3D printed kits can be scary at first glance, but we're here to help! Whether you ordered a physical kit from us directly or printed your own prop at home, this guide will help you assemble, finish and paint your new prop/accessories!
First things first.
Lay out all the pieces of your prop/accessory kit - bring up the product listing if you need to compare. Make sure you've received every piece you need/printed every piece you need. You don't want to get part way through assembly only to then realise you're missing something! If we printed your kit in-house and you find a piece missing, please contact us.
If you're building a prop kit, you'll notice our kits are modelled with internal channels for rods/dowels. These are essentially non-negotiable. Your prop will not be safe to carry/pose with if it isn't built with this internal core, so be sure to use one! Depending on the size of the prop, we model for 6.3mm (1/4 inch), 10mm (3/8 inch), 12mm (1/2 inch) or 25mm (1 inch) rods - we include a notecard in all physical printed kits that has this noted down on, but for prints you did yourself, just double check the product listing to be sure!
Keep note of the rod size you need, now it's time to go on a supply run.
A Brief Supplies List
- Any necessary rods/dowels
- 2-Part Epoxy/glue of your choice
- Expanding glue
- Painters tape
- Gap Filler
- Automative Filler Primer (preferably 2x cans in 2 different colours if you can!)
- 80 grit sand paper
- 120 grit sand paper
- 240 grit sand paper
- 400 grit wet/dry sand paper
- 600 grit wet/dry sand paper
- Face mask/respirator (even if you're working outside)
- Decent sized tub of water
- Primer/base coat paint
- Whatever paints you wish to use for finishing!
For more insight into specific supplies, we have a full, in-depth list of all the finishing supplies we use in-house with bonus context of why we use these specific brands over others - check out our recommended supplies here!
Getting Started
FDM printing often uses additional support/adhesion material that can leave dots, stripes notches or rimmed edges on your prints. While we endeavour to remove most of these before shipping, sometimes small pieces/marks may remain. But don't worry! The finishing process will smooth these out in no time.
First up, take a look at your laid-out kit - some pieces may be more complex than others (ie. crossguards/handguards of swords, detail pieces of spears, etc.). Separate your simple pieces (such as plain pole sections of spears and any blade pieces of swords) from your complex pieces. We recommend pre-sanding your complex pieces on their own prior to gluing. This will make it easier to reach small crevices around details/swirls/other complex geometry. As for blades and poles, or any other prop sections that have little to no detail but a lot of seams, we recommend gluing these together before sanding to help hide seams.
We generally start with assembling our simple prop pieces - make sure you've got your internal rod cut to size before you start gluing pieces together, or it can be tricky to cut it down once pieces are attached to it. The best way to find out how long your rod needs to be is to slot all the prop pieces onto one side, leaving the lowest part of the prop (generally we leave the "pommel", the end of the handle/pole as it's the shortest piece and easiest to identify). Slot the pommel onto the opposite end of your rod (yes, there will likely be a large gap between the pommel and the next piece of the prop), and mark with a permanent marker where the pommel stops on the rod. Remove the pommel from the rod, and measure the length from the end of the rod to the mark you just made. Then move to where the next-lowest piece of your prop ends on the rod, and measure from the very bottom of that piece the length you just measured of the pommel. Mark this length - this is where you will cut your rod to length. You can do so with a pipe cutter (see link in our recommended supplies), saw or rotary tool.
Keep your offcut - it may come in handy for future projects!
To assemble your simple kit pieces, it's best to start with an end piece of the prop - obviously this will change depending on what prop you're building and where its more complex pieces are, but this will generally be the tip of a sword blade or the pommel of a spear. We recommend laying all your simple kit pieces out in order so you know which piece goes next!
Before slotting the rod into your first piece, take your expanding glue and apply glue around the circumference of the dowel hole in the printed piece. You can be quite generous with this! Then slot in your rod, twisting it around as you slot it in as far as it can go - this will spread the glue out evenly around the rod. Next, apply your 2-part epoxy to the flat face of the prop piece where the rod now sticks out from. Grab the piece of your prop that is next-in-line, and repeat! As a little lifehack, we will tightly stick painter's tape around each seam we glue on simple prop pieces. This helps a) keep any excess glue that may squeeze from the seam relatively flat and easily sandable, and b) keep blade pieces from twisting and becoming mis-aligned while the glue sets. Clamping pieces together is also an option but largely depends on the geometry of the pieces you're gluing together. Continue to repeat the above steps until you have your sword blade/spear pole etc. all glued together.
Generally, after this step you will end up with something like a full spear pole with the spearhead separate, or a full sword blade with the crossguard and handle separate.
Gap Filling
Now for some extra attention on your semi-assembled simple prop pieces. Once the glue has set, remove your painter's tape/clamps. The seams will likely still be quite noticeable, but that's okay! Take your gap filler and apply it to all of your seams. Once again, you can be quite generous here as you will be sanding your gap filler back in the next step anyway. Be sure to fill all sides of the seam (flip that blade over if you're working on a sword! Don't forget side B) and allow the gap filler to dry completely before moving to the next step.
