3D Print and Paint Nazgul, Witch-king of Angmar Figure: Tips by Tuğbay Yağcı

Crowned in steel, the faceless Witch-king of Angmar was well-known for bringing only ruin and death in Middle-earth. He turned hope to despair after being corrupted by one of the nine Rings of Power. He served Sauron, but he now obeys a talented hobbyist Tuğbay Yağcı. This maker created a fantastic Nazgul 3D print and is now willing to share his tips for painting this impressive Lord of the Rings model.

You can also make yourself the most outstanding servant of Sauron, Nazgul 3D print. Get inspired by the work created by Tuğbay Yağcı and learn more about the unique 3D printed Witch-king platform that resembles the One Ring.

Witch-king of Angmar 3D Print

Many fans of The Lord of the Rings love to add Nazgul 3D print to their collection of figures of Middle-earth.

One of Gambody’s contributing 3D artists, Liam Morgan, is in love with the LOTR adventures. Liam sculpted many fantastic characters from The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, including the highly-detailed lord of the Nazgûl figure for 3D printing.

The wraith servant of Sauron’s will, the Witch-king of Angmar, looks very life-like to the original Sauron’s second-in-command seen in the movies. You will love working on his worn robe, deadly mace, sharp sword and crown with steel spikes as much as maker Tuğbay Yağcı.

Enjoy the photos shared by Tuğbay Yağcı and learn his secrets on painting a 3D printed model with a brush.

1. Tuğbay, please introduce yourself. Why and when did you begin to 3D print and which was your first 3D printer?

Hi, I am a professional electric bass player from Antalya, Turkey. As the 2020 pandemic brought the music industry to an absolute halt, I had to find a way to keep my family fed. I have been painting miniatures as a hobby and wanted to try that as a new profession.

Resin printers can produce miniature prints well enough to be painted. So, I decided to buy a second hand ANYCUBIC Photon S for my new profession.

2. Your 3D printed Witch-king of Angmar figure looks fantastic! What do you like the most about the Lord of the Rings universe?

I love Fantasy. My fantasy journey started with Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition roleplaying game. Then came the first movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and we were amazed! I met the universe with the first movie. After that, I read the books until the second movie came out.

I can’t say I am a big fan of the books, but the movies were masterpieces both in cinematography and lore.

The dwindling hope of Frodo and Sam as they went forward, the efforts that other companions made without knowing if Frodo was still alive or not. These created some permanent feelings in me.

3. Why did you decide to make the Nazgul 3D print? And how many Witch-king of Angmar figures have you 3D printed?

My friend owns a Lord of the Rings themed coffee shop here in my town; the name is Lorien Coffee.

While we were running a boardgames event there, I saw some 3d prints he ordered online. They looked terrible. He persuaded me to start 3D printing and painting because he already knew about my miniature paintings. And as my first figure, he wanted me to paint the Witch-king of Angmar model from Gambody, which was very famous in 3D printing society.

Until today I have painted over 10 Lord of the Rings Witch-king figures with different light and colour compositions.

4. Which 3D printer was used for making the Witch-king of Angmar figure?

I made the Nazgul 3D print on my ANYCUBIC Photon S.

5. Did you go with the settings recommended by Gambody – Premium 3D printing marketplace? Or did you add your changes to the Nazgul 3D model STL files?

I use my settings since I print SLA prints.

As a change, we have sculpted a new base for the Witch-king of Angmar 3D print. We surrounded his usual base with the One Ring as a decorative effect.

It was also me that sent an email to Gambody asking for updating the cloak joints and merging the two separate apparels of the figure. As a result, you have responded very helpfully and quickly, thank you.

6. What was your 3D printing material? Did the model require much or little of it?

ANYCUBIC Gray resin and Phrozen ABS-like Gray resin.

I print the model hollowed, so it doesn’t require any considerable amount of resin. Only the body and the base need a little bit, that’s all.

7. You mentioned that you customized the 3D printing flail chain with a real one. Can you please share more details about this change?

Sure! It is a straightforward process, indeed, yielding a dramatic result.

Any chain used for necklaces or bracelets would work, considering the Lord of the Rings Witch-king figure’s scale and the size of the rings on the mace head and the shaft.

Using pliers, I cut the chain in a suitable length for the mace to not hit the floor. Again, using the pliers, I cut open the chain links at both ends of the chain, slip them through the holes on the mace parts and close them by applying pressure.

The rest is painting.

