Documenting My Journey to Becoming Boba Fett
Now, it’s time to get this thing smooth and ready for paint.
Wet sanded the entire part with medium grit sandpaper.
First coat of primer.
Once the primer dried, you can really see the area where the two pieces connect isn’t very smooth. There’s a very evident “bump” that will need to be addressed.
I used the metal file to really take the area down to get rid of the hump.
Seems to look a lot better. We’ll see, for sure, once more primer is added.
Second coat of primer added.
And, after the primer dried, there was still a bit of a hump…
Used the metal file, again, and got a bit more aggressive with it.
Third coat of primer applied.
After much research, I have found that it’s possible to “weld” 3D printed pieces together using filament and a Dremel. Let’s give it a try…
The theory is, you are melting the plastic together, like welding metal.
My first attempt on the back of the armor piece doesn’t look too bad, I guess?
Starting on the front.
Front finished.
Now, to smooth the bead down, I used a metal file to take the majority off.
Followed by a medium grit sandpaper…
Which exposed all of the gaps & low spots.
I added some glazing putty to the seam area.
Once the glazing putty was dry, I sanded it down with medium grit sandpaper.
Now, it’s time to add the physical damage. I printed out the painting templates to use as a placement guide.
Comparing the templates and actual screen shots I marked the damaged area with a pencil.
I then used my soldering iron to heat up the plastic to create the dents.
The results:
After more studying of the screen shots, I noticed the dents aren’t just smooth dents, like you see on most of the vac-formed armor. So, I decided to add a bit more detail to the dents to try and make it a bit more screen accurate.
More detail added.
Then, the entire piece got a thin coating of glazing putty. This should help smooth out the print lines, as well.
The next piece of the armor I decided to print is the Abdominal Plate. This piece is just a little too big for my printing bed, so I’m having to print it in two separate pieces that will be joined later…
The beginning of the printing of the right side of the Abdominal Plate.
About a quarter of the way through the print…
Completed right side of the Abdominal Plate.
