Prepping and working on 3D printed terrain

By FrogTrigger, in Terrain Building

Hey all. I recently came into an Ender 3 and have been printing terrain like crazy. Thought I would start a thread to share ideas on how you prepped and worked on your own 3d terrain.

Just curious what steps you took. Did you start with a sanding? What grit?

What sort of primer did you use for the base? I've heard Automotive primer can be good for its natural ability to fill in scratches. How many coats? What did you like to use after that?

Just looking for ideas and inspiration as i start this journey. Thanks for your time.

I am actually just about to finish and paint some of my 3d printed terrain so I'm curious to see what others reccomend.

For desert buildings: One or two coats of automotive primer, then some basing paste (stirland mud) in selective spots to create texture, then spray with Army Painter skeleton bone, then drybrush with a pale tan color of your choice.

Thanks for that, great tips!

Has literally no one else painted 3d terrain? I am shocked by the lack of discussion around 3d printed terrain.

5 minutes ago, FrogTrigger said:

Thanks for that, great tips!

Has literally no one else painted 3d terrain? I am shocked by the lack of discussion around 3d printed terrain.

I think its more that posts already exist with a lot of that discussion so people dont feel like they need to repeat themselves. Try searching the forum for "3d printed terrain". There are also a lot of good YouTube videos about priming and painting it.

I primed them first with some cheap Krylon from the hardware store. Then I brushed on a few coats of cheap hobby paint mixed roughly half and half with plain white spackle. Then another coat or two of hobby paint on top of that.

Here is a link to my terrain thread:

It ended up looking like this:

large.jpg

Another great tip if you are looking for a more "worn" look for your galaxy far, far away, you can use wall compound or joint filler and water it down so you can brush it on (about a school glue consistancy of around a 50/50 mix). It looks and feels like concrete or the Star Wars equivalent, it bonds and seals (can even cover print imperfections) and can be sanded and painted any way you like when dry. Also you can get a pretty decent size container for the same price of a small pot of Citadel or Vallejo texture paints.

As a bonus tip, if you go with 3D printed models but have other pieces you may have constructed out of foamboard, cardboard or any other paper based material, a heavy coat of ENAMEL paint will cure the surface so you can use the above mentioned process and give all your pieces a unified look. The ENAMEL paint prevents warping of paper based materials so you can paint them or finish them any way you prefer.

Edited by C3POFETT

I'm a member of the KISS fan club.

I put minimal work into my terrain but they come out fantastic looking. I spray a base coat of Krylon primer (either Grey or Almond). Then I use a complimentary can of Rust-oleum Multicolored Textured or Rust-oleum American Accents stone textured finish.

I will mask off any grebbles and doo-dads that I want to keep "smooth" between the coats though. The Rust-oleum sprays have enough texture to them that they hide any print lines but that also means you have to prevent the spray from getting on surfaces that you don't want "gritty". I also keep a few q-tips close by to remove paint from any surfaces I also want to keep smooth (I print a lot of Imperial Terrain stuff and there are areas in some of the prints that I paint a contrasting color to show the underneath layers of the building material).

The complimentary primer coat is key though. The Rust-oleum sprays do not completely coat the model unless you do several coats. Considering it can cost twice as much as the primer cans, it's much more economical to not use the textured spray for "complete" coverage and let the base coat color peak thru a little.

Edited by FSD