ELENDIL'S HELMET ..... Building a custom articulated 1/6 scale SAURON from Peter Jackson's LOTR using 3D printed statue parts

Got chatting with an eBay seller from Bosnia and Herzegovina who sells great 3D printed statues (pretty much any scale you want) that are normally beautifully painted and some like this one come with real fabric capes etc.. I explained what I do and what I needed, basically just the unassembled printed parts for me to modify into an articulated figure rather than just a statue (the files are taken from laser scanned pieces so technically KO's but those originals cost an absolute fortune and are made of polystone so useless to me anyway). They are super friendly and helpful, quoting me a much cheaper price for the unfinished version (another reason I wanted to go this route), this is a link to their eBay Shop: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194834846513

And their Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/FSPainting

Great guys and girls there, package arrived today and they included a bunch of unexpected bonuses such as plenty of material for his soft goods (even though I said I wouldn't need it), hand written instructions for treating it, some very useful templates to cut the cloth, a tube of Super Glue (always handy!) and a chocolate bar (always welcome!). Very well packaged so nothing broken or missing that I can tell, the detail is amazing, I now have more respect for 3D printers but I imagine this must be a really expensive one! They included a coupon and a nice note too. I highly recommend them and I'm tempted to ask them to print me a Predator throne and Dr Doom throne in 1/6 without the characters seated in them.

SHOULD STAND 18 TO 20 INCHES TALL WHEN COMPLETED, I'LL BE USING REAL METAL MAIL TOO AS WELL AS JOINTS SO LOTS OF DREMELLING IN MY FUTURE!











DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL THESE WERE AT FIRST, THEY'RE THE SHIN SPIKES ON THE ARMOUR, GUESS THEY RAN OUT OF GREY PLASTIC? THE ONLY DISAPPOINTMENT BUT HARDLY WORTH NOTING REALLY.



THE BASE COMES IN PARTS AND IS SUPER DETAILED!!







MACE IS NOT PART OF THE BASE BUT HELD BY THE FIGURE.



















PARTS NEED TIDYING UP FROM THE PRINTING PROCESS BUT SHOULD BE EASY WITH A SHARP SCALPEL.

Holy cow this looks like an awesome start. And to think how much more impressive you're going to make it by giving it articulation. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

GubernatorFan wrote:Holy cow this looks like an awesome start. And to think how much more impressive you're going to make it by giving it articulation. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

I just hope it all works out, need to find the right joints but have plenty of 'junk' figures and donor parts to choose from. Below is him very precariously assembled as a statue, hence the lousy pic!

Fingers crossed...

Oh man! This is going to be epic! Good luck.

Wow , what an awesome project!

NICE!

See, I knew 3d printing would find it's way to you, one way or another. This will be fun.

The base was made with PLA/heated plastic nozzle printer, that's why it's more of the "topographic stair" effect there and less detailed that the figure itself, which was made with a resin printer. Are the parts hollow or massive?

And are you watching Space Force?

GubernatorFan wrote:Fingers crossed...

Stryker2011 wrote:Oh man! This is going to be epic! Good luck.

I don't need luck guys, just joints!

skywalkersaga wrote:Wow , what an awesome project!

BAMComix wrote:NICE!

Yup looking forward to it but need to finish my KOTD build first, making crown parts out of latex for him now.

Ovy wrote:See, I knew 3d printing would find it's way to you, one way or another. This will be fun.

The base was made with PLA/heated plastic nozzle printer, that's why it's more of the "topographic stair" effect there and less detailed that the figure itself, which was made with a resin printer. Are the parts hollow or massive?

And are you watching Space Force?

LOL, I will admit that this printing job has turned out really nicely! But the test will be working with it, will it crack, make horrible dust (like older casting resins), will it glue together okay etc..
It is hollow but quite thick so that should actually help with the build and save me time Dremelling parts, also not worry about too much weight on the joints. I did discuss this with the seller/manufacturer before.
And yes I've seen the first season and first 3 episodes of Space Force so far, great fun!

This is bound to be amazing, those are some sellers that know how to keep and make clients.

I have worked with printed resin (thanks to Ovy), and it didn't produce much dust. But then I was mostly cutting parts off and rearranging things. Sanding is another story, of course...

