Making Dragon Scale Armor (Proof Of Concept)

This is from one of our custom projects that is in progress and this video is a look at the earlier stages of beginning the armor and doing tests and swatches to dial in the final look. I'm also sharing my experience as I dive into 3D resin printing which I'm expecting will let me deliver some unique new design features for the client that I haven't done before.
The client has permitted some of the content and designs to be available at the academy but I don't have an ETA yet as I'm also working through the Elven & Berserker series and have a lot going on with those. Please be patient as I get through all of it. If there is enough interest I may release sections of this as they are available instead of doing a bundle.
In the meanwhile, you might try the advanced Elven Lord scale skirt which was finished recently
🔥SKIRTING Armor Pattern bit.ly/ElvenSkirt
Or check out the fantasy or imperial scale skirting for beginner/intermediate options!
LINKS:
WEBSITE 🛡️ PrinceArmoryAc...
DISCORD 🛡️ / discord
INSTAGRAM 🛡️ / princearmory
FACEBOOK 🛡️ / princearmory
PATREON 🛡️ / princearmory
Get the Saturn 2 used in this video: amzn.to/45RyoTo
Get the Mercury Wash/Cure station: amzn.to/3rhEtte
SunLu Toughness Resin: bit.ly/3LlALWp
Check out Justin on Instagram: / dermagraphink

[@Meglin1461]

Professional miniature painter here. Use an airbrush for the primer and bass colour layers. You will get better and more consistent coverage. You can then do a dry brush to get those details to pop. The metals look awesome though, I may need to try and find some haha

[@Princearmory]

Thanks for sharing!

[@Meglin1461]

@@Princearmory oh and it will save you a bunch of time, especially if you have a lot of them to do

[@bradsimpson8724]

​​@@Meglin1461Who do you commission for? Drop a link; inquiring minds want to know!

[@TheSkinArtists]

they look awesome! so glad i could be a part of your project.

[@Princearmory]

Same here!

[@danielyork3406]

This…. Is what I need, do I need to get another armor from you?

[@Princearmory]

We're pretty over-booked with custom work but if you don't mind the wait I'm always down to make more dragon armor. Your dragon armor was one of my first and I still like it a lot. We can do a lot more design techniques these days though so it might be worth considering, I still have the same email if you want to discuss a project for down the road.

[@earlten]

Very nice! This answers several questions about metallic paints as well!

[@Princearmory]

Glad it was helpful!

[@plainnpretty]

I like the copper best. Perfect for a dragon it looks like fire

[@Princearmory]

Yeah, I also want to make use of the copper at some point.

[@JediRice]

The copper pairs really well with that purple. I love silver trim as much as the next guy, but were this being made for me after seeing the color options I would definitely go with the copper. I love the 3d printed scales you made. Would be awesome to see more of your modelling work made available for purchase or download as 3d print stls. I already have a project in the works using the dragon spike.

[@Princearmory]

I expect to make some of it available.

[@RhythmAndNoise]

Love the Copper! Would love to see the finished product!!!

[@Princearmory]

Coming soon!

[@OminousPinapple]

Highly recommend using hot water to remove supports before curing, my clean-up setup goes like this; - rinse excess resin off the fresh print with hot water mixed with 10-20% methylated spirits (cheaper than IPA in Australia) - peel parts easily off soft supports, use clippers or sharp hobby craft scalpel to neaten up support nubs - place parts in 100% Methylated spirit wash basket , washed for 5-15mins - take out, either spray bottle with fresh Metho or rinse individual parts in fresh tub if there's any little specs of uncured resin. - let dry, then cure

[@Princearmory]

I'll have to give those a try, thanks

[@neotokyoproject]

Quick tip that you really want to have a primer on those! That particular paint doesn't stand up so well with flexing and can be scraped off so please varnish the heck out of those pieces. The resin you're using can also be swapped to something with a little more flex, but if you're just testing the colours out on these, that's not the worst for swatches. As for resin... it can be pretty toxic to work with, so please please make sure you're observing proper safety with it.

[@kcg3927]

Cool idea... Before long, you'll be 3D printing full armor...lol Where's the leather!?

[@Princearmory]

At least one of the academy suits will be 3D printed but my goal is to demonstrate many methods of making armor, not just leather. But I've still got dozens of leather armor projects lined up though anyway.

[@kcg3927]

Nice, keep grinding. Love the creativity.

[@Musha27]

there is any posibility of obtaining the stl for the scales? i´d love to print them

[@Princearmory]

Yeah I'm going to release the early version to patrons this month.

[@lillianroself]

Has this guy ever made a onimask helmet? That would be amazing I bet. :)

[@FlashGordon1023]

I like black 3.0, purple, and copper.

[@Princearmory]

A very good look!

[@evilstans]

You're going to want to get longer gloves, preferably something more heavy duty. The resin is super skin irritating, including the washer runoffs, so you want some wrist protection from the inevitable splashes. The struts and pointy bits can also easily puncture thin disposable gloves. You also may want to put some nail polish or other hardening agent around the holes. It should prevent shear and wear around the holes once attached. I wouldn't have thought to use a printer to make scales. I've always just made them with a die press and sheet steel. i can't imagine the print time for the thousands of scales for a full jack or something.

[@Princearmory]

There are three other videos of making leather scales using various methods on the channel. Sheet metal scales are cool too but the game changer with 3D printing is how detailed and elaborate you can make each scale.

[@rakion299]

few tips for the next time. Remove supports before curing. You are probably curing for to long. this will make your objects brittle.

[@Princearmory]

Thanks. How long should it be curing? What is the disadvantage of leaving the supports first? There are a lot of scales that would be hard to place on the plate uniformly, I left them so I could easily fit them on the plate and they could cure together.

[@JediRice]

@Princearmory I expect it would be less of a problem for your implementation since all the supports were on the underside and would be hidden, but curing the supports before removal means that the supports are more likely to either brake off and leave little nubs behind or there will be pitting where the supports took off part of the model with them. Since the supports are softer prior to curing this is usually less of a problem, though obviously will still happen to varying degrees depending on the thickness of your supports. Some people even soaktheir prints briefly in warm water after cleaning them to soften the supports a bit more before removal.

[@JaredWyns]

This is pretty sweet and gave me some good ideas for a vest I'm working on. TheRingLord is out of anodized blue aluminum scales currently, so I can just 3d print ~6-8k of them (I use small scales and weave with rings) and electroplate them with a similar design and tint with a transparent acrylic. Having the ability to customize the scale shape is amazing though, my sonic mighty is going to get a workout this month

[@Princearmory]

Sounds great!

[@Et20220]

Hydra armour !?!? Okay that sound epic and is it bad i feal like the shoulder pad and helmet got to look like hydra heads because most hydra start off with 3 heads ?granted still super curious on how this will turn out

[@Princearmory]

Yeah something like that

[@mndlessdrwer]

The cool part about having 3D resin printers at the ready is that you can take silicone molds off of the finished prints and use those to make modeling wax casts which you can then add to a wax tree sprue and cast in plaster before melting/burning out the wax and finally casting the scales in metal. But, given that these are just show pieces and not meant to be particularly functional as armor, metal would be a really expensive extravagance. I would try mixing the mirror silver with the dark gold to create a subdued electrum color. I would also consider adding some of the dark gold color to a very dilute wash with some black paint and just dip the scales into it to make the purple less intense while also adding some shimmer. Just remember to agitate the wash with the scale to ensure that the metallic pigments stay in suspension during the dipping process. You can also try using isopropanol as your diluent if you want the paint to flash off faster (assuming your resin of choice does not dissolve in isopropanol once cured.)