In an attempt to get a more natural-looking beetle, I applied multiple coats of clear lacquer to my scarab model. Before and after: I used Rust-Oleum Clear Lacquer Spray. After 8 coats, the model is still not fully covered in a way that satisfies me. However, it still looks pretty decent; definitely more beetle-like than the untreated (matte) black strong & flexible print. I hope these results are useful to y'all. For my part, I may try hand-lacquering next time. If it weren't the dead of winter here, I might be more inclined to apply multiple coats in succession -- spray lacquering must be done outdoors unless you have a serious ventilation system.
With that thick of a coat you should be able to polish it down a bit. Steel wool or a high grit sanding sponge would work well.
Thanks for the suggestion. It turns out that the coating is not that thick -- perhaps the spray lacquer dissolves the dried layers when it goes on, or perhaps each coat is just insanely thin, but for whatever reason, the accumulation after 8 coats is not thick at all. Part of it is clearly that BSF is incredibly porous and absorbent, and many of the early coats just got sucked up into the structure. You're probably right that now some of the model itself (the nylon composite) is now fully infiltrated with lacquer and could be polished.
I suppose if you were painting it then a coat of primer would stop it from absorbing the lacquer. Otherwise could you maybe dip it in something to seal it before polishing? Though saying that, perhaps you would lose a lot of definition if you had a coating that was thick enough to polish.
Yes, the suggestion to paint with primer first, then spray-lacquer, is great. BSF is not as black as it could be, so using a pitch-black primer layer would solve both issues.
lol, i have a line-up of items to be spray painted- just waiting for some warm weather too. come on spring!
It still does look really good, though, better than the matte finish. I would be interested in seeing some hand-lacquered photo's. I don't know a lot about lacquer but wouldn't it appear less smooth than sprayed on?
No promises, but I may well try a black primer + hand lacquer just to see. I agree, the model looks a lot better lacquered.
Did you happen to try the Black Primer? I would like to get a shinier effect on a black ring I printed with Black Strong & Flexible. Not sure if this treatment would be right to wear and have against the skin afterward. If you don't mind let me know what you think and how your experience went. Thank you!! Sean Martorana