ETA: I guess there is also different types of printed resin.... some is more brittle and some is more 'bendy'. So that no doubt will affect the results.

Theboo-bomb wrote:This is bound to be amazing, those are some sellers that know how to keep and make clients.

Yes and I recommend looking at their Etsy page (random fact, Etsy is Greek for 'like this' as in 'it's done like this') for ideas, I'm still thinking about getting those thrones!

skywalkersaga wrote:I have worked with printed resin (thanks to Ovy), and it didn't produce much dust. But then I was mostly cutting parts off and rearranging things. Sanding is another story, of course...

ETA: I guess there is also different types of printed resin.... some is more brittle and some is more 'bendy'. So that no doubt will affect the results.

That sounds better than the old casting resin (before polymer based resins like EasyFlo60 and others came to market). We'll find out soon as I've nearly finished my LOTR King Of The Dead build and this is next!

invested in some more chainmail bags, the heavy silver plated one will be for this build as it suits his size and the much lighter brass mail will go on my Eomer figure.

awesome finds!

Dug into this project now TKOTD is finished and posted here:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t5479-lotr-king-of-the-dead-finished-glow-in-the-dark-pics-too

Cleaned up all the printing sprues and 'scaffolding' with a scalpel, there wasn't much and it was really easy.
The resin is.... well annoyingly like old school resin, in that it creates a snow blizzard just using a baby hacksaw.. I was caught unawares hence the pics below, I hadn't even touched a Dremel yet! Being a stubborn git and wanting to still be able to watch TV while building I refused to move to or bring in my purpose made glass box for working on such materials. So I created a simpler solution; I put on safety glasses (resin has a habit of fracturing and pinging sharp pieces all over the place), a mask during Dremeling and most importantly a large piece of thin cardboard acting as a shield and funnel to catch all the white dust.
The trickiest parts so far are the elbows since the arms come in one piece and the elbow armour overlaps the upper and lower arm armour. The elbow armour is also very detailed, convoluted and fragile making it even harder to separate safely while trying to keep it all as intact as possible; I've resorted to using a jewellers' saw a lot on these parts which is very slow and a bit nail-biting... if you have used one you will know what I mean, you have to be incredibly gentle with the blades or they will snap and shatter with the slightest twist or bend; so along with worrying about the fragile resin part I'm cutting, I'm also very conscious that the tool I am using can explode at any given moment! But like everything in custom building and modding, it seems silicone oil helps with this too, not sure why I didn't think of it earlier, after all I use regular oil for cutting metal all the time!

Current donor bodies:



Resin mess just with a baby hacksaw (after I'd cleaned off my socks and trousers):







Cause of mess lol:



Solution to mess:



Work so far:































Still to go (and an even harder elbow challenge too! ):

really clever stuff!

Great progress. and sorry for the resin dust mess. Does wetting the resin first help at all? I've done that before, it still creates residue but it doesn't spread as far so quickly. But I don't remember if I tried it specifically with the printed resin...

That seems such a handy and detailed way to cut it.... wish I were not so scared of using sharp tools... ;p

Great progress! Sorry to see that mess, I was about to write "It is very messy and dusty." when you first asked, but then I thought "shovelshop surely won't just dremel it unprepared!" :p I like to dremel (censored) like that into a plastic bag like Gubernator does with his heads.

Depending on the kind of resin, hot water makes it more elastic and bendable/cuttable. But it's best done before curing.

BAMComix wrote:really clever stuff!

Cheers BAM! Although I don't think intelligence has anything to do with it LOL, more like experience and patience!

skywalkersaga wrote:Great progress. and sorry for the resin dust mess. Does wetting the resin first help at all? I've done that before, it still creates residue but it doesn't spread as far so quickly. But I don't remember if I tried it specifically with the printed resin...

That seems such a handy and detailed way to cut it.... wish I were not so scared of using sharp tools... ;p

It's not the sharpness of the blade you need to worry about, it's the waiting for the exploding blade part that can get trying! Experience, skill and luck can make blades survive a lot longer, for example I am now finished using the jeweller's saw and only broke 2 blades for a lot of very tricky work using it on an X,Y,Z axis to get around curves and still cut at an angle to save both parts of the armour; when I started a silversmithing course years ago I'd be breaking blades every few seconds which is why they usually come in a pack of 100 or more! It's having to stop, faff about cutting the blade to length, ensuring it's facing the right way, then putting tension on it (like a violin string) and clamping down the butterfly nuts while keeping the blade in place with only one hand to do it all every time a blade breaks which is the annoying part, not the actual blade breaking itself.

