Sayless's 3D Printed R1TK Build Thread

[Sayless]

Well… I guess this is where I start.

 

As a joke with my wife, I told her that if she bought me a 3D printer for Christmas, the first thing I’d print would be a Stormtrooper helmet. That joke quickly escalated into finding more accurate files than the free ones available on Printables and Thingiverse, which then even more quickly evolved into, “Well, I may as well make a suit while I’m at it.”

 

And so began the never-ending chain of “while I’m at it’s” that ultimately landed me here, officially starting a build thread and aiming—at a minimum—for Level One 501st approval, with my sights firmly set on Level Two down the road.

 

To keep myself accountable, I’ve set a goal of having this suit wearable for my office Halloween party on October 29, 2026. Which sounds extremely reasonable and optimistic, right?

 

Wrong. I travel for work fairly often, so if I manage to hit that deadline, I’ll consider it a major win.

 

After spending a lot of time reading through the FISD forums, I quickly stumbled across @BigJasoni's 3D-printed Rogue One TK build. That was the moment I thought, “Okay… maybe this impossible thing is at least technically possible.” I fully understand—and accept—that printing a full suit is wildly impractical. Jason himself has warned many people not to do this. But if you asked my wife, she’d tell you that once I decide to do something, stopping simply isn’t part of the plan...so here we are.

 

For reference, I should also mention I'm printing on an Elegoo Centauri Carbon (256×256×256), which… yes, adds an extra layer of challenge to an already questionable project.

 

I originally started with Nico Henderson’s Rogue One TK helmet files, and I want to be very clear here: the issues I ran into were entirely self-inflicted.

Mid-print, and then in it's most current state.

 

In recently rewatching Rogue One, Solo, and several of the Disney-era shows, I realized just how sharp and defined the chin geometry on the helmet really is (amongst other concerns). Unfortunately, early print issues led me to weld the chin to the faceplate and unintentionally round over some of those critical edges. Once I saw it, I couldn’t un-see it. That realization officially forced my first major reset.

I also got a bit ahead of myself in thinking that my primer/sanding jobs were better than they truly were before laying some base coat down... and now we're back to some camo variant. You can clearly see where I've unintentionally rounded the sharp edges.

 

As of last night, I’ve started over on the helmet using @TKModder421's updated files—and I’m taking a much slower, more deliberate approach this time with accuracy as the priority. Greg, if you’re reading this: thank you again. The updates are genuinely excellent, and the difference is immediately noticeable. So far, I have the dome (pictured), vocoder, tears, teeth, ventbacks, ear greebiles, and back greebiles (pictured) printed, and currently getting the hovmic's printed as we speak write.

 

For the rest of the armor, I initially went with the well-known Akira Yuming files from CGTrader, which—like many others—I found through BigJasoni’s build. I knew going in that they weren’t perfect, but they felt like a reasonable stepping stone. And they have been… interesting.

 

I’ve printed essentially the entire Akira kit in SUNLU white PETG, mostly because I live in Florida and heat resistance matters (even though, somehow, we’re apparently expecting snow in the Tampa Bay area as I write this?). Currently, all that seemed to remain are the belt ammo boxes (planning to print Jason's), shoulder straps (just received my white TPU), and the rear portion of the belt (which I have concerns about, see below.)

(Yes, I see it now—plastic-welding on the front of my pieces like the chest plate and abdomen were a mistake. Let this stand as proof that sometimes the best lessons are learned after the damage is already done.)

 

That said, I’ve already run into several of the commonly discussed issues, like the abdomen fitment:

• Belt geometry that simply doesn’t work as-is
• Proportions that feel “close enough” until you really start comparing to screen references (like the thighs)

 

This has led me to a bit of a crossroads:

1. Follow the path others have taken and fabricate a belt from HIPS or similar material, abandoning the idea of a fully 3D-printed suit
2. Continue hunting for (or investing in) more accurate files that solve these issues cleanly

 

I’ve seriously considered dropping the ~$200 USD on MPSB files for the more accurate arms and thighs, but I’m trying to be intentional about where I throw money after already printing (wasting) so much plastic.

 

I also picked up PPCDigital’s files on Etsy (regretting this), which at first glance seemed more accurate—but I’m now realizing that several parts being merged together (like the kidney plate fused to the back plate) introduces a whole different set of challenges, especially when accuracy and mobility are the goal. At this point, I’ve accepted that this project will involve reprinting more than I originally planned—possibly a lot more. What began as an office Halloween costume has officially turned into a full-blown screen-accuracy obsession.

 

My immediate goal is still Level One approval, but I’m absolutely building with Level Two in mind for the future—once I convince my wife that a proper flight suit, boots, gloves, and all the other “small” details are completely reasonable purchases.

 

I’ll start dropping photos and progress updates below, beginning with:
    •    Current helmet reprint progress using TKModder’s updated files
    •    Printed Akira armor laid out for fit and comparison
    •    Notes on what I’m likely to reprint vs. salvage

 

Thanks to everyone who’s paved the way before me—and especially to those who’ve documented what not to do. I’m fully aware this is a long uphill battle, but I’m committed to doing it right. 

 

Onward.

 

Also, if you have suggestions... I'm all ears.

 

(Anyone know if MPSB abdomen is the "same" at the new-ERA TK's? asking for a friend...)

[jsilvius[Staff]]

Best of luck to you! I started down this road, and stopped after Nico/Greg's helmet. I actual ended up taking @TheRascalKing's advise and having the helmet resin printed.

