For a long while I had it in my head to make a Protoss Pylon “action figure”. Of course, Pylons don’t really do anything, so this action figure would just sit there. I figured that if it was just going to sit there, it should at least light up. Hence, the Protoss Pylon Lamp was born!
For starters, I nabbed some references images straight out of the game. I based the scale on the central ring being made out of a 4″ PVC tube.
I decided that the best way to make the pieces would be to make master parts, mold them, then cast them in plastic resin. The main crystal was made out of cheap insulation foam, then coated in Bondo and sanded.
The other pieces were modeled with Sculpey. I designed them out on paper first and then modeled them right over the design.
Then all of the parts were primed, sanded, primed some more, sanded some more and finally I made silicone molds of them all.
Next, I cast the pieces. For the crystal, I used a clear casting resin (a LOT of the stuff too, this thing is HEAVY). If I re-cast the crystal now, I wouldn’t use polyester resin–it’s too toxic for home use. I recommend a transparent urethane resin, like Smooth-Cast 325. For the other parts I used a quick cast casting resin. All of the cast plastic pieces were then sanded and primed.
The parts were all painted by hand with metallic gold and acrylic color paint then clear coated with a satin finish. Finally I was able to attach all of the pieces to the crystal. I drilled shallow holes in the crystal to accommodate nubs that were modeled into the pieces. The central ring is attached to the crystal with 1/4″ acrylic rods.
I wanted this sucker to light up, so I built a base that it rests on. The rod has 4 LEDs on it that are powered via USB.
Viola! This thing is DONE!
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