Ovy wrote:Great progress! Sorry to see that mess, I was about to write "It is very messy and dusty." when you first asked, but then I thought "shovelshop surely won't just dremel it unprepared!" :p I like to dremel (censored) like that into a plastic bag like Gubernator does with his heads.

Depending on the kind of resin, hot water makes it more elastic and bendable/cuttable. But it's best done before curing.

To be fair I didn't Dremel unprepared, I used a baby hacksaw as you said cutting it was fine

All done now! Even got that evil elbow apart without breaking a blade! YAY! Done loads of Dremeling too cleaning everything up and removing all the connection posts, excess material and rough edges etc..

Ah, yes, the inferno that is resin. But you will make it all worthwhile in the end -- the start is very promising, and you are knocking these LOTR bashes out of the park. One thing that I usually do when using my dremel is put whatever I'm working on inside a big deep clear plastic bag, hold it through the bag, while carefully grinding/drilling/sanding it inside. The vast majority of the little particles ends up inside the bag, and the clean up job is a lot less extensive. You would still do well to employ the other precautions too, when working with resin. I hate the stuff.

PS Oh wow, just saw Ovy's post, where he remembers my "procedure" -- I must have been venting about this before.

GubernatorFan wrote:Ah, yes, the inferno that is resin. But you will make it all worthwhile in the end -- the start is very promising, and you are knocking these LOTR bashes out of the park. One thing that I usually do when using my dremel is put whatever I'm working on inside a big deep clear plastic bag, hold it through the bag, while carefully grinding/drilling/sanding it inside. The vast majority of the little particles ends up inside the bag, and the clean up job is a lot less extensive. You would still do well to employ the other precautions too, when working with resin. I hate the stuff.

PS Oh wow, just saw Ovy's post, where he remembers my "procedure" -- I must have been venting about this before.

Cheers! Used to do that clear bag trick years ago but got fed up with it and built the glass box (aquarium I found) set up with two holes for my arms, works great but it's in the workshop/kitchen not my comfy tv watching build spot ie: the couch!!

The importance of being able to multi-task (even if one of those tasks is enjoy entertainment -- or maybe looking at reference matter) is definitely something to keep in mind. I usually work in front of my computer monitor. But I do my dremel work, when needed, in the nearest bathroom -- easier to clean. Unlike you, of course, I rarely have to resort to it.

GubernatorFan wrote:The importance of being able to multi-task (even if one of those tasks is enjoy entertainment -- or maybe looking at reference matter) is definitely something to keep in mind. I usually work in front of my computer monitor. But I do my dremel work, when needed, in the nearest bathroom -- easier to clean. Unlike you, of course, I rarely have to resort to it.

Well it gets a bit confusing as my TV is my monitor and I don't watch TV LOL! So it's usually YouTube documentaries that keep me entertained while working, great way to learn things too!

Finished modding the cast parts now so moved onto the joint possibilities starting with the waist and hips, I think my idea will work but it will be a tight fit with plenty of hot glue! Wait...will hot glue deform the resin or is it chemically set now?

After seriously attacking the oversized Hasbro Kylo Ren figure (15"?) I had used to parts from to make my own custom Ren some years back, I think I now have a viable system for a strong waist swivel and large jointed hips/thighs to attach to the torso and thigh armour. I cut the leg joints from another Hasbro random SW body lying around that should work as articulated knees connecting the shin armour to the thigh armour. I have an option of using either a junked Hasbro Darth Maul lower body (I think it's him as it's black and small but not a woman and covered in Lucas Film markings) for shoulder and elbow joints by using the legs or use the arms from the other Hasbro body combined with these. I'll be using Bionicles lego parts for the neck since I want to run electronics in there. All the joints have to be narrow enough to be covered in real mail while still functioning properly and look proportionate to the armour while wearing the mail.

This is a very challenging part of the project. Wishing you luck and patience.