Introduction: Rey's Quarterstaff, "The Force Awakens"

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About: I've been working as an electrician, studied some electrical engineering, then worked as an IT systems engineer, then as a photographer. From there I came into the film industry, professionally working on prop…
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Rey's quarterstaff, seen in Star Wars episode 7-9.

And I made it just for fun, as all my props :-)

Supplies

I've seen one of these made with some stuff bought from the hardware store, and it looked gorgeous.

Usually I work in similar ways, but decided to do it in 3d prints. This keeps my material list rather short:

2m aluminium pipe, 25mm diameter, cut to 1.8m - this was my base.

Black PLA+ filament, 1.75mm - I think I used less than half a kilo

A strrap from an army surplus shop, some leather scraps and push buttons, 2 carbines from the strap of a laptop bag.

Some black paint and some putty (3M 05098), some linen strips for the grip, epoxy glue and pva glue.

Last but not least, some brown and black acrylig paint, some clay powder, graphite.

An old soldering iron, wet-sanding paper 400 grit and finer (I like to use up to 1600 grit)

Step 1: 3d Modeling and Prep

After getting, and cutting to shape, the aluminium pipe. Istarted collecting screenshots of the staff and figuring out the dimensions. Then I divided all if the pieces into manageable pieces for my 3d printer - small one, 15*15*15cm.

After that, I started modeling all the pieces, leaving a hole in each, 25.4mm diameter to fit over the pipe.

Sorry, I can't show the modeling process, that would be a post on it's own.

I used Autodesk Fusion 360 to model, on a personal license, so I can't sell those models. But, I only started 3d modeling after Crhristmas 2022, Fusion is pretty intuitive and there are many good video tutorials out thhere.

Step 2: 3d Printing

The next images show my prints, straight out of the printer and lined up on the core pipe.

Step 3: Sanding, Filling, Adding Texture

I sanded the pieces only slightly to get rid of the worst layer lines. Then I mixed the putty with acetone (you might use waterbased putty and mix with water instead) to get the consistenct of very thick paint. I stippled that on with an old brush, several layers, until the layerlines were all covered. It leaves an uneven surface, which looks very much like corroded metal when it's sanded.

Step 4: Painting

A layer of black paint next. Doesn't really matter if gloss or flat, since you will go over with the finer wet-sanding paper (I suggest at least 800 grit). Don't forget to also paint the pipe where it's visible.

Then heat up the soldering iron and add some "battle scars" - best try on a spare print or one that failed.

Use cotton balls to rub some graphite on the parts that would be shiny due to handling if it were the real thing.

Then start to glue the pieces in place with epoxy.

Step 5: Weathering

Mixup some black and some brown acrylic paint with lots of water to create washes, brush them into all the recesses, wait till it starts drying and rub it off with some cloth. Repeat as often as you like till you get the desired effect.

Here now a hint, Rey made this from scavenged spaceship parts. It's unlikely that there would be any part involved that actually develops rust. Also, she lives on Jakku, a desert world. So for all ageing and weathering you might want to be careful not to walk into the trap of "old means rusty" ;-) But I leave that to you.

There's a great thing to use to create a dusty, dirty look, better than any paint. And that is actual real dirt.

For that I used clay powder, mixed with water, to get a watery paste. Brush this on, into the recesses and into all the pitted parts. Thet it dry till it starts to light up in color, then rub it off. Only the parts you can reach easily, not the recesses. If you want you can reapply some of the brown or black wash from before, but it should already look pretty worn and dusty.

Step 6: Strap

As you see in my last image, I 3d printed the rings around the pipe, which hold the harnesses for the strap in place. I used some scrap leather (mine was too thin so I doubled it), put it together in H-shapes, added push buttons and weathered them with a wirebrush.

I used some brownish and white linen scraps to wrap the grip - I don't have an image of the white part yet though, the reference image shows how it's supposed to look (and how it now actually looks). I used PVA glue to attach the fabric. It's a bit like paper mache to work with but looks pretty good when dry and it's properly secured.

Step 7: Final Piece

And here now the result. 1:1 scale, and I hope I got all the proportions right. It's 1.84m long right now.

I hope you enjoy making your own.