Painting FDM Miniatures in 15mm
After 3d printing a couple of scores of miniatures in FDM with my Bambu Labs A1 mini printer, and playing with different settings and trying different painting styles, I decided I had to look into the painting techniques in a more scientific approach, and spending the time to run an experiment might pay off in the long run. So the concept is to print the same miniature, in 15mm, using the same print settings (I went rogue on this part a little down the road), and examine different techniques and if they accenuate or hide layer lines, and how easy or not it is to use with this type of miniatures.
I want to test if there are techniques to “fill” layer lines without losing detail. One technique that has been tested to work and will be used for the entirety of the experiment is the paint. Paint will be used unthinned, but in lean application. The brush won’t be filled with it, just a light coat will be applied each time. However it won’t be diluted as with normal painting, just a tad bit damp brush prior to using the paint.
I want to test if drybrushing accenuates layer lines, if black drybrushing hides them, how washes behave with layer lines and if a varnish prior to washes and/or prior to drybrushing can minimize any undesired results.
As a note for new readers, I’m a long time painter of 15mm minis, with table-ready results. My technique is: Slap-Chop (white drybrush over black primer) followed by Artists (tube) acrylics in a glaze-like fashion (either transparent to semi-opaque paints or diluted opaque paints accordingly) so that the slap-chop works like a highlight-shade. Finish with washes and varnish. Works well for 15mm with nice results without too much effort.
The model I decided to use is the Greek Hero from Brite Minis. I chose this model because it’s not an easy one. It has armor, cloak, scales, flesh, weapons, and a quite dynamic (for support free) pose. Also it’s support free, so I won’t have to deal with supports, which are a hit or miss thing at the moment as I haven’t nailed down the settings for 15mm, and it is not the purpose of this experiment.
The first 6 miniatures of the set were sliced in Bambu Studio. Printed with 0.2mm nozzle, 0.04mm layer height. Low print speeds at 50-150mms. Arachne wall generator. Elegoo PLA Space Gray, extruded with nozzle temperature at 200 Celsius. Down the road I printed a couple more with lower speeds at 25mms and 0.03mm layer height, and surprisingly they looked even better, but print time doubled or more at 2-3 hours. Nr 7 was sliced in Bambu Studio, and Nr 8 was sliced in Orca, which for some reason gave even better results. Could be by chance, and I’ll keep an eye for it in the future.
Since smartphone camera digital photography algorithms tend to distort the images, I wanted to get images as close to the true thing as possible. I 3d printed a Photobox in white PLA, for a proper background, and put back in use my old trusty Sony DSC-TX5 camera. Put it in Macro mode, and adjusted EV to +2 for exposure.
Miniature #1
0.04 mm Layer Height
Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer Gloss Black
Drybrush Army Painter Black
Drybrush Army Painter White
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Miniature #2
0.04 mm Layer Height
Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer Gloss Black
Drybrush Army Painter Black
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
Drybrush Army Painter White
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Miniature #3
0.04 mm Layer Height
Vallejo Acrylic-Polyurethane Surface Primer Gloss Black
Varnish Windsor Newton Matt Varnish
Drybrush Army Painter Black
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
Drybrush Army Painter White
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Miniature #4
0.04 mm Layer Height
Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White
Drybrush Army Painter Black
Drybrush Army Painter White
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Drybrush/Edge Highlight Army Painter White
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Miniature #5
0.04 mm Layer Height
Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White
Drybrush Army Painter Black
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
Drybrush Army Painter White
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Miniature #6
0.04 mm Layer Height
Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White
Varnish Windsor Newton Matt Varnish
Drybrush Army Painter Black
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Base
Drybrush Army Painter Dungeon Highlights
Drybrush Army Painter White
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Miniature #7
0.03 mm Layer Height, 25mms Speed
Army Painter Terrain Primer Ruins & Cliffs
Basecoat with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
Wash Army Painter Soft/Strong/Military Shader
Drybrush Army Painter White
Miniature #8
0.03 mm Layer Height, 25mms Speed, Orca Slicer
Army Painter Terrain Primer Ruins & Cliffs
Basecoat/Shade/Highlight with Amsterdam All Acrylics Standard
The Colour Schemes used are as follows:
#1-7
Flesh: Naples Yellow Red Deep/Soft Tone
Tunic: Titanium White/Soft Tone
Cloak: Pyrolle Red/Strong Tone
Scale Shirt, Skirt, Sandals: Burnt Sienna/Strong Tone
Hair: Yellow Ochre/Soft Tone
Sword Blade: Silver/Military Shader
Shield, Greaves, Helmet, Sword Pommel & Guard: Bronze/Military Shader
Floor: Neutral Grey/Military Shader
#8
Flesh: Naples Yellow Red/Naples Yellow Red Light/Raw Sienna
Tunic: Zinc White/Titanium White
Cloak: Pyrolle Red/Vermillion/Carmin
Scale Shirt, Skirt, Sandals: Burnt Sienna/Raw Sienna/Burnt Umber
Hair: Yellow Ochre/Primary Yellow
Sword Blade: Silver/Zinc White/Payne’s Grey
Shield, Greaves, Helmet, Sword Pommel & Guard: Bronze/Zinc White/Payne’s Grey
Floor: Neutral Grey/Zinc White
After slap-chop, I couldn’t see any substantial difference between the Vallejo Acrylic Polyurethane Black Primer #1-3 and the Amsterdam All Acrylics Deco Primer White #4-6.
The rattlecan spray primer by Army Painter worked very well. I’ll consider using it for mass-priming 3d-printed miniatures as it will save me a lot of time in the future. The dark gray vs black nature of the colour also is a nice base coat. As to hiding of layer lines I can’t really compare to the brush on primers since the two minis primed with it were printed with different settings.
Perhaps application was easier for the Vallejo and it dried faster. But there’s no sort of better or worse with regards to layers hiding. I considered them equal for the rest of the test, and used this opportunity to test different things (extra drybrush) on the final stages.
I couldn’t see any difference either between the ones that were varnished prior to slap chop vs the ones that weren’t. Layer lines seem similar. These are #2 vs #3 and #5 vs #6.
On the other hand, gradient grays a la zenithal vs a sharp sketch slap chop seem to make a difference. It’s mostly an illusion, but it does seem to help. Also it helps significantly when painting, as the black & white was much harder to “read” vs the gradient gray. Of course major factor here is the 15mm scale and the FDM imperfections.
Washes tend not to flow easily with FDM, as they get grabbed by layer lines. I could see that on the miniatures varnished before applying wash, there was better flow, without having any major impact on the end result though.
The one I like the most is #8, the one painted without drybrush and washes, just traditional shading and highlights – it’s the first time I attempted this type of painting, but it seems to work well, and layer lines are almost non-existent.
The one I like least is #7 the one painted without slap chop, but with washes and drybrush – second to last of the group. It’s too dark for my tastes, and details are non-existent, while layer lines are visible.
Between the main experiment of the figures #1-6 (different gradient slap chop, varnish steps in between, different primers, extra drybrushing) I can’t tell of any significant difference to the end result. Perhaps #2 & #5 are the best effort-to-result ratio.
Overall, I’d say that washes and drybrushing accenuate layer lines in 15mm. The best technique is to avoid their use altogether and do shading and highlights using different shades of the same colour paint. If however one was to do a regular slap chop, a black drybrush prior, mitigates it a little bit. A varnish prior to applying washes also allows for the wash to pool into the major recesses instead of the layer lines.
Some work in progress shots:
Nico are discussing. 
Solo, Pen, Paper and Dice 
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