DIY - Painting the 3D-Printed SOLDIER Sword

 

I already completed this project last month. I'm sorry that I posted this late, I'm busy doing other projects and prepping for Christmas. Anyway this is another painting project and I painted SOLDIER's standard issue sword, first seen in detail in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII. This is a Play Arts Kai scale 3D printed weapon that I bought online.

This is the 3D-Printed SOLDIER sword I ordered online. It's cheap and came unpainted. The sword also have a display stand.

The sword is not really accurate to the source material. The blade's Z-axis is not diamond-shaped. Also, its print quality not the best, there are some blotches and the grip looks like it sticked on the 3D printer's heat bed. But hey, I still got the SOLDIER sword I wished for in my toy review of Play Arts Kai Zack.

Again I used cheap spraypaints from Mr. D.I.Y. and I also used two gold paints: Tamiya and Mr. D.I.Y. (again another spraycan). I also used metallic markers and few colored sharpies on this project. This time I'm kinda prepared because I now have few new tools like the alligator clips so that I can paint easier.

I sanded the sword first to remove some imperfections from the printing process. The sword split in two while I'm sanding it. Good thing I have a super glue ready just in case I break the sword. Time to paint the sword and the stand. I masked the grip of the sword because I want to paint the sword with silver paint first.

The alligator clip came in handy. The painting process became easier. I left the sword to dry so that I can paint the guard and pommel part later.

The silver paint is now dry (not really), so I handpainted the sword's guard and pommel with Tamiya gold paint.

The paint job is sloppy as expected, but I see an improvement in my hand painting skill. The gold paint in the middle looks better that I expected but it's not enough. I also accidentally pressed my finger on the blade making the paint chip and crumple a bit (look closer at the pic above). I thought the silver paint is dry, That's why after painting the gold parts I left the sword to dry for a day.

Next, I painted the swords display stand with silver paint.

Now that the sword's paint is fully dry, I repainted the gold parts with a gold Mr. D.I.Y. spraycan. I masked the entire blade, I don't to accidentally spray some gold paint on it. I left it to dry for a day again. After that, I hand painted the gold area (and the unpainted areas) with Tamiya gold paint for light shading and gloss.

The gold parts came out better. Last part is the sword's grip. I masked the gold and silver parts of the sword so that i can paint the grip with blue paint and left it to dry for a day then I painted the unpainted areas with a blue sharpie.

I want a gunmetal look for the stand so I also painted the stand's silver surface with black paint and I failed, The stand became all black. So for damage control, I went to plan B. I sanded some of the black paint to make a rugged-looking display stand which came out looking better than expected in my opinion.

I also used a metallic silver marker with a darker tone to give the blade some shadings and I went for a rugged sword look because of the print quality of the sword and the painting mistakes that I made. I'll say it looks better, I just think of it as Zack's old overused sword that he retired after he inherited the Buster Sword. Now that I'm happy and satisfied with the sword's paint job, I top coated the sword with Tamiya clear paint for extra gloss on the blade and guard and Tamiya flat clear for the sword grip. I also top coated the display stand with a combination of clear and flat paint.

As I mentioned earlier, this 3D-printed SOLDIER sword is Play Arts Kai scale (1/7 scale) and it's compatible with most PAK figures, especially SOLDIER-boy himself, Zack. The SOLDIER sword is shorter than the Buster Sword and man, this weapon looks good when Zack's holding it in the pictures.

But the sword have a drawback: Zack can't hold it using the gripping hand. Zack's gripping hand is molded with fingers sticking on each other, meaning you can't finagle the sword into the gripping hand. You cannot even slide the sword in the hand because of the sword's pommel. You can use the open hands to hold this sword and do some limited posing. 

It's good that the sword is lightweight and I'm surprised the open hand can hold this sword in a way that you see in the pic above.

I'm happy with this 3D-printed product especially after painting it with accurate colors and giving it more detail. I asked the guy who printed this sword if he can make more Play Arts Kai compatible weapons. Sadly after I requested that he make the Royal Arms (13 weapons) for Noctis he stopped replying. The Royal Arms project must be overwhelming for him, probably because it's difficult to acquire the files and the models of each weapons for 3D printing.

Toy Review: Zack Fair - Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII Play Arts Kai action figure

Cheers.