I also bought a set of (yet to have been seen) R1TK armor from WTF, which I still have high hopes for, but going on 3 years of watching slow design, question my purchase. Sadly there are not many makers of new era TK vac formed armor due to the same issues you are running into printing. And each one that does exist hasn't isn't own issues.
@BigJasoni is a huge help, and I'm lucky to have him as a garrison mate, so while it will be a long and difficult process, I'm sure he, and others will be happy to answer as many questions as you have. I look forward to seeing how your journey goes, as I may have to go this route myself if Walt doesn't get his armor done soon.

 

As for MRSB, I'm fairly certain that his ab section is what several folks have used. My understanding (and Jason, Glen or others can correct me if I'm wrong) is that tube ab section is used for a lot of the Disney era "trooper" Shoretrooper, Stormtrooper, and maybe a few others.

 

Can't wait to see how this goes!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Hello and welcome, looking forward to seeing the progress 

[Sayless]

On 1/31/2026 at 1:35 PM, jsilvius said:

Best of luck to you! I started down this road, and stopped after Nico/Greg's helmet. I actual ended up taking @TheRascalKing's advise and having the helmet resin printed.

I also bought a set of (yet to have been seen) R1TK armor from WTF, which I still have high hopes for, but going on 3 years of watching slow design, question my purchase. Sadly there are not many makers of new era TK vac formed armor due to the same issues you are running into printing. And each one that does exist hasn't isn't own issues.
@BigJasoni is a huge help, and I'm lucky to have him as a garrison mate, so while it will be a long and difficult process, I'm sure he, and others will be happy to answer as many questions as you have. I look forward to seeing how your journey goes, as I may have to go this route myself if Walt doesn't get his armor done soon.

 

As for MRSB, I'm fairly certain that his ab section is what several folks have used. My understanding (and Jason, Glen or others can correct me if I'm wrong) is that tube ab section is used for a lot of the Disney era "trooper" Shoretrooper, Stormtrooper, and maybe a few others.

 

Can't wait to see how this goes!

 

Thank you for the kind words! I looked a lot into just going the vac formed or fiberglass route, and I personally seem to favor the look of a printed build (plus the brownie points saying "I made this") with all of the added detailing, especially when it comes to helmets. But alas, they all have their issues...

 

Maybe one of these days I'll get to pick Jason's brain a bit on even some simple stuff like orientation, which I'll showcase in a second... But I think I might be sold on buying MPSB files for the abdomen alone (plus reprinting the other bits to make my life easier).

 

On 1/31/2026 at 5:41 PM, gmrhodes13 said:

Hello and welcome, looking forward to seeing the progress 

 

Thank you!! Speaking of progress... here's a mini-update from this weekends prints.

 

So for context, Florida has reached record low temperatures. So much so that with the wind chill, we were in the low 10s (crazy given our tagline is the "Sunshine State") but this ultimately led to a few issues. As my garage is my 3D printing "man cave", I'm fortunate to have a mini-split with heat but even with that capability, my poor unit struggled to keep up with the evershrinking temperatures, and it ultimately affected my prints.

 

I've been rapidly printing off Greg's helmet files in an attempt to keep this build on track as we're officially in February, so let's lead with the Good, then the Funny, and end with the Bad.

 

The Good:

 

The new helmet (pictured right) is visually completed, however with a couple of minor inconveniences that have led me to re-print the chin (see below). Overall, Greg's files have been awesome. I did have some issues with OrcaSlicer + MacOS as there's currently no built-in repair function but this isn't an issue with his files per se, but more a skill issue on my end. Outside of that, the helmet looks phenomenal. Beside my original helmet, which was scaled to 90% (dumb decision), you can clearly see some of the changes he made in terms of shaping to elements like the dome (a little less tall in my opinion) but post-processing seems like it'll be a breeze.

 

Not sure if this was an intentional design feature, but I did notice, at least in my print, there appears to be a *slight* eye bump which I'll amplify a tad like others to pay homage to the OTTK.

 

Everything seemed to print properly, until that skill issue popped up yesterday afternoon while I was out and about.

The "Funny":

 

I'd love to lie and say this was the first time I've had this happen, but this is the FIFTH time I've encountered this exact issue with printing the chin file. Why?? I think part of this comes down to bed adhesion, or maybe it's print settings like orientation, nozzle flow, speed--but whatever.

 

After checking my handy garage cam, it appeared that many of my supports failed around the 4 hour mark and then the entire print shifted, leading to this mess. To add insult to injury, I printed another chin piece, and then THIS!

 

The Bad:

 

As it turns out, there were some gnarly overhangs that were unsupported (user error, again) so we're back manually adding additional supports, and my replacement piece is being reprinted. If my calculations are correct, I should now be printing the 8th variation of this chin, and I think I've finally got my settings dialed in. I did my best to salvage print #7 with my trusty soldering iron, but alas, it doesn't meet my own personal criteria, and I don't think there's enough sandpaper and spot putty that could change my view.

 

With that, circling back to the first photo of the update, I'm overall impressed. The updated model featuring all of the alignment pegs and cutouts have made test fitting so, so, so much better than how I originally went about this project, so while it may seem like I'm circling a drain with this project, I feel like we're in a good place. 

