I use only hot glue to attach my visors into printed helmets. I haven't had any warping issuesWould I have to worry at all about the hot glue warping/messing up the helmet since it's just printed with PLA? Or do you just use such tiny bits that its no worry?
Since the steelstick holds everything in place you shouldn't have to worry. Also you're not using that much hot glue.Would I have to worry at all about the hot glue warping/messing up the helmet since it's just printed with PLA? Or do you just use such tiny bits that its no worry?
And is it very hard to trim the sheet once it's tacked in place? I feel like I'd struggle to position scissors or a blade to get good cuts.
Sorry to barrage you with questions, I'm really just cluelessly stumbling my way through making this so everything helps
I love the display!Trying to keep the momentum going here. Over the weekend I put a vote in the discord on whether people thought it looked better with or without the UA, and with ended up winning by a good margin. I went ahead and glued the mount for it onto the helmet and then went ahead with the wash so I could make sure I reached everything underneath before the UA plate gets put on.
Now that the wash is on, I'm VERY pleased with how it turned out.
I just slathered a ton of it on and let it run into the crevices and sit for a bit to tone down some of the gray.
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Then I went in and cleaned a bunch of it off and just kinda smeared it around to stain the gray and add some more grime to the whole thing. I didn't want it to be "dirty" but it needed to be way less clean than it was. I'm loving how it looks now. It might not capture super well on camera, or maybe even look all that different without seeing a before-and-after, but it looks so much better now.
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Next on the agenda is mounting the UA plate. But before I do that, I wanted to try and add some more flair to it. I'm going to try and add the white markings that it has on it from the game, as well as probably paint the small square on the mount red as seen here...
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To start off with this, I went ahead and just eye-balled some masking tape onto the plate and I think I did a pretty okay job at making each side symmetrical. I'll go in and hand-brush on the white into these spots and then maybe do some other wear and tear/scuff marks like in the picture above.
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We are rapidly approaching the finish line!! Thank you everyone for the constant encouragement and compliments
The AR is very loved and, until I mount it on a wall, it will be living in luxury at the top of my office shelf right above some familiar faces.
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Visor is from IconProps on Etsy. They have a few other colors and a hex pattern one too. I'd like to get a more detailed vacuum-formed one at some point, but the convenience of this one is really nice.Looks awesome ! Just curious though, where did you get the visor from ?
Okay cool thanks ! A recommendation though, instead of as vacuum formed visor, a resin visor works a ton better imo, it retains the detail while being pretty durable itself. I'm not quite sure if he is on the 405th or is a member, but dat_boi_builds on insta is open to commissions atm I think. Also if you have a big enough resin printer then you could do it yourself and i could just give you the method. just lmk.Visor is from IconProps on Etsy. They have a few other colors and a hex pattern one too. I'd like to get a more detailed vacuum-formed one at some point, but the convenience of this one is really nice.
I'll look into it! I only have an FDM printer, but my University has a makers space with a resin one that I could maybe use.Okay cool thanks ! A recommendation though, instead of as vacuum formed visor, a resin visor works a ton better imo, it retains the detail while being pretty durable itself. I'm not quite sure if he is on the 405th or is a member, but dat_boi_builds on insta is open to commissions atm I think. Also if you have a big enough resin printer then you could do it yourself and i could just give you the method. just lmk.
While I was doing test fits before trimming and gluing, I was using some two-sided gorilla tape that I had laying around. I cut it into strips and just lined the contact points on the inside with it. It worked well enough that I figured I'd roll with it for now, but if it ever starts failing I'll just swap it out with some hot glue.How'd you end up attaching the visor to the helmet?
Sounds like a really solid alternative and maybe easy to swap out if you plan on upgrading/changing the visor later on!While I was doing test fits before trimming and gluing, I was using some two-sided gorilla tape that I had laying around. I cut it into strips and just lined the contact points on the inside with it. It worked well enough that I figured I'd roll with it for now, but if it ever starts failing I'll just swap it out with some hot glue.
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That is crazy! You've gifted me a new printer fear.Experienced a big sad today...
I started printing the first piece of my chest armor today and everything was running smooth and it was looking clean. After about 30 minutes I was met with the sound of my printer screaming about a thermal runaway, so I ran over and shut everything down.
After investigating for a while I made a terrible discovery...
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Somehow one of the cables leading to my hotbed looks to either have severed itself or shorted and burnt itself off.
Very disappointing, and I've already reached out to support to see where I go from here.
The build will be put on hold for a while