8. How did you prepare the Witch-king of Angmar model for painting? Did you have to do much post-processing work on this Nazgul 3D print?

My first printings of the Witch-king of Angmar model required a lot of post-work because I was using many supports back then. The head part was a pain to print and get rid of the supports because, in SLA scale, the crown is tiny and easy to break.

I even used 3D modelling software to split the head part into four separate pieces as crown, neck and two shoulder pieces, ha-ha.

But then, in time, I learned to position the parts properly and started to use fewer supports to print the parts. So, my post-processing times went down seriously in time.

I still drill the joints of the model to enlarge them after printing because of resin’s shrinking nature.

9. Regarding your impressive colours, you noted that you wanted to keep the colours along with the Eowyn scene. Did you have an image reference on your computer screen while painting the Nazgul 3D print?

Yes. A reference helps a lot.

I am not a painter who has every single colour hue a particular brand sells. I have around 10-15 colours that I mix to create the colours I want, just like Bob Ross did. So, a reference helps me achieve the desired colours.

I used the movie scene for the Pelennor fields’ colours and a Minas Morgul picture from Google for that cursed green coloured theme for one of my Witch-king 3D printed projects.

10. Which painting technique is your favourite, airbrushing or regular brushes?

I like both of them, but I would always go in the brush way if I have to choose one. Absolute control. With a brush, you can do anything that an airbrush can do, but the opposite is not true.

11. Which paint brands did you use? Also, can you please recollect what colours (names) you chose for painting the Witch-king of Angmar figure’s helmet, cape and base?

I use mainly the Vallejo Model Colour range, not because they are the best, but they are easy for me to buy in Turkey. I rarely get help from the Warcolours range and Liquitex acrylic gouache range. I mix primary and secondary colours to create my hues.

After priming black, I used Vallejo Model Air Metallic colours to paint the helmet and the Nazgul 3D print weapons. I don’t remember the exact colours now, but any colour from that range would work great.

I use some complex techniques for painting metallic pigments to create more contrast, just like metal.

For the cape, I started with very dark grey, close to black. Then with an airbrush, I sprayed some light grey mixed with Model Colour German camo beige to give that worn clothe texture. Then I switched to brush to add more highlights to the cloth, by adding lighter grey tones to the previous mix.

A widespread mistake that beginner painters do is paint Witch-king of Angmar 3D print in pure black because it looks black. I rarely paint anything in pure black. I use it just for darkening some of the colours.

For the Nazgul 3D print base, anything close to Vallejo Game Colour Charred Brown, Leather Brown and other ochre variants would work. In the platform, the only paints I used were from Games Workshop Citadel series.

I used Agrax Earthshade, and Nuln Oil washes to create shadows. And I added ochre-toned highlights with the dry brushing technique, to make it look just like the fields Eowyn killed the Witch-king.

12. One of your 3D printed Nazgul figures comes with a customized base that reminds of the One Ring. Did you model it yourself?

Yes, I mean, I commissioned a fellow 3D artist to modify the current base. We kept the joints of the feet intact and modelled the One Ring over it.

Many people ask for it I know, but sadly, it was commissioned exclusively, so I can’t share it.

13. What is the size of the finished Nazgul 3D print?

I did just like it says on Gambody website.

I printed the Lord of the Rings Witch-king figure in SLA scale 1:16; so it is 16.5 cm (6.5 inches) at the sword tip.

14. Where do you display all your Nazgul 3D print?

I only own two Nazgul 3D prints, and they are displayed among my board games library. The rest were painting commissions and sent back to owners after I painted them.

15. How big is your collection of The Lord of the Rings 3D printed models?

I am not a collector, so I don’t have many of them.

I rarely print for clients. As a commission painter, I receive a 3D printed figure from my clients, paint it and send it back. So, a lot of models come and go, only a few stay.

16. What is the 3D printing project you are working on now?

My most recent project from Gambody was the fantastic Deathwing model! I also applied for the Airbrush contest with that one in the Gambody Facebook group.

Right now, I am building a custom Lord of the Rings battle diorama where an armoured Gundabad troll attacks Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and 5 Gondor soldiers. These are in 28mm miniature scale, and I believe it will be fascinating when it is completed.

People can follow my works in my Instagram account @studioluna3d.

Are you planning to make the Lord of the Rings Witch-king figure? Join Gambody 3D Printing Community on Facebook to showcase your impressive Nazgul 3D print and other models from the LOTR universe. We are sure that enthusiasts from all over the world will love your creations from Middle-earth.