 

I do think I'm going to pull the trigger on Mr. Paul's files for the ab, shins/calfs, and arm pieces as I believe this would create a far more screen-accurate looking suit, but for the meantime, we're on a path to success. After this, all that currently remains is to swap filament to my TPU to print the shoulder straps, and *technically* I've officially printed all of the armor pieces from Akira which I plan to lay out and snag a photo of for my next update this week. Oh, and the helmet "ears" which I've never had great luck with. Fingers crossed.

 

Progress might be a bit slow this next week or two until the weather corrects, as it's waaaaay too cold for paint (even in the garage) so I'll spend this time smoothing most of my prints out with my trusty iron and an industrial amount of spot putty.

[Sayless]

Okay, with the week nearly over, it felt like a good time to do a proper armor breakdown.

 

At this point, I believe I’ve officially printed everything that Akira’s files have to offer:

 

Most of the pieces have at least been glued together, and many were also fused using a soldering iron and additional filament. On that note… I’ve now gone through nearly ten 1kg rolls of white PETG, plus roughly 1.5kg of black PETG for the helmet, belt boxes, and side plates—which I suppose is where “the fun begins.”

 

As mentioned in my initial post, this is essentially my first real project with a 3D printer, so there’s been no shortage of learning curves along the way. There are a couple things worth pointing out in the photo below.

 

First is the back armor. I didn’t think enough about orientation when placing it on the print bed, which resulted in an excessive amount of filler rod (aka: spare filament) and soldering. At the time—about a month ago—I was actually pretty proud of this print. But with my settings much more dialed in now (might be a slight exaggeration given what just happened...), this is one of the pieces I’m seriously considering reprinting in the near future.

 

Then there’s the kidney armor. I believe the filament had absorbed a fair amount of moisture, as the print began to delaminate toward the top, which is pretty (very) clearly visible.

 

Revisiting these parts has me leaning even more toward purchasing the MPSB files, especially since many of these pieces are going straight into a tote as soon as they come off the print bed. While a lot of this could still be corrected with sanding, spot putty, and multiple coats of primer, I’m already having second thoughts about the Akira abdomen armor, particularly when factoring in the work required for the belt section—which I managed to break during a test fit with a friend.

 

Another lesson learned (and one I later saw reinforced in Jason’s own build): don’t weld on the outside of your parts. At face value, this makes complete sense. Unfortunately, having common sense and then actually acting on it seem to be two very different skill sets for my brain.

  

 

Thankfully, not everything was a struggle. Most of the other pieces came out quite well—like my triple stack of belt boxes (minus one misprint caused by running out of filament while I was at work):

 

At this point, I’ve accumulated spare parts like Infinity Stones (yes, wrong universe), but it’s honestly been helpful seeing both the progress and the mistakes side by side. Every misprint has at least turned into a learning moment. For instance, one major milestone was finishing the print of the new helmet files, especially after the setbacks I mentioned in my last post:

 

During assembly, I realized that the face print had rested on the printer’s “poop chute”, which caused a not-so-subtle flat spot. Unfortunately, that flat spot prevented all of the alignment pegs from seating correctly. Rather than force it, I opted to reprint the entire face section—adding another 13 hours to the growing clock.

 

That reprint finally completed the helmet from a printing standpoint, and from here on out, progress should (theoretically) be more straightforward.

 

Now that I’m a bit more caught up on this build thread—or more accurately, the culmination of photos once the “build” phase wrapped—I think this is where things go from here.

 

At this point, I’ve pretty much committed to picking up the MPSB files and reprinting the following parts:

• Abdomen
• Kidney armor
• Lower leg armor (both sides)
• All arm pieces (both sides)

Yes, that’s a lot. And yes, it’s probably excessive. But when I think about the amount of post-processing, finishing, and labor that will go into these parts, I’d rather do it once and do it right. It feels a little backwards, but if I play my cards right (right?)… I may end up with two R1 TKs—one reasonably solid, and the other… well, a valuable learning experience.

 

Unfortunately, Florida is currently "too cold" to print reliably (a sentence I never expected to write), so the plan for the weekend is to focus on helmet prep while I wait for the weather to cooperate.

My goal is to have the helmet fully finished within the next two weeks, weather permitting. Once that’s done, I’ll start printing the replacement armor pieces, gluing and welding them together, and then dive head-first into the long, tedious finishing process. I’m hoping that once I see the first few coats of even primer go on, it’ll provide a much-needed morale boost—because this is definitely the point in the build that others have warned about, where things shift from exciting to extremely intimidating. I'm also nearly out of filament, and I actually switched "types" of PETG (originally Sunlu high speed, now simply regular) with my helmet that I'm far more pleased with those results, so I'll probably switch going forward.

 

One last note: I printed two different length sets of shoulder straps in gloss white TPU. I probably should’ve read the CRLs more carefully, since the requirements about 3D printed armor (and accessories) are mentioned right at the top, but here we are. My biggest concern is the print lines. I’m going to attempt some light sanding to see how it behaves, but I’m honestly not sure how viable that’ll be with TPU.

 

If anyone has suggestions for shoulder strap solutions—whether that’s a preferred vendor, material recommendations, or even flexible PLA alternatives—I’m all ears. I’ve read that flexible PLA may take sanding and paint better than TPU, but I haven’t gone too far down that rabbit hole yet. I'd assume these aren't remotely acceptable even for Level 1.

 

[Sayless]

Would it really be a build thread without an overload of bucket photos?

 

This seems to be the part most builders end up spending the bulk of their time on—and honestly, it’s easy to understand why. The helmet is one of the most daunting steps in the entire process, especially since it’s the piece that both die-hard fans and casual moviegoers instantly recognize (second only to Vader, probably).

