My new project - Aenea Draco - DONE!

[Out2gtcha]

I have not yet been able to get back into an LSP grove, but I still had a massive amount of creative energy to expend, so decided to go in a different direction(s).

The first is a long term project that the wife and I started together. We decided that since we wont be moving like we wanted any time soon due to the current APR, we figured we might was well go ahead and have some fun.

Its our own personal rendition of JRR Tolkien's LOTR 3rd age map of Middle Earth with our own addition of the Realm of Aman containing Valinor, home of the Elves and the Valor.  Its a lot of things but its NOT going to be small. It covers two walls and ends up being about 250 square feet or so.

 

 

Used the Silhouette cutter to print out the Tolkien Tangwar poems around the outside. Our Tolkien map will have the "straight road" on it leading to Aman off to the left of the door, so we will be able to add a LOT of detail.

 

You can see the Tangwar masks we used in this pic.............as well as the wife shooing our smallest dare devil, Ripley Ellen off of the 12' ladder we were using.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far we only have the outline/coast of Middle Earth, the compass rose and some rivers in Middle Earth done. We have yet to start the Realm of Aman as we have to figure out size and scale of that first. 

 

 

The second and main project is mine.........

I've always LOVED dragons. I've found them fascinating in a spirit animal type of way, and I used to do a ton of reading on them back in the day, including my D&D days. I even got a good luck dragon tattoo back in collage. With the advancements of todays 3D printing, I thought it was time I invested in a highly detailed 3D print of a dragon. I also got deep into the history of the lore of the dragons of the 1st age of the LOTR. They made Smaug look like a miniature poodle!!

 

The wife got me a 10% discount for an .stl file that I really liked, and jumped on the web to find a reputable company to print the file.

I found a company on Etsy (Lord of the Print) and got a larger dragon printed, in this case approx 8" to 10" x about 12", with a tremendous deal  on the larger size. It arrived a few days ago, and I was SUPER impressed with the print. With the exception of a few spots on the connecting membranes on the wings, there were hardly any print lines to eliminate/fill. 

 

There is quite a complex dragon society lined up for each type of dragon, some good, some evil, some neutral, all fascinating. 

Mainly for the potential paint job as well as its morality alignment. Bronze dragons are almost always on the side of good, going out of their way to interact and even help humans, they abhor abuse to lesser creatures of any kind, and are generally interested in justice. Bronze dragons have a slight fascination with war and the tools of war, can swim & usually live by coastal areas.

Bronze dragons are usually born bright yellow with some slight greenish markings, and mature into having bright metallic bronze/brass looking scales with bronze green accents on their wings, with gloss black horns on their head and wings.

First up, was bath of Bleche Wite for all the different sections, as the dragon came in 10 different parts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

The print quality is really high, and very well done. The only thing I dont like is the larger fatter looking ends of the ancient spines, which I will change to my liking:

 

 

 

 

 

 

As said above, the base that came with the dragon is really well done, including the bronze dragons soon to be lunch, a hammer head shark:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ill be back later tonight as I should have the legs, arms, head and two tail sections glued together. I am also getting ready to spray the the few areas of viable print lines with some MS 500, then MS 1500.

 

 

[LSP_K2]

Is washing the printed parts really necessary? Before too long, I'll finally have my Lost in Space Robot, and I'd like it to turn out as nice as possible.

[chrish]

DAAAAAAAAMN!

I want that!!

good on ya!

[Out2gtcha]

6 minutes ago, LSP_K2 said:

Is washing the printed parts really necessary? Before too long, I'll finally have my Lost in Space Robot, and I'd like it to turn out as nice as possible.

 

I think it's much less necessary than with resin moulded stuff, but I still do as I have found even with the new technology, there still can be some uncured resin on the outside of the print.

In this case the Lord of the Print dragon did not seem to have anything like that on it, but I figured a bath in cleaner and then a soap and water bath couldn't hurt.

[Out2gtcha]

2 minutes ago, chrish said:

DAAAAAAAAMN!

I want that!!

good on ya!

 

Thanks, it's a REALLY well done print too. Highly impressed with the details for sure.

 

I'll post some pics pics as I've done a bit of assembly on the dragon.

[LSP_Kevin]

Fantastic projects both, Brian!

 

12 minutes ago, LSP_K2 said:

Is washing the printed parts really necessary? Before too long, I'll finally have my Lost in Space Robot, and I'd like it to turn out as nice as possible.

 

8 minutes ago, Out2gtcha said:

 

I think it's much less necessary than with resin moulded stuff, but I still do as I have found even with the new technology, there still can be some uncured resin on the outside of the print.

