Painting 3d Models

So how do you guys paint your 3D printed models when you receive them?

I'm curious because I never painted a 3D printed model before and I want to do it to get a certain paint job in order. I especially want to get a clean paint job on it.

Please reply back to this post when you have the chance.

It all depends upon the material. There are several good forum entries that discuss each.

Dear Andrew Afful / Drew92,

If you are interested for scale models and tiny miniatures, the Frosted Detail (aka FUD or FXD) plastic is the best available option you have for a detailed and smooth & shiny (as possible) material finish. Ofcourse there are other low cost material options too, but IMHO "buying cheap, will surely cost you more".

Regarding the painting question, feel free to click HERE for a detailed answer, with lot of info and pictures. If you still need additional help, do not hesitate to ask.

Regards,
Anyuta 3D

Please see the "Finishing Techniques" forum for details - in general, acrylic paints/sprays work well. For the "strong&flexible" Nylon material, priming is advisable due to the porous nature of the sintered material. Alternatively, this material can also be dyed with textile dyes (or even tea for something resembling desert camouflage) but even coloring can be a problem. For the Elasto material, good results have been reported for textile marker pens.

I personally use Testor's enamel model paint on all of my WSF and WSF polished prints with great results. The key is definitely base layers and on some models, I've found that a coat of varnish between coats and/or at the end of the paint job improves the surface quality. Here are some props I printed in the regular WSF and painted this way.

Eight Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver:



Twelth Doctor's Sonic Screwdriver:



Joker's Knife from The Dark Knight:

WSF? White Strong & Flexible, right?

Yup! Here's another I forgot to post before - my most recent 3d printed prop finished with Testor's enamel paint. It's worth noting that if you're going for a weathered finished like these, it's much easier to 'hide' the surface texture of the WSF prints but for a more refined or clean look, much sanding and smoothing is needed to achieve a nice look - however, the strength and affordability of the WSF material is hard to beat even with some good post-printing techniques required.





All of the blades were printed in WSF and the plates on top of the hands were printed in WSF Polished.

Sounds intriguing, what brands of acrylic paint/spray would you recommend and where do I find them?