 

Because of that, I’ve been very intentional about not skimping on the details here. As mentioned earlier, I’m in this for the long haul. While Level Two is the realistic goal, I’m building everything with Centurion in the back of my mind. Even if I never make it that far—whether due to time, finances, or sanity—it’s been a helpful benchmark to keep me focused on accuracy.

 

Alright, enough of the sappy stuff.
Here are the photos.

 

Today, unfortunately, is sanding day:

 

As if sanding itself wasn’t punishment enough, some early printing mistakes decided to come back and haunt me. In the photo above (left, beside the cheek), you can see a bit of waviness in the rear of the helmet print—something I highlighted more clearly here:

 

I’m about 90% confident this is moisture-related, so I’ve gone ahead and ordered a filament drying system before I start reprinting armor pieces. Whatever the cause, it’s been absolutely miserable to sand. It was actually worse before this stage, but you can still see areas where I attempted to smooth heavy ridges with a soldering iron (a bold choice, in hindsight), along with spots that looked like they were on the verge of delaminating.

 

Again, I can’t say with total certainty what caused it, but moisture is currently the leading suspect.

 

After pushing through that, I managed to sand everything down as best as my patience would allow. To help, I printed a simple sanding block using some leftover PLA from another project:

 

Easily the most frustrating part of the helmet so far has been the tube stripes. My supports did me absolutely no favors here, so cleanup was… not ideal. I spent about 20 minutes with a file trying to smooth things out, and while it’s far from perfect, I’m confident that spot putty later will take care of the rest.

 

And yes—remember that comment about building with Centurion in mind?

 

Against my better judgment, I went ahead and “welded” in some spare PETG on the right eye per the CRL. I referenced several other build threads before committing, and I think I landed somewhere safely between “not a crazy bump” and “respectably noticeable.”

 

I’ll be honest: this isn’t my favorite detail. I’m a fan of sharp, clean, consistent edges. That said, I don’t think it looks bad—and I’m happy to pay a little homage to the original prop makers here. My only lingering concern is whether I undersized it, but for now, I’m cautiously optimistic.

 

Finally, the worst part yet: spot putty.

Enough said.

 

That’s all I’ve got for today’s update. With any luck, the next few days will involve a couple coats of primer, more block sanding, and repeating that process until the helmet is smooth and ready for paint.

 

I’m not exactly looking forward to painting all the bits, bobs, and greebles—but compared to this stage, that part should be more relaxing (potentially a choice word). The only wildcard is the weather, which has been about as predictable as Kylo Ren’s attitude. That said, despite what the local weatherman keeps claiming, it’s finally warming up this week… and this is where things usually start to come together.

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

The most tedious part of 3D printing, sanding 

 

 

[Sayless]

15 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

The most tedious part of 3D printing, sanding 

 

 

Could not be more true!!!

 

Sanded last night, realized I missed a spot with spot putty, so now I have to re-sand that spot so that all of the spots are covered. No spots left uncovered!!

[Sayless]

Okay, mini update because I’m equal parts anxious and excited.

 

I ultimately pulled the trigger on Mr. Paul’s files, and for anyone who’s been on the fence… they’re absolutely worth it. Even just loading them into the slicer, the difference in detail alone made them look promising. But it wasn’t until I printed the new abdomen and compared it side-by-side with Akira’s version that I realized just how inaccurate the original was. Don't mind the painters tape that's stuck to the super glue...

 

 

[The glue dried on this piece as I was setting it, but shouldn't be too hard to smooth out]

 

Because of my printer’s build volume, I had to split the abdomen into six pieces, which is definitely not ideal—but it ended up working out better than expected (thanks Gorilla glue!).

For sizing reference, I’m roughly a 34–36” waist, with 36” being the upper limit for Mr. Paul’s files. Everything actually fits as intended. The back has quite a bit of give, and for the sake of test photos I let it sit fully open. In that position, the gap measures about 7”, but when I draw the sides together it closes to roughly 5”, which is also noticeably more comfortable. So structurally, the scaling seems to be right where it should be (and I could afford to lose 10 pounds).

 

I also switched filament for this print. Up until now I’ve been using SUNLU High Speed PETG, but after some digging (YouTube rabbit holes, of course), I found it’s more prone to stringing and layer separation—the exact issues I’d been fighting. For this run I switched to standard SUNLU PETG in white, and honestly it’s been printing beautifully. At this point it’s performing just as well as—possibly even better than—the SUNLU PLA+ I’ve used on other projects.

 

Naturally, this has made me briefly consider reprinting the entire suit (which is… unlikely), purely for the improvement in post-processing. At the very least, though, all the upcoming MPSB replacement parts should be much easier to finish.

 

Anyway, this is meant to be a quick update, so I’ll let the photos do the rest of the talking.

Tomorrow we primer the helmet. Either it looks incredible, or I discover new sanding techniques. Like Anakin, I hate sand[ing].

Left — Nico’s original files (cheeks cut out with a Dremel), scaled to 90%
Right — Greg’s updated files, scaled to 100% — night and day difference.

 

[Tzag[TK]]

We are looking forward to see them finished!!! You have done a great job so far!!! 

[Sayless]

Well, it’s time for another update, and I want to preface this one by saying… it hasn’t exactly gone according to plan.

Honestly, at this point it’s hard to say what has gone according to plan given all the hiccups—but we press on.

