Welcome to the 'Making of' the Dominance War III Trophy'. As fellow artists and art enthusiasts, the guys at 3D Printing Made Easy were excited to have the honor of creating the first ever 3D Print of the Dominance War Trophy.

In tribute to printing the model, we have documented our process involved in bringing this great trophy, that was created by ThatDon, to life. Our goals with these steps are to hopefully inform and inspire you to reach out beyond the digital screen and take hold of the physical through 3D printing.
 

Step 1: The 3D Model

As you may have already guessed, the most important part of the process is the 3D model. The Trophy (image below) gives us a great indication of what we can expect from the 3D print.

Step 2: The 3D Printable Model (Click here for more info on how to make your model ready for print)

With anything new (Model format and setup), it takes a bit of tweaking to be sure the model is correct for the 3D Printer. This means running an STL (Stereolithography) check on it to be sure the model is clean and printable. For those that don't have access to this file format, you are in luck, MeshLab is a free open source, 3D portable system for importing and exporting all major formats into an STL file.

While looking the model over, we also check for 'thickness' issues. For instance, when scaled down to the appropriate size for print, several parts of the model become to thin to print successfully (Less than .040 mill thick, which is less than the width of a pen stroke). So, we scale those areas up and also break the model in to pieces to insure a great print for all the parts.

Note: Think of your model trying to exist in the real world, with real gravity. If parts are not 100% built together (close to, or airtight), there's a good chance gravity will take effect and the parts will fall off.

Step 3: The STL / Sliced up Model

Once the model is exported into an STL file type, we take it in to our printing application and 'Process the STL' file. The image below shows a 'Before and After' of what the Trophy undergoes while being split in to hundreds of material layers (red) and having support layers(purple) being created to support the parts. 

The side view image below shows the Trophy in all its wonderful layers. 

Step 4: Printing

With the Trophy processed, it's time to print all the parts. The image below shows the print plate with various pieces.

Step 5: The cleanup (Solution mixture)

This step is quite important, however a bit boring. So, to excite things up, I challenge you to use your imagination and picture all the brown material (above) slowly disappearing in a liquid of temperate mixtures, leaving behind the beautiful ABS plastic.

Step 6: Painting the Trophy

With the major parts pieced together, it's time to start painting. We want the print to be pristine and give the impression of a real Trophy, so it's time to prep the model with a special filler/feather paint to smooth out the surfaces. Once several coats have been applied, it's time to give it some shine.

With a touch of gold the Trophy starts to shine. A phone has been placed next to him, for size comparison.

The Gold Finish! In the image below we have the 3D Model (Left) and the completed 3D Print (Right) showing how close it gets.

Step 7: Shipping (Who gets it?)

Now comes the most important part of the entire process and it depends completely on you.

We wish you all the best of luck with the contest and look forward to seeing the Trophy sent to 'You', the next Dominance War champion!

If you would like more information about 3D Printing and the services we provide, be sure to visit us online at 3D Printing Made Easy. We are always happy to assist you in all your 3D Printing needs.

Best Regards,
Walker Boys
3D Printing Gurus