In this case the Lord of the Print dragon did not seem to have anything like that in it, but I figured a bath in cleaner and then a soap and water bath couldn't hurt.

 

No, it's not necessary to wash 3D-printed parts, except after sanding them of course! There'll be no uncured resin on the surface, as it doesn't survive exposure to even small amounts of UV, and will cure long before you ever receive it. What I have found, however, is that if the model isn't cleaned sufficiently prior to curing, any excess resin on the surface will feel a little sticky even after curing. Take a cotton bud or cloth, and some denatured alcohol (IPA, metho), and give it a rub. The stickiness will disappear immediately. The only place you need to be concerned about uncured resin is inside the cavities of hollowed-out parts, as it can be difficult to fully remove it from those spaces, and it won't necessarily cure properly either. I always do a bit of extra curing by shining a UV torch into hollowed-out areas, just to be safe.

 

Kev

[Out2gtcha]

Yep, seems to be what I've found, but the cleaner does remove the occasional sticky spot, as well as what looked like a bit of finger oil from handling.

All were successfully removed with the Bleache Wite and a soap & water rinse.

 

So far Mr Surfacer sticks like gangbusters!

 

[LSP_Ray]

Wild project for your room walls! Look forward to seeing how it turns out.

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys. Again, fun working on something so different from other things I've done lately..........or ever.  I took some time and sharpened up the very ancient looking back spines, from fat at the tips to more pointed.

Then after just a few min, I had the head, arms and legs on as well as the two tail sections. The print is VERY well aligned and although there were some small gaps to fill, I didn't use any actual filler, and instead Mr Surfacer 500 seemed to cover most of the gaps and the very few spots on the wings showing printing layers.

Im super impressed with the quality and detail they got in....

 

Since bronze dragons are water borne, and almost always live in the water around the sea or on shore in a cave near the sea, I dub thee:

 

Baydhyrth the Bronze - "The Claws of the Coast"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There will be  tiny bit of filling to do on Baydhyrth's beak, but not much at all on his body or tail:

 

 

 

 

The engineer in me did take over when I saw how long the wings were, with only a single thin butt joint to hold each of them in place, so I drilled a centering hole in each of the wing bases and inserted a brass rod into each wing section:

 

 

 

 

 

The detail on the wings is also exceptional, and only the flat and less textured wing membranes have any sign of print layers that need to be filled more:

 

 

 

 

 

Ill be spending tonight getting the remainder of the issues on the wings filled, then its on to attaching the wings themselves. The resin is nice to work with and is not overly brittle but still very delicate in a lot of the thinner places.

 

Cheers! 

[Landrotten Highlander]

Love both projects.

Does the script around the map have a particular translation, or is it just copied from the many illustrations available?

[Out2gtcha]

17 minutes ago, Landrotten Highlander said:

Love both projects.

Does the script around the map have a particular translation, or is it just copied from the many illustrations available?

 

Its a form of Tengwar script. Its not the exact type of Tengwar Tolkien used on his map, but it was easier for application and translation purposes to use this Tengwar variant.

 

There are actually two poems in Tengwar on the map, one that starts on the West side of the map running up to the top, across the top and running down the East side of the map...............our Tolkien map has the full top Tengar script, but the sides got a bit cut off because they were shorter than the top was across. Since the bottom of the map was never going to be visible, the bottom poem was not put on for obvious reasons. 

 

The translation of the script from bottom left, across the top and down the side (cut off sections in red):

 

WEST:

In western lands beneath the sun the flowers may rise in spring, the trees may bud, the waters run, the merry finches sing. Or there maybe tis cloudless night and sway

TOP:

ing beeches bear the elven stars as jewels white amid their branching hair. Though here at journey’s end I lie in darkness buried deep, beyond all towers st

EAST:

rong and high, beyond all mountains steep, above all shadows rides the sun and stars forever dwell, I will not say the day is done, nor bid the stars farewell.

 

 

[Alex]

Wow, that wall map brings back memories!  I still have my paperback boxed set of the Hobbit plus LOTR from when I was a kid.  I often think that I should dig it out and re-read it.  Maybe someday.  Regardless, good luck with both of these projects!

[chrish]

Love it!

what a project! And a great distraction from aircraft.

[Alain Gadbois]

Two really cool projects!

That dragon model is very impressive!

 

Alain

[Greif8]

The dragon looks really nice Brian and I think the wall is awesome.  If I could talk my wife into it I would do a Viking motif.  Perhaps when my children have moved out and I can co-opt one of their bedrooms to turn into a model display room.  I have some friends that are into fantasy type gaming that use miniatures and I have painted my share of dragons, much smaller than yours, and other figures.  It certainly is a change of pace from military subjects.  Have fun with the build!

 

Ernest