 

Last night impatience got the better of me, so with the help of some painter’s tape, my wife, and the helmet that started this whole adventure, I attempted my first partial “suit up”:

 

Mentally, this helped more than anything. It proved the most important thing: this "idea" works—and at least these larger pieces are printing to scale (I think).

 

I’ve been printing the legs from Mr. Paul’s files (more on that at the end), but the part I was most excited about was the helmet—and that’s been an adventure all its own. Today, I decided it was finally paint day.

 

I stopped by AutoZone and picked up some Upol Filler Primer that I’ve seen recommended here, and I’m not exaggerating when I say it’s a game changer. Compared to my first helmet—which used strictly Rustoleum products—the Upol went on smoother, easier, and far more forgiving.

 

Of course, what it also revealed… were all the flaws still lurking underneath. Printing errors. Rushed sanding. Impatience. You name it, I probably did it.

 

If you’re thinking “Wow, that’s a lot of flaws” you’re absolutely right. This is what happens when you skip steps in a rush to the finish line. I basically doubled my post-processing workload because I wanted things done faster at the start (mostly to text some photos to friends and family).

 

You can see in the photos where I marked areas for ears and brow trim placement to determine what might be passable versus what actually needed work.

Spoiler: I ignored that plan and re-sanded, re-filled, and re-primed the entire helmet anyway.

 

Why?

Because this build deserves to be perfect*.

 

[*Perfect being a "subjective" term for me]

 

At this point, all the stages are starting to blur together — which might just be a sign I’ve been staring at this helmet too long.

 

After more sanding, I laid down two more coats of filler primer and wet-sanded through, 320, 400 and, 800 grit.

(Yes, I skipped several grits. No, I will not be taking questions at this time.)

 

Honestly? It looked great. A few minor runs on the dome, but nothing I couldn’t sand out. I should have just stopped there. But... I got ambitious (again).

 

Remember when I said this build deserved to be perfect?

Well, apparently I lied. Mostly to myself.

 

See them? The runs. The glorious, tragic runs.

 

I shook the can thoroughly. I sprayed three light coats followed by one medium coat… and boom. Run city.

 

I’m not thrilled, but it’s fine. I’m used to sanding now. Granted, sanding is coarse and rough and irritating — and it gets everywhere. Literally everywhere.

 

(Okay, I’ll stop with the Skywalker quotes.)

 

 

At this point, I’m hitting pause on this helmet to give the paint time to fully cure before touching it again. Rustoleum is notoriously finicky, and sanding too early turns it into gummy sludge that, clogs sandpaper, leaves massive globs, and sometimes I've had it peel paint clean off.

 

So we’re hoping to avoid that scenario entirely. This is fixable.

Plus, I forgot to order my 2K clear coat, so I can’t finish it yet anyway. That arrives mid-week.

 

While the helmet cures, I’ve moved on to the new abdomen pieces. I may have gone a little heavy on the spot putty:

 

I also just finished printing:

• kidney plate

• left thigh 

• currently on attempt #3 for the right thigh (attempt #2 pictured)

 

The printer actually shut itself off with 45 minutes left on a 7 ½-hour print, so I’m guessing it overheated and saved itself from a potentially worse fate? 

 

That’s it for tonight. I may have another small update tomorrow if the right thigh finally decides to cooperate.

 

18 hours ago, Tzag said:

We are looking forward to see them finished!!! You have done a great job so far!!! 

 

And thank you Dimitris! It's been a fun ride so far, and it's only getting better!

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Talk about trials and tribulations, good to see it has not deterred you. 

 

For larger seams I use automotive filler, harder to sand but it is a lot stronger, blade (spot) putty doesn't like it if it's too thick, thinner from top coats can soften the putty and it can move.

 

We all get impatient (as I've just seen some wrinkling on something I painted this morning ) but yes definitely good drying time between coats.

 

 

[Sayless]

34 minutes ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Talk about trials and tribulations, good to see it has not deterred you. 

 

For larger seams I use automotive filler, harder to sand but it is a lot stronger, blade (spot) putty doesn't like it if it's too thick, thinner from top coats can soften the putty and it can move.

 

We all get impatient (as I've just seen some wrinkling on something I painted this morning ) but yes definitely good drying time between coats.

 

 

 

I'd love to use general automotive filler, but I'm fairly allergic to something in it... not sure if it's the filler or the hardener but it triggers Bell's Palsy and freezes up half my face... so w'ere trying to avoid that for as long as I can. 

 

But, I did invest in new respirators for my face shield so who knows, we may try again! I'm generally not a fan of fillers in general, but I knew it was part of the process if I went the 3D printed route opposed to a vacuum formed set. All part of the trials! Hoping to make some more progress before my next work trip in March.

[Tzag[TK]]

The progress is great and the helmet looks like a lot of effort was put on. You should not worry about mistakes as we all leard from them. Regarding the helmet, with a bit of fine sanding it will be ready for its final colours!! Keep going and keep updating. I have two questions: the first is "how the abs piece with the kidneys are connected? How do you wear that? Is it open in the sides while you wear it or you just squeeze in there?" The second question is " does someone know a software that can helps you fit an stl to you?" For example, i am a bigger scale trooper and now that i see your thread, i am really thinking of printing a set of R1TK trooper too but i do not know how to fit the armor on me. The thighs will be definitely small, and the abs piece should be definitely larger too. Thank you!! Looking forward to see your armor ready!!! 

