So if I were to choose some of the basic colour’s from the model I.e red, brown, white, black etc
will the system Be able to show me a pre-print view so I can see what it is going to look like once printed?
The final model’s used will be a full 3d model life like in size and full 3d.
So that will rule out flat prints or cost lithopanes etc…
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There is a different kind of printer that can print that. With a filament printer there would be a huge amount of waste from filament changes to “paint” the colors. There’s printers that print a sand-like mixture and paint like an inkjet printer that might be more appropriate. Those are very expensive printers but print houses have them and do those kinds of prints for a charge.
In principle, yes, but as MZip and Eno have rightly pointed out, you either break the file into different parts for the different colors, or use the hueforge system, to obtain a result as close as possible to the one you are looking for. For what you’ve exemplified above, you gonna need an X1C + 4 AMS (16 colors) and plan your filament switch per layers and colors, but you gonna have quite a large amount of waste in the end.
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Alternatively, you may choose to print it in one color and then hand paint it. That works too.
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Thankyou all for your help, it looks like I need to
split the part into sections, assemble then final paint / spray to get a level of realism
Thankyou all again👍
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Hey @awsouth, since you’re looking at painting now, the matte finish filaments might get you a better surface to paint. The shiny PLA filaments are tough to glue so likely tough to paint. Other filament materials may be better bases for paint, too. Others would need to say as I have no real experience except painting matte PLA with superglue to get it air tight. That works great and may even be a primer step if you have any issues with painting other filaments.
And you might even be able to use some other filaments for eyes, beaks, etc. But very cool project. Please post photos when you get finished models.
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Hey! Mzip
Thankyou, sounds like a great idea 
The painting with superglue for water proofing sounds interesting, does this soak deep into the print or lay on the surface?
It might be useful for some of other design work which is more industrial based
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I was sealing against air - even harder. You’d be surprised how porous 3D prints are (at least mine).
But it gave a really nice surface coat with a semi-matte finish. I haven’t tried painting it though. It was just to fill pinholes and gaps and I used the thick version. Not sure of the actual viscosity value.
It did kind of soak in but I was brushing it. Not sure how much was capillary action pulling it into holes and pores and how much was the brush pushing it in, though. It did wet out really well. I don’t know how deep it penetrated, though. However it was, it did make the model more air tight than I could find any leaks. I was just putting a slight pressure in it and seeing if it would bleed down, and also tried flowing water across it with a slight air pressure. To those tests the way I did them it was tight. So if it holds air, it would hold water but no idea about long term exposure to water and how that might affect things.
That surface finish seems pretty durable but it’s not getting stressed much. No flaking or peeling so far. This was over Bambu matte latte brown and matte desert tan.
Surprisingly good results, though. I think the matte surface finish helps adhesion but don’t know how much. I just know silicone seal basically only gap fills and pulls right off glossy filament. On these matte pieces, it sticks pretty well so there’s that too.
Another thing to watch is infill type. I moved to honeycomb from gyroid but maybe another would be better. Anyway, gyroid is basically totally open wall to wall and won’t help any with making a model tight. Honeycomb comes a lot closer to filling a model with trapped air spaces and the way it goes in sealing is better than rectilinear if that matters any.