I love the camo work on this. If you don't mind me asking, what was the process for getting it so smooth? I really love how it blends well, and the pattern is pretty consistent!
Hello, thanks for the compliments. I am assuming you're talking about how smooth the surface of the paint is. The smoothness really depends on all the prep work put into making the surface as smooth as possible, like filling in the 3d print lines with a filler mixed with acetone so it's easier to brush on the lines, doing maybe 4 light coats or until the gap in the line is no longer visible, since it shrinks when it dries. Then, sanding it down personally, for my armour, I worked my way up to 1000 grit before even thinking about applying primer. There are tons of tutorials out there as well to help with this. You could search up how to make 3d printed cosplays smooth, for example or have a look around the 405th.
Definitely go look up some videos on how to paint camo onto stuff to get an understanding of how to layer the colours with your preferred camo scheme, print it out, and trace it onto masking/painters tape that's sort of overlapped (the tutorials should cover this).
(For some reason, I can't paste the picture I took for this. Sorry)
After cutting out the stencil with a knife, don’t immediately discard the extra bits that aren’t the pattern itself. I’ve found that those bits are great for adding a bit more randomness/edges to the main stencil on the armour, especially when you reuse the same few stencil patterns across the armour. It's nice to add in some additional variation like that.
Get some random piece to experiment with how you want to apply the different colours on, for example, I played around with the order each different colour was applied to the the various pieces of the left shoulder plate, for my armour I settled with; primer -> dark grey -> apply stencil and primer (asp) -> black ->asp-> a lighter shade of grey->asp-> light grey x2-> Remove masking tape stencils -> clear coat.
Make the coats thin, let them dry, then if some areas need more paint, lightly add more, too much, and you will have a waterfall or balls of paint dripping downwards.
I think it goes without saying, but make sure the tape is applied properly so the paint doesn’t seep into the other layers, unless it benefits your camo scheme. I have had paint pool up in a gap. (If you have to use chalk spray paint, use more than one or two coats; it will absorb the clear coat)
Originally, I tried to do black multicam until I realised how time consuming it would be to make and cut the stencils, additionally I don’t really have access to the various shades of black and grey at Bunnings (it all looks the same to me), and I wasn’t too fond of the thought of having to make and apply tons of the tiny multicam stencils across the whole armour with the time I had available.
So tldr of painting the camo. Consider what patterns you are choosing to apply, the availability of colour options to you, whether you have the time to spare, how the pattern scales on the armour and test on some spare piece.
I hope this has all the information you need, as I won't be able to make further replies until next month.
That is amazing, I just got a DT2 Vaquform machine and a P2S Bambu Lab 3d printer,
So of course, I'm going to make some different helmets and armors
Beginner questions:
-Sanding - Do you apply primer after you do your sanding work(Galactic Armrory Tutorial - He doesn't sand until after he does his primer (Seymour Filler Primer) and Bondo (USC 69006 ICEing) I guess I'm confused by that because you said you get it up to 1000 grit before even applying primer, or do you put primer on then bondo then sand it and then primer again?
-Tape, I have blue masking tape, I believe it's for painting, but honestly, doesn't it hold well on the PLA, so I'm wondering if there is a better or preferred masking tape for painting, my big fear being streaks and bleeding. I intend to get a soldering Iron, an airbrush, and a corner sander. I've already got 3M 180 sandpaper sheets
Lastly:
- "filler mixed with acetone" - Do you combine this yourself, or is there an acetone-infused primer that's sold?
Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I've watched so many videos, and fearfully, I just don't want to waste money and get a costly, bad outcome.