[themaninthesuitcase[Admin]]

An amazing amount of effort going into this, I've tried a few times and always fail with big 3D parts!

 

Allergies aside you should be wearing full PPE with most of this stuff, or you can develop them. Not sure what alternatives there are to the 2 part body filler. Maybe some thing like a resin and a filler? Would cure pretty fast too.

[Sayless]

6 hours ago, Tzag said:

The progress is great and the helmet looks like a lot of effort was put on. You should not worry about mistakes as we all leard from them. Regarding the helmet, with a bit of fine sanding it will be ready for its final colours!! Keep going and keep updating. I have two questions: the first is "how the abs piece with the kidneys are connected? How do you wear that? Is it open in the sides while you wear it or you just squeeze in there?" The second question is " does someone know a software that can helps you fit an stl to you?" For example, i am a bigger scale trooper and now that i see your thread, i am really thinking of printing a set of R1TK trooper too but i do not know how to fit the armor on me. The thighs will be definitely small, and the abs piece should be definitely larger too. Thank you!! Looking forward to see your armor ready!!! 

 

Thank you! This week’s plan is to let the paint fully cure before touching the helmet again. Once it’s ready, I’ll wet sand the runs out with 800 grit, then follow up with two light coats of white and finish it off with clear coat.

 

For the abdomen, there’s a kidney (or “trauma”) plate that covers the rear gap. Like several others have done, my plan is to stitch a zipper into elastic panels to close that gap first, and then use the plate to conceal the entire closure system.

 

 

Getting into the armor is definitely the tricky part. The current method is to open the back as wide as it will allow, slide it onto one side of my torso, rotate it into place, and then close everything up. It’s been a lot of guess-and-check with fitment, but it’s slowly getting dialed in.

 

I know there are tools like Armorsmith, and I’ve seen that Galactic Armory is developing a new program called FormFitter, which looks like it could be a really nice upgrade for scaling and fit visualization. I haven’t used either yet—I’ve mostly been doing things the old-school way with a measuring tape and a bit of optimism.

 

Interestingly, my older thigh prints ended up more snug than I wanted, while my new calves printed at 100% scale fit perfectly. So sometimes it’s careful measuring… and sometimes it’s just luck.

(Or maybe it’s a reminder that I should start exercising again.)

 

10 minutes ago, themaninthesuitcase said:

An amazing amount of effort going into this, I've tried a few times and always fail with big 3D parts!

 

Allergies aside you should be wearing full PPE with most of this stuff, or you can develop them. Not sure what alternatives there are to the 2 part body filler. Maybe some thing like a resin and a filler? Would cure pretty fast too.

 

Thank you—it’s definitely turned into a much bigger undertaking than I originally imagined, but I’m enjoying the process (even when it fights back a little).

 

And I completely agree with you on the PPE. At minimum I’m always in gloves and a full respirator/face shield setup. In my last round I think the real issue was that my filters were well past their prime. The old saying is definitely true: once you can smell it (the fillers/paints/chemicals), it’s time to change them. Lesson learned there.

 

I may give 2-part filler another shot now that I’m more aware of that, but I’m also really curious about resin filler. From what I’ve read it seems like it might sand a bit easier and cleaner, which is always a plus at this stage. Back to YouTube tutorials for research...

[Tzag[TK]]

Thank you so much!! Looking forward to see it in its final form!!! I will check the programs and i will keep you updated too!

[Sayless]

“Quick” little update to close out the weekend.

 

I ended up laying down about 3 or 4 light coats of spot putty (lost count) on the abdomen because I want this piece to look just as good as the helmet did before I introduced runs into the base coat. Naturally, that meant… a lot of sanding.

 

Honestly, the sanding itself wasn’t bad. The real challenge came from the fact that my printer can only handle so much, which meant I had to weld this large piece together in sections. And with that came a few surprises. You’d think this would be a straightforward job, right?

 

Wrong.

 

I tried very hard not to weld on the outside of parts, since that adds a ridiculous amount of post-processing. But against my better judgment (and partly out of necessity), I did it anyway. The result was a few subtle hairline cracks where sections met. I’m not sure whether I didn’t go deep enough welding from the inside, or if the piece simply flexes that much—but either way, they showed up.

See the small crack along that long seam? It’s subtle… but it’s there.

 

Needless to say, that discovery made my stomach drop a bit thinking about how much extra work I’d just created for myself.

 

Thankfully, it didn’t turn out nearly as bad as I feared. I laid down two coats of Upol filler primer (one medium, one heavier), and while the seams were technically still visible at first, they sanded out beautifully. This primer seems to exaggerate flaws initially, but after a pass with 400 grit, imperfections "practically" disappear.

 

I say practically because you can still visually see faint lines if you really look for them—but to the touch they’re completely gone. That’s the important part. Once I add another coat of primer (assuming no runs this time), we should officially be on the path to success. And by success, I mean base coat.

 

I may still do a little spot putty touch-up in a few areas where I got slightly heavy-handed with sanding, just to be safe. But overall, I’m feeling really confident about this piece—especially after everything the helmet taught me.

 

The stomach insert is still raw and needs finishing, but compared to this beast, that should be a quick job.

 

Meanwhile, my twin suns two helmets are just hanging out on the workbench while I let the newer helmet fully cure and off-gas before hitting it with another coat of white.

 

Good news: my 2K clear coat arrives Wednesday, so the tentative goal is to have the helmet ready for clear as soon as it shows up.

