Introduction: Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask Replica

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I recently bought a 3D printer and was browsing Legend of Zelda items on Thingiverse. I came across this model and my inner nerd couldn't resist. I have to give credit to lucidhack for both the 3D print AND the original thought of adding light. This is simply my implementation of it: it's a 3D printed replica of Majora's Mask with 10 LEDs and an ESP8266 board.

Step 1: Things We'll Need

  • 3D Printer
  • PLA filament
  • Paint
  • Soldering Iron
  • Solder
  • 20 Electrical Wires
  • Mini Breadboard
  • ESP8266 (NodeMCU)
  • USB Mini Cable
  • 10 3mm LEDs
    • 4 Yellow
    • 2 Blue
    • 2 Red
    • 2 Green

Step 2: Print the Mask

You can use lucidhack's.stl files to slice according to your own printer. You can print the mask as one piece and all of the horns/connectors in another. I used Cura for slicing and an ANYCUBIC I3 Mega with the following:

  • Mask:
    • White PLA filament (+/- .05 accuracy)
    • 5% infill and support
    • Support Option On
  • Horns/Connectors:
    • Clear PLA filament (+/- .05 accuracy)
    • 5% infill
    • Support Option On

Step 3: Paint Majora's Mask

I'd recommend filling in any blemishes from the print with something like spackle and sanding it. I did straight-on acrylic paint - no other primers, coats, etc. and I think it turned out well. I'm sure you there are plenty of resources out there on painting your 3D prints.

Step 4: Coding and Wiring the Mask

I tested, soldered, and wired everything before putting the LEDs in the spikes and applying superglue. The pin-out for this can be found in this instructable along with the code. The wiring is straight forward with the exception of the multiple GND connections. What's going on in the back:

  • ESP8266 - One of my favorites. Didn't utilize the wi-fi capabilities but thinking about changing the light pattern based on an event (e.g. someone streaming Majora's Mask on Twitch)
  • Mini-breadboard - This kept things somewhat organized. The sticky pad on that back allowed a semi-secure place for the ESP8266 (without having to secure it with something that could damage it) and a central point for connecting the wires.
  • Varying cable lengths - would recommend cutting to your needed length.
  • The soldered wires - probably a much cleaner way to do this. Since the board has only 4 GND outlets and we'll need a total of 10, we can combine multiple GND wires to go to a single GND pin. To do this, I just soldered 8 of them to two different wires (4 each) that went to GND. The top two LEDs got their own GND pins.

To upload our code:

  1. Connect the micro USB cable to the ESP8266 board and a computer.
  2. Bring up the Arduino IDE (if you don't have it installed, you can get it here). In order to flash the ESP8266, you'll need install the right libraries in the Arduino IDE. This takes less than a minute to do with this other instructables guide.
  3. Load the .ino file or copy and paste the code into the editor. Make sure that the proper Board is selected along with the Serial Port and run the code to flash to our board.

Attachments

Step 5: Assemble the Mask

Now that everything is working, we're ready to put it all together. The rest of this is pretty straight forward:

  • Super glue the lights into the small holes at the base of the horns. Let them sit overnight.
  • Insert the small clear connectors into the horn sockets (see pictures)
  • Set the horns onto the connectors and push down until snug against the outer rim of the sockets. Pay attention to the horns - they are different lengths.
  • Plug in the USB and connector to a power source and enjoy bringing Majora's Mask to life!