Skyrim - Dragon Priest Mask - Update II

Here's a quick update on the Dragon Priest Mask. As I mentioned in a previous post, 3D printing is both a gift and a curse, mind you the positives typically outweigh the negatives. In the case of this mask, I may tend to disagree. This mask was printed on a ZCorp 310, an old antiquated piece of technology when it comes to ZCorp, but it what we had that could do the scale of the mask. If you're unfamiliar with the ZCorp, it's a powder based 3d print system that utilizes an ink jet print head to distributes a solution that cures when it touches the powder etc. When it's done printing you basically become an archeologist and dig the print out of the remaining material in the print chamber.

 But back to the point, this printer because it's powder based needs to be infiltrated when it comes out (to give it strength) which is basically apply super glue until the model soaks it all up. With the fact that these layers are powder you can see these defined ridges. After the model is infiltrated with CA, it becomes sandable, but with the fine detail on the mask I got fed up after about 4 coats of priming and sanding and just spot puttied the whole thing and filled in the ridges that way. humph. The pictures below, albeit not the best quality show it before it got its final coats of primer and wet sanding.

 This mold was made from 1 trial size kit of rebound 25 Platinum Cure silicone. addition cured silicone is a fickle beast, and I was worried that my primer would inhibit the curing of this silicone, so I expected I would need to remold it. However, that was not the case thankfully.

 Below are two photos of the mask and clay lay up on a sheet of 3/4 in White Melamine ready for Silicone.

Short of telling you how the process works, I feel that I cannot as this was my first and only quantifiable attempt. Just utilize the internet, there are resources available if you look hard enough, YT is a great one to start with, The RPF another. 

The above pictures are I believe the first and second coats applied with a brush without thickener. The next set of photos are the 2 coats afterwards that utilize thi-vex II silicone thickener to fill in undercut areas and make the mold thicker/stronger (where it needs it).

I opted to go for a fiberglass hardshell, but I would suggest you go with whatever you are most comfortable with. It was particularly cold the weekend I did this, and as a result had a bad experience with the fiberglass. I mixed the resin according to the box, a little on the lightside because I wanted the working time. Later found that on the resin bottle itself the instructions were different and I had mixed it extremely light. Fudge. 32 hours later it still wasn't curing so in a desperate attempt to not have to redo everything. A hot batch of resin (way more hardener than what's recommended) was mixed and applied over the uncured resin, fortunately it was enough to kick all of the resin and cure. Thanks the heavens! Below are some photos from the initial fiber-glassing.

 It's likely there will be 2 more parts to this series if you will, definitely less picture heavy, but if you enjoyed this let me know, any questions feel free, if you'd like to purchase a painted version of my Dragon Priest Mask please check out my etsy store at Painted Dragon Priest Masks

Cheers,
Kevin