This is my 3D-printed illuminated Metallica wall art, which I modeled myself. It was printed in three parts using my Elegoo Neptune 4 Plus with PLA filament. It has 135 NeoPixel LEDs, all driven by a Pi Pico running CircuitPython.
Because of the number of LEDs I am running, I ended up not being able to power this project off of batteries, which was the original idea. Instead, I had to get a 5V 10-amp power supply.
Once everything came off the printer, I sanded down the connectors a bit and then glued everything together. There was still a small gap between each piece once glued. In order to fill these gaps, I used a 3D printing pen to inject
PLA filament into the gaps. After I had all the gaps filled, I sanded the entire "M" smooth. For added smoothness, I added a few layers of UV resin to the top of the "M" and then sanded that as well. Once I was finally done with all
the sanding, I sprayed on a few layers of automotive filler primer, making sure to let each layer dry fully before adding the next. Now that the piece was both smoothed and primed, I sprayed on a base color of silver.
To achieve the big paint chips, I put on some petroleum jelly in the areas I wanted the paint to look chipped and sprayed it with black spray paint. A few coats of dry brushing and glossy clear coat, and it was finished.
If you want to download the models, here is a link to them on Thingiverse
