Looks great. I have a lot to learn with painting but your videos help a ton. Just got a resin printer too so it’s time to finally make some higher quality props
Those look so amazing! I love your use of the watered down blacks/browns for weathering. I've never much cared for brushed on weathering because you can often see the brush marks afterwards. I learned a little trick from a Brit who was trying to make his replica firearms have a blued steel finish on them. He would paint them with high-temp black paint used for bbq grills and then rub them down with stove polish (containing graphite) that could be rubbed to a soft shine. Creates this really cool worn, blued steel finish. The high-temp paint gives it the slightly worn texture while the stove polish gives it subtle blue and yellow hints of color in the reflections that resemble a blueing or color case hardening finish.
Those look amazing! I'm working on 3D printed version of Lola's lightsaber from Star Wars Visions season 2 episode, Sith, and getting the paint right has been super frustrating. I had no idea that a gloss primer was a thing and I'm super excited to experiment with one! Thank you for sharing!
That’s such a cool lightsaber! Yes, essentially the shinier your base coat it, the shinier the metallic will look. Some metallic paints are more opaque and not as effected by the base they are applied on top of, but in a lot of cases the metallic paint is reflecting off of the surface it’s applied to which is why there can be such a difference between finishes. You can also just add a gloss coat to any primer to make it shiner as long as the paint you’re applying on top of it doesn’t react strangely to the gloss.
When printing lightsabers, is it okay to print them in the default vertical orientation? I've read a few resin printing guides that say it's usually best to orient models at an angle.
They look awesome! Thank you for the informational video! What is your routine with PSI and the number of passes for the glossy primer, alclad and clear coatsif I may ask?
Thanks! I typically spray the gloss black base around 10 PSI. Basically as low as possible that doesn’t involve the airbrush spitting out paint. It’s recommended to spray it at a much higher PSI but I found that I was constantly enveloped in a black cloud of paint vapour, so I downed the pressure. I just like doing the one pass, heavy enough that it’s wet looking once finished. For any metallic paint I do around 20 PSI, again one pass. Some of the metal paints will get cloudy if over applied. Great if you want something that looks less intensely chrome like. For clear I’m also around the 15-20 PSI range, one pass wet. The clear coat will always technically dull the metallic effect but it’s a necessary evil if you want the finish to last. If you don’t apply enough of the clear coat you can end up with a much duller finish. You want it to be as glassy/transparent as possible without over applying to the point where it’s running and dripping. It’s one of those things that you get the hang of overtime with experience and figuring out what your preferences are in terms of finish.
Just discovered your channel - great videos. Could such prop be printed also on filament printer or the results would be way worse here? I hate layer lines but at the same time I would like to print things big sometimes and I am not sure I wanna buy both printers now :D
Absolutely! I just tend to resin print smaller props like this to try and save myself on post processing. FDM printers are better than they’ve ever been with quality of prints. Some of the extremely fine detail might not translate as much on a filament printer (like the ridged ring on Shin’s saber) but the overall look of the prop should be able to be the same.
Do you sand em before or after you cure em???? I'm new to 3d printing and just learning.. I figured out you can select your resin in the slicer program and it printed a predator head in half of the time the other 1 took before I figured that out
@reelclones haha, no worries! Would be super cool to be able to make them yourself. You unfortunately need a CO2 laser to be able to cut clear acrylic.
This looks fantastic. I'm a beginner at airbrushing (for personal projects only), but good at learning quickly. Can you offer any point-by-point sage wisdom for painting at a high level?
My biggest tip would be to experiment. Play around with your PSI, how far your holding your airbrush gun away from you model with different types of paints, the opacity of your paints, etc. You’ll get a feel for what works best/is needed for different looks and types of projects. Experience is the best way to get better. For metallics more specifically, try not to handle the piece in between painting the various layers as fingerprints can ruin the finish very easily with some primers.
Still love it. I have it printing ABS pieces constantly. The only issue I’ve had was caused by a bad roll of filament which messed up the hotend/extruder and QIDI customer service replaced any damaged parts without question. Completely unheard of with 95% of 3D printer companies.
For this project I was using this Timbertech airbrush: amzn.to/3HBpqiI One of my favourites. I have multiples set up with the different needle sizes because I use them so much.
@@MMsPropShopgraphite powder really isn’t unstable if applied properly it’s actually very durable, Aqua gloss on the other hand is really only suitable for display pieces it isn’t very durable at all
I was excited thinking I was going to see electroplating. I was less excited by the metal paints. It doesn't look bad. It's leaps and bounds above rub and buff and the fact that you were picky about the primer definitely made a difference as did using an airbrush. But real metal and even electro-plated prints just look different than painted.