I still need to paint all the greebles, inserts, and the brow—which I’m currently debating whether it was smart or questionable to save for last.

 

The plan from here is to finish the white coats, apply clear, then assemble all the accessories with super glue and weld the alignment pegs inside the helmet for extra security. After that, I’ll glue down the brow… and hope for the best. Every mistake is getting me closer to the version that works. But hey, this is a build thread, and this is ultimately my build—hiccups and all!

[dblcross[TK]]

On 2/15/2026 at 8:15 PM, Sayless said:

“Quick” little update to close out the weekend.

 

I ended up laying down about 3 or 4 light coats of spot putty (lost count) on the abdomen because I want this piece to look just as good as the helmet did before I introduced runs into the base coat. Naturally, that meant… a lot of sanding.

 

Honestly, the sanding itself wasn’t bad. The real challenge came from the fact that my printer can only handle so much, which meant I had to weld this large piece together in sections. And with that came a few surprises. You’d think this would be a straightforward job, right?

 

Wrong.

 

I tried very hard not to weld on the outside of parts, since that adds a ridiculous amount of post-processing. But against my better judgment (and partly out of necessity), I did it anyway. The result was a few subtle hairline cracks where sections met. I’m not sure whether I didn’t go deep enough welding from the inside, or if the piece simply flexes that much—but either way, they showed up.

See the small crack along that long seam? It’s subtle… but it’s there.

 

Needless to say, that discovery made my stomach drop a bit thinking about how much extra work I’d just created for myself.

 

Thankfully, it didn’t turn out nearly as bad as I feared. I laid down two coats of Upol filler primer (one medium, one heavier), and while the seams were technically still visible at first, they sanded out beautifully. This primer seems to exaggerate flaws initially, but after a pass with 400 grit, imperfections "practically" disappear.

 

I say practically because you can still visually see faint lines if you really look for them—but to the touch they’re completely gone. That’s the important part. Once I add another coat of primer (assuming no runs this time), we should officially be on the path to success. And by success, I mean base coat.

 

I may still do a little spot putty touch-up in a few areas where I got slightly heavy-handed with sanding, just to be safe. But overall, I’m feeling really confident about this piece—especially after everything the helmet taught me.

 

The stomach insert is still raw and needs finishing, but compared to this beast, that should be a quick job.

 

Meanwhile, my twin suns two helmets are just hanging out on the workbench while I let the newer helmet fully cure and off-gas before hitting it with another coat of white.

 

Good news: my 2K clear coat arrives Wednesday, so the tentative goal is to have the helmet ready for clear as soon as it shows up.

I still need to paint all the greebles, inserts, and the brow—which I’m currently debating whether it was smart or questionable to save for last.

 

The plan from here is to finish the white coats, apply clear, then assemble all the accessories with super glue and weld the alignment pegs inside the helmet for extra security. After that, I’ll glue down the brow… and hope for the best. Every mistake is getting me closer to the version that works. But hey, this is a build thread, and this is ultimately my build—hiccups and all!

Being a ANH TK Stunt trooper, I love seeing this. Hope this comes out great! Looks good so far.

[Sayless]

1 hour ago, dblcross said:

Being a ANH TK Stunt trooper, I love seeing this. Hope this comes out great! Looks good so far.

Thank you! The goal is to get it as accurate as possible, so let’s see how close I can get it. I can only imagine the work that goes into vacuum formed and fiberglass suits, like the TK Stunt Trooper, so this one seemed a little less daunting at initial glance. 

[Sayless]

Well… today didn’t exactly go as planned.

 

In my head, I thought I’d be able to carve out a solid six hours to sand, prime, and paint. To spoil it upfront: absolutely none of that went according to plan.

 

Where I last left off Sunday night, I’d finished (or so I thought) the abdomen armor and confidently said the imperfections “practically disappear.” I’m sure someone saw that photo and thought, “Those are still going to show.” If you did—you were right.

 

I was a bit optimistic assuming most of it would be "hidden" by the chest plate, but after reviewing my bathroom test-fit selfie, it became obvious just how much work was still ahead. To make matters worse, one of my weld seams apparently wasn’t deep enough and developed a small crack in the filler/primer. That’s currently being rewelded and cooling as I write this.

 

I also circled a few problem areas to focus on, since these would absolutely show through a glossy finish if left alone.

 

On a brighter note, I finished printing all of Mr. Paul’s updated parts—calves, biceps, forearms, and shoulders:

 

These all printed beautifully. I still need to weld the inside seams (and possibly the outsides too, judging by the abdomen experience), but overall I’m really happy with how they came out.

 

At this point, though, I’m done gambling with finishing shortcuts. Normally, with a print this nice, I’d skip straight to filler primer, but luck hasn’t exactly been on my side lately. I’ve already burned through four tubes of 3M spot putty at about $6 each, so I think it’s finally time to step up to a quart of Bondo and hardener and really push through the heavy filling stage. It takes longer to cure, which slows my pace, but it should help avoid the shrinkage issues I ran into today.

 

I finally worked up the courage to tackle the chest and back plates—pieces I’d been putting off because of how intimidating they looked. I applied a solid layer of putty, scraping excess as I went, and… unfortunately a lot of it has already begun to crack.

 

This isn’t entirely new; I saw similar issues on the abdomen. The difference is that those seams are mostly covered, while these plates will be front and center.

 

Adding to that, I made some early-build mistakes before I started documenting progress here. Most of the back plate sections warped during printing, leaving large gaps that needed to be filled. Even after packing them with spare filament, some cavities are still visible—especially when highlighted with the contrasting color of putty.

