plugs into Ultracal. This did not end well though so I ended up handing this off to a guy who promised to assist.
(I thought of making the mold in Alginate and plaster bandages, and I failed to get the alginate to release properly from the plugs which was the cause of my failing)
So, With that off my mind I could focus on the parts at hand. After a lot of further sanding lt was time to start painting the main parts. I have also made a decal-sheet and ordered as transparent vinyl-stickers. Impatient as I can be, and when I got the decal-sheet in the mail I of course wanted to see how it looked asap so instead of cutting the letters in "WATNEY ARES III" individually I instead just cut a square around them and fitted to the outer shell. When I realised that the other way would have been much better, the tape had already set and to remove them would mean i would have to re-sand and re-paint + order and extra set of vinyl so in the end, I told myself that it kind of anyway looked acceptable. Damn you, impatience :facepalm. Anyway, one day i might redo this, but for now, I'll just leave it as is to save time and money.
Anyway, some pictures from the process:
Since I'm on parental leave at the moment I've been able to sneak in some extra hours to work on this. Lot's still to do but I can at least get a hint of the light at the end of the tunnel.
First of, after vacation I thought I would mold my Vacuum forming plugs into Ultracal. This did not end well though so I ended up handing this off to a guy who promised to assist.
(I thought of making the mold in Alginate and plaster bandages, and I failed to get the alginate to release properly from the plugs which was the cause of my failing)
So, With that off my mind I could focus on the parts at hand. After a lot of further sanding lt was time to start painting the main parts. I have also made a decal-sheet and ordered as transparent vinyl-stickers. Impatient as I can be, and when I got the decal-sheet in the mail I of course wanted to see how it looked asap so instead of cutting the letters in "WATNEY ARES III" individually I instead just cut a square around them and fitted to the outer shell. When I realised that the other way would have been much better, the tape had already set and to remove them would mean i would have to re-sand and re-paint + order and extra set of vinyl so in the end, I told myself that it kind of anyway looked acceptable. Damn you, impatience :facepalm. Anyway, one day i might redo this, but for now, I'll just leave it as is to save time and money.
Anyway, some pictures from the process:
