Fast forward to early December 2013. I realized that my Birthday Elephant gift had to be mailed in less than a month (Birthday Elephant is a tradition at the Minimate Multiverse that is basically a Secret Santa exchange for people’s birthdays that lasts year round). My recipient made a list of his favorite characters, and Mojo was on the list. I was finally comfortable enough with my Form 1 3D Printer to attempt something as complex as this.
The rest of his structure was made from basic shapes. His hair is made from dozens of long cylinders that were bent around the top of his head. His tail is a curved box with lots of little boxes added along the length of it. His legs and tail weapons are made from more cylinders and spheres.
The first print took over 7 hours, and failed, as they usually do the first time. I tried to print him all in one piece to make things easier, but there were too many overhanging pieces, and the legs were too fragile. So I separated the legs and tail from the body, and 7 hours later, I had a working set of parts.
I made a face for him in Illustrator and printed it on vinyl adhesive film. I have him some Minimate arms and I dusted off my paints. His silver parts took 2 coats, while his yellow parts took 5 coats (darn yellow).
I really like how he turned out, and my Birthday Elephant recipient loved him, which made me very happy. I am making a few small changes to the design and then I will be making a 2nd one for myself, and some extra 3D printed parts to sell. I will have more info on those later. Thanks for reading!
He is really very cool, Luke. I know that I’ll be buying a Mojo kit when you make them available!
I have just enjoyed the custom mates you do to no end! I am so jealous of the 3D printer. I need to save up and get one. It seems like the possibilities are endless. That Mojo is flawless!