 

So I’ve officially decided to reprint the back plate using a different cut/splice strategy.

The top section is nearly finished, and the bottom piece is currently sitting at an estimated 9 hours and 57 minutes. Living the dream.

 

Which brings us to the original goal for today: painting.

 

This one is completely on me.

 

I’ve been using 91% isopropyl alcohol as a degreaser with no issues up to this point. What I didn’t realize until today is that it can soften or strip enamel paint—even after it’s supposedly cured for 72 hours.

 

I discovered this when wiping down areas that looked dusty from sanding. Turns out I wasn’t removing grime—I was removing paint and primer and exposing the black PETG underneath.

 

That should have been my sign to stop.

 

I did not stop.

 

I painted anyway.

 

Despite all that, the helmet actually still looks pretty good overall (from five feet away), and this round only has a few problem areas compared to the last.

 

It’s far from ideal, but it’s workable. I’m going to let it cure (again) until Friday (my next day off), then sand the face section again and try for a clean, even coat of white. If that goes well, it’s on to 2K clear—which will be a battle for another day. Literally.

 

One thing I hadn’t touched yet, until today, were the helmet accessories and trim pieces.

 

I needed a way to temporarily mount them to paint sticks and couldn’t think of a good solution. After browsing the forums and seeing a few clever setups, I ended up stumbling across a video from M.M.’s Prop Shop on YouTube where she used butyl sealant from a hardware store.

 

This stuff is fantastic. Applied correctly, it leaves little to no residue and doesn’t dry out. I specifically wanted something other than hot glue so I wouldn’t risk snapping delicate parts when removing them later—which is already happening with pieces from helmet #1.

 

It’s actually very similar to the sealant used in automotive headlight housings, just likely less heat resistant since this version came from Home Depot.

 

So far, these accessory and trim pieces are behaving far better than my luck with white Rustoleum. Time will tell.

 

I’ll close this update out with a few close-ups of those parts, which—like everything else in this project—still need plenty of sanding.

 

This weekend, we go all in.

 

Heck, maybe I'll even get in a full test-fit (ambitious, but I'm hopeful).

[gmrhodes13[Staff]]

Wrinkling you will normally find is either due to paint not fully cured, too thick and takes too long to dry or mixing different types of paint.

 

For most of my props I can get away with using RustOleum paints which are a bit cheaper than others here. For A+++ spec helmet and armor I use automotive acrylic, it's very forgiving, dries fast and with clear coats can be sanded and buffed, a lot of enamels don't like being buffed and melt or come off in layers.

 

With joining sections I try to add a slight V to the pieces so glue get's right in, Gorilla superglue I've been having a lot of success with. When I first started I'd add a V cut and fill and join the parts with a 3d printing pen, but I found the glue a lot easier and quicker to use.

 

For holding pieces I use gaffa tape and wire, what ever works. I have a separate undercover folding washing line which is just used to hang sprayed parts.

 

At the end of the day it's all learning curve and what ever way works for you and what ever is available near you. Definitely leave it for a long time before you sand as it could come off in layers if not fully dry 

[Sayless]

10 hours ago, gmrhodes13 said:

Wrinkling you will normally find is either due to paint not fully cured, too thick and takes too long to dry or mixing different types of paint.

 

For most of my props I can get away with using RustOleum paints which are a bit cheaper than others here. For A+++ spec helmet and armor I use automotive acrylic, it's very forgiving, dries fast and with clear coats can be sanded and buffed, a lot of enamels don't like being buffed and melt or come off in layers.

 

With joining sections I try to add a slight V to the pieces so glue get's right in, Gorilla superglue I've been having a lot of success with. When I first started I'd add a V cut and fill and join the parts with a 3d printing pen, but I found the glue a lot easier and quicker to use.

 

For holding pieces I use gaffa tape and wire, what ever works. I have a separate undercover folding washing line which is just used to hang sprayed parts.

 

At the end of the day it's all learning curve and what ever way works for you and what ever is available near you. Definitely leave it for a long time before you sand as it could come off in layers if not fully dry 

 

Glen, this is incredibly helpful—thank you, I really appreciate you taking the time some insights!

 

I’m honestly not the biggest fan of Rustoleum either. Like you mentioned, it’s just not nearly as forgiving as automotive paints. I do have some local auto paint suppliers nearby, but the lead times to get additional cans have been pretty wild lately since I’m not set up for spray gun use yet. I’ve heard waits can stretch close to a month, and online pricing hasn’t exactly been friendly either. Case in point, I just had to order more Upol primer because AutoZone is on a two-week backorder.

 

Coincidentally, I actually tried your V-groove method this morning while gluing up the new back armor plate, so I’m really curious to see how it performs. I should have some time this weekend to tackle more of the larger pieces. For now, the helmet is officially on pause so I can give it a proper cure time. I thought three days would be enough, but clearly I learned otherwise (the pictures speak louder than words).

 

I’ll be experimenting with a few different painting setups over the next week or so—the next batch of parts should be interesting. I may try a washing line setup and maybe even a coat-hanger contraption. I’ll report back with results.

[Sly11[Admin]]

What a massive undertaking this is.

Certainly coming together nicely despite the few issues you've had with spaghetti prints and paint fry.

Looking forward to seeing this come full circle and you being approved.

 

[ukswrath[Staff]]

This is outstanding! Absolutely impressive to me.