From Scrap to Shrine: Drew Cuttle's Award-Winning Chain Sword

Some builds stop you in your tracks. Drew Cuttle's chain sword is one of them.

West Allotment Wildlings is home to some genuinely talented hobbyists, but Drew Cuttle holds a special place in our community. An award-winning painter whose competition entries consistently turn heads, Drew brings a level of craft, patience, and technical knowledge that sets a benchmark for everyone who paints alongside him. He runs our Advanced Painting sessions at the club, sharing his skills and experience with members who want to push their hobby to the next level.

So when Drew took on the challenge of finishing the club's chain sword prize — a stunning 3D print produced by fellow Wildling Craig — it was never going to be anything less than extraordinary. This sword was the top prize for the winner of one of our club tournaments, and Drew treated it with exactly that level of respect: bringing every skill in his arsenal to bear on something truly worthy of being a champion's trophy.

From Print to Prize: The Process

Preparation — The Foundation of a Perfect Finish

The first thing Drew will tell you is that the paint is only as good as what's underneath it. With a large-scale 3D print, that means confronting the realities of layer lines, seams, and surface imperfections — and dealing with them properly before a single drop of colour touches the piece.

After assembly, Drew filled any gaps or joins with putty, then began the first round of rough sanding to knock back the surface and start shaping things properly. He then sprayed the whole piece with a filler primer — a technique borrowed from automotive finishing — which does double duty: it provides a key for paint adhesion, but more importantly it reveals every remaining imperfection under a uniform coat. Anything that isn't right shows up immediately under primer, which is exactly the point.

From there it was finer sanding, more filling wherever the surface wasn't perfectly neat, and then a final sand to achieve a glass-smooth base. This prep stage alone takes most hobbyists an uncomfortable amount of time — and that discomfort is exactly why most people skip it. Drew doesn't skip it.

The Automotive Advantage

One of the things that makes Drew's approach to large-scale prop builds so distinctive is his use of automotive paint. Where most hobbyists reach for spray cans or standard hobby primers, Drew draws on techniques and products from the world of car finishing — a field where surface preparation and paint durability are taken incredibly seriously.

Automotive paints offer exceptional coverage, depth of colour, and a hardness that hobby paints simply can't match on larger pieces. They're also formulated to adhere to a wide variety of surfaces and to withstand real-world handling — exactly what you want for a trophy sword that's going to be picked up, displayed, and admired for years. The filler primer Drew used in the prep stage is a direct import from this world: the same principle used on car bodywork, applied to a Warhammer-scale prop build.

Painting — Where the Magic Happens

With the surface properly prepared, Drew moved into paint. The base red was laid down first with an airbrush — smooth, even, and consistent across the entire blade. But a flat base coat was never going to be enough. Drew then built up the main red through stippling, working texture and depth into the colour by dabbing and layering to break up what would otherwise be a lifeless, uniform surface. The result is a red that feels rich and physical rather than painted on.

For the gold, Drew used a masking and sponging technique — carefully masking off the sections to be gold, then applying paint by sponge to create a slightly irregular, battle-worn metallic texture. This is the kind of detail that elevates a prop from 'painted' to 'finished': the gold doesn't look applied, it looks worn in.

The detailing came next — the decorative stripe and buttons picked out by hand — followed by the teeth, which were finished with the airbrush for a clean, uniform result. Drew then returned to the airbrush to lay in the shadows across the whole piece, adding form and dimension that gives the sword genuine weight and presence. The wax seals were painted separately and glued into place once complete. A final varnish coat sealed everything, protecting the finish and giving the piece a unified, professional sheen.

A Trophy Worthy of a Champion

The chain sword was 3D printed by Craig — another example of the incredible skills our members bring to the club — and finished by Drew to competition standard. It was awarded to the winner of our club tournament, and it's the kind of prize that will sit on a shelf and draw comments for years to come.

This is what makes West Allotment Wildlings such a special club. It's not just that we play great games — it's that we have members like Craig who can print a screen-accurate prop from scratch, and members like Drew Cuttle who can finish it to an award-winning standard. The talent in this room is genuinely extraordinary, and moments like this are worth celebrating.

A huge thank you to Drew Cuttle for the time, care, and craft he put into this build — and to Craig for printing the sword in the first place. You've both made something the whole club can be proud of.