What combo of PLA (Model) and PETG (Support Interface) do you recommend and why? Specifically for small Miniature Prints.
Do I have to sand the Miniature before priming? If so, any recommendation how?
What Primer would give the best results to prepare the Mini for the Paintjob?
Hello everyone!
I’ve been using my new and first 3D Printer, the Bambu Lab A1 over the past couple days and I’m slowly getting the hang of it. Right now I’m printing with Bambu PLA Matte, and I do like the results a lot.
I also purchased a Filament dryer, and will purchase PETG Filament specifically for printing the Support Interfaces. If anyone has Filament recommendations, specifically for PLA Miniatures / PETG Support Interface, please let me know.
But now that I’ve done the printing, I want to move to the next step - painting. I am a somewhat experienced Miniature Painter, but so far I’ve only been working with purchased Models, mostly from Games Workshop. They have been easy to prime and were ready to go.
With the PLA however, I’m having a much harder time getting the Primer…not to stick, I’d say, but rather to cover the entire Miniature properly. I’ve been using the stuff from Citadel - Wraithbone to be specific - and I needed a lot more coats than usual. Even then, by the end some of the filament Colour was still shining through - Just getting a bad coverage overall.
Now to be fair, Off-white Primer for a Vibrant Blue Filament was probably my first mistake. I’ll try one of my black primers next and / or purchase white filament next.
That being said, I can’t help but feel like something is…off. Do I need to sand the Miniatures first? For some of the larger models that probably won’t be an issue, but for the smaller ones…That’s gonna be tough. I’ve read about “Filler Primers”, but where I can see those being very useful for things like Masks or printed Cosplay Helmets, I’m worried that they will cover up a lot of details on the Minis. Is there any Primer you recommend for this?
PLA is known to be very hard to glue, which apparently also makes hard to have paint stick to it. I think Polymaker has a special PLA explicitly intended for sanding and painting. I think it is called Cosplay PLA. Polymaker Polysmooth could also be interesting. They sell a special box for it for smoothing the surface with IPA, so that layer lines completely vanish.
That’s what comes to my mind first.
I checked out their products, and Cosplay PLA looks really interesting. I’m gonna do some research first, since it’s fairly expensive.
As for the Polysmooth and the Special Box…It almost seems to good to be true. I found a short demonstration, from what I can gather this particular PLA dissolves in IPA and the little Box essentially sprays IPA Vapors around the Model evenly without (much) loss in detail, while “melting / blending” the Layer Lines. Interesting to say the least, but I can’t help but feel like this would be extremely popular among Miniature Painters everywhere, if the Results are even half as good as promised.
Then again, maybe it’s not popular because IPA also removes most Paint, so you can’t strip the Miniature of any paint if you made a mistake - Since you’d be melting it entirely. Do you know someone who has experience with this filament and gadget? If you or someone you know can confirm the results, I imagine it would be possible to pull off some amazing prints despite the FDM restrictions.
It may sound weird but I had to make a model air tight so printed in Bambu matte PLA and then painted it with cyanoacrylate. The superglue stuck great to the matte finish and might make a fair primer. Silicone seal stuck to it really well where on regular PLA it peels right off. Maybe?
I don’t have a lot for you but this and its obvious: YouTube. I’ve seen a bit of this type stuff browsing around and you would be able to find some real pro’s showing off their process. I just look at the finished product to tell if I should spend the time watching them.
Like to get rid of layer lines I see people use resin. Mix the resin to a thickened form using baby powder. Brush it on, let it flow. UV Light. Sand (well, I don’t think you’re doing much sanding on that tiny stuff so one would use less thickening).