Preliminary Sanding
Grab your mask, your sand paper and your semi-assembled prop; now it's time to start sanding! Make sure you're wearing messy clothes, and are working in a well-ventilated (and non-carpeted) area with animals or children shut away.
Basic sanding rules: start at your low grits and make your way higher! The more grits you pass through, the smoother finish you'll end up with. You can absolutely skip straight from 80 to 400 if you're impatient, but going through all the grits in between will give you much nicer results. But how in-depth you go here is entirely up to you!
Starting with 80 grit, it's time to attack those layer lines and seams. If you got your print directly through us, we print in quite bright colours - you'll notice the 80 grit sand paper quite rapidly dulls the colour of the filament. We choose our colours pretty intentionally so it's easier for you to see where you've been working!
Start with the seams you slathered in gap filler, sanding back until they're smooth with the rest of the print. From there, progress between your seams until all major imperfactions are smoothed out. To minimize noticeable scratches/lines from your low-grit sandpaper, try to sand in circle motions rather than harsh lines.
Don't forget to sand your complex prop pieces now too! It's easier to keep track of where you're at in your sanding job if you progress through the grits on all of your pieces at the same time.
Once your pieces are nicely sanded with 80 grit, you'll want to give them a bit of scrub/wipe down so they're completely free of dust. PLEASE NOTE: some standard wall fillers (such as Spakfilla) are water soluable before being sealed. If you're using a water soluable gap filler, do not submerge your prop pieces/run them under water. Simply wipe down with a damp cloth. If your gap filler isn't water soluable (ie. a resin-based filler), give it a scrub over a sink/in a tub of water with a small amount of dish soap. Washing your prop pieces down between sand paper grits reduces micro-scratches that can be created by excess sanding dust being stuck to the prop.
After washing down your prop, repeat the above steps in 120 grit, 240 grit and 400 grit.
If you're sanding a sword blade, you may find a sanding block useful! It'll help keep the profile of the blade flat while covering a larger area at once.
Filler Primer
Once you've sanded your raw prints up to 400 grit, it's time for your filler primer!
PLEASE NOTE: it is up to you if you want to attach your complex prop pieces now or later. There is still some more sanding to go after filler primer, but it's not as heavy-handed as your preliminary sanding. If you're worried about hard-to-reach places, you can glue your complex pieces later, but some gap fillers don't like sticking to filler primer. We generally glue the entire prop together and do slight gap filling between the complex and simple pieces (if needed) before filler priming.
Before using filler primer, please ensure you are working in a well-ventilated area with a mask (respirator preferred), gloves, and airflow away from yourself. Filler primer will not come out of clothes, so please use with caution!
Give your prop one last wipe down - any sanding dust left on your prop can cause puckering like orange peel in your filler primer, so you want to be sure it's all clean before application.
Filler primer is applied just like spray paint - cover the whole prop until you're left with a solid colour, no more filament or gap filler should be visible through the product. Some filler primer is quick-drying, and some isn't. Double check the drying time for your specific filler primer, and ensure you allow the filler primer to dry completely before sanding.
We generally apply 2x coats of our first filler primer before sanding.
Wet Sanding
After the filler primer is dry, you're back on sanding duty. But don't worry! This time, we're starting from 400 grit. However, if you have any drips that have formed in the filler primer due to too-heavy application, these can be sanded back with 120 or 240 grit - just make sure you pass through each grit on your way back up to 400 before you start final sanding.
Filler primer is much easier to sand than your raw print, and it creates much finer dust. Wet sanding helps keep this dust down nicely, and will result in a smoother finish. It's a win-win!
Fill a larger tub with water and a dash of dish soap (this will help your sand paper clog up less). If your prop is small enough, you can submerge the prop in the water while sanding. If not, dip your sand paper in the water before sanding. You may also find it useful to have a cloth on hand to wipe your prop down every now and then if it can't be submerged.
As with your preliminary sanding, try to sand in circular motions until you have covered the whole prop. At this point, you will likely still have some imperfections in your prop. Now, apply another coat of filler primer (in a different colour, if you could find). Once this coat is dry, wet-sand at 400 grit again. The advantage of using two different coloured filler primers is that you'll be able to see the high spots in your prop depending on what colour shows through after sanding (filler primer colour #2, filler primer colour #1, or the original filament colour). If you have a particularly stubborn area, you can bump back up to a lower greit like 120 or 240, then make your way back to 400. We tend to repeat the wet-sanding and filler primer process 2-3 times.
Once you're satisfied with your sanding, give your prop a scrub, and then move up to 600 grit. Be sure to give your prop one last scrub/wipe down.
We stop sanding props and accessories at 600 grit. This is because sanding much higher leaves you with a too-smooth finish that paint can struggle to stick to.
Now you're all good to paint!
We recommend starting with a black base coat for metalics/dark colours, or a white base coat for bright colours like pinks, purples, yellows or blues. For more insight into what paints we use in-house, see our recommended supplies list!
