Topic open

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Tuesday, January 02, 2018 - 05:08 pm: Edit

First thing I'll add here is some clarification I've been providing to folks on Facebook.

Contrary to some of the other materials on Shapeways, the Strong & Flexible materials (and Metallic Plastic) do not need any washing or cleaning before painting. As they are laser-sintered together from dry plastic power, there is no "excess liquid" or "mold-release grease" to remove and you could actually introduce soap residue into the porous nature of the surface.

The most they should need is a light brushing with a nail brush or old toothbrush to remove any loose grains of powder.

Also, there is nothing to be gained from the "sunlight cure" some folks do for materials like FUD. The dry powder sintered materials will ignore UV exposure, up until the point where it starts to yellow and break them down (like any plastic), in months/years.

If you don't intend to paint your S&F minis (bought them in one of the color options for polished S&F, etc.), a coat in a UV-protecting clear coat would never be a bad idea, but isn't required.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, January 02, 2018 - 05:57 pm: Edit

I am painting Shapeways WSF to a battlefield effect (a miniature viewed from the table top).
I have used water acrylic paints, I do a mix of light and thick washes, detailing, and dry brushing.

Up close and with a good camera they are an average paint job.
On the table top (battlefield effect) the painted miniatures are a good visual.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 03:31 pm: Edit

Someone suggested taking a sharp exacto-knife to the WSF Fed saucer grid lines before primer / paint. Thoughts about this????


Garth L. Getgen

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 04:59 pm: Edit

If the intent is to make the lines more apparent, a dedicated scribing tool would work better.

A knife will just put a fine cut in the center of the groove. The groove itself is .0050 inch wide and would be better deepened with a tool matching that width more closely.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 06:14 pm: Edit

Any risk of damage to the mini, such as snapping it in two or tearing a chunk out with the scribing tool?


Garth L. Getgen

By Steve Zamboni (Szamboni) on Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 06:32 pm: Edit

I wouldn't hold the ship by the dorsal strut when doing then, but the material is pretty tough when it comes to cutting it apart. At start, you're more of scraping out the small specks intruding into the groove - moving on to actually making the groove itself bigger should require a noticeable increase in muscle power.

By Will McCammon (Djdood) on Tuesday, January 09, 2018 - 07:07 pm: Edit

Any kind of manipulation or modification work on a mini (especially plastic ones) requires due care to avoid damaging it. If you vice grip it like 300lb Dutch farmboy fixing a plow, you'll probably break something. A light grip and a light touch are the way to go.

A scribing tool is just a tiny little scraper edge, on a curved handle to let you gently pull it through material. The most-frequent problem with them is having it wander off the line you are trying to deepen and cut a groove somewhere you don't want. Masking tape and flexible metal strips are your friend there.

To answer a potential follow-up question: Yes, some folks use X-acto blades that have had the very tip broken off as a scribing tool (held sideways). It's also possible to drive a phillips head screw in with a small enough flat-head screwdriver, but not exactly the right tool for the job. A scriber puts the flat edge at the correct angle for you to pull the tool naturally (and you're not having to work to keep the flat edge of the broken blade perpendicular to the scribe line).

By Chris Nasipak (Ecs05norway) on Tuesday, January 16, 2018 - 04:27 pm: Edit

Scribing the panel lines -- Agreed. This is a delicate job but a worthwhile one. I tend to go over the lines on any XSF model I buy, not just ADB's.

The polishing process for XSF tends to obliterate enough surface detail that I would recommend against it for most models. Phaser bumps and panel lines are just too easy for it to disappear. For some models (like the Klingons) it can work well, and I design deliberately to my experience of it with the Lyrans, but I cannot recommend it for a Fed. Go with straight XSF or FUD.

Priming: Yes, do this. I just use a spray primer (Krylon grey or black, depending on my intended color scheme). The sintered-powder nylon is VERY porous and soaks up paint like nobody's business, the primer will help fill that in and give you a better surface to work with -- and save your much pricier model paints.

One of the nice things about XSF is that it is very amenable to drybrushing, if that's your preferred technique. I like to do that with Federation ships - start with a medium-dark grey and work my way up to white - but that's not necessarily everybody's preference.

By Jay Gustason (Jay20) on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 - 04:07 pm: Edit

What is the base color for the trobrin

By Nick Samaras (Koogie) on Tuesday, December 01, 2020 - 06:29 pm: Edit

Wet concrete.

For their ships, I use neutral gray as the base.

By Garth L. Getgen (Sgt_G) on Saturday, May 25, 2024 - 06:15 pm: Edit

What's a fair price to have someone (local) paint SFB ship minis these days??


Garth L. Getgen

By Carl-Magnus Carlsson (Hardcore) on Sunday, May 26, 2024 - 05:37 pm: Edit

Garth, look for people that do Warhammer commission works. I think there are quite a few around given the popularity of the games. Try search facebook.