Malenia Cosplay Helmet (A1 Mini Compatible)

I updated another model file to make it ideal for cosplay. This version is thicker, making it more sturdy for transport, and all the internal helmet pieces print in one part. Additionally, it has been cut to fit on my A1 mini, so it should fit on about any printer. All parts were printed in PLA. 

A fair warning, this model requires a lot of processing (sanding, gluing, painting, …) to get to the final product. The steps I took are detailed below. If you have a bigger printer and want to save on some processing time, I would recommend taking the full helmet (provided in the 3mf/stl files) and cutting it into fewer total pieces. 

I made the helmet somewhat bigger than necessary for my head to have plenty of room to add padding later. For reference, my head is about 6.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches long. Definitely double check the internal dimensions are to your liking before printing!

I used gel super glue to attach the pieces. I highly recommend sanding the edges before gluing them together. The jaw was the trickiest part to attach (and will break off if you, say, step on it… ask me how I know). 

The pieces are cut with holes for dowels that you can use when attaching them if you wish (note: these will only show up if you use the 3mf, not the raw stl). In the print profile, I provide dowels at several slightly different sizes (from 100% to 80% scale), as the hole sizes will differ slightly based on the orientation they're printed and your printer. Some holes may print with supports inside that you'll need to remove.

Here are the processing steps I did:

1. Sanded the connecting edges of each piece and connected them with super glue
2. Applied two layers of primer (2-in-1 sandable and fillable)
3. Did some sanding, primarily on the regions around the seams. I didn't bother sanding the wings or any of the detailed areas near the front
4. Filled in any remaining gaps in the seams with some wood putty I had sitting around
5. Did another round of primer, sanding around the seams, and one final layer of primer (to finish off the can)
6. Applied two layers of black spray paint as a base coat (regular black acrylic paint would probably work fine too, but this was faster)
7. With a large dry sponge brush, I applied metallic gold paint, taking care to leaving some of the black visible underneath. I used basic FolkArt acrylic paint, mixing two parts metallic "Sashara Gold" and one part “Pure Gold”.
8. (in progress) I will be adding helmet padding (e.g. amazon.com/dp/B08PG4D913?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title) to the interior. 

Edit 2026-05-02: In addition to the dowel sizes provided previously (80%-90% scale), I added back in dowels at 100% scale, along with some at 95% scale. (I had to use dowels around 85% scale when putting together the helmet originally, but other users reported these to be too small. Maybe I had issues because I never dry my filament, haha.)