I finished painting my 3d printed Kerbal (http://www.kerbalspaceprogram.com - which, btw is a great game!) and thought I share the result here.

Obviously I’m not very good at painting things freehand with a brush, but I think it still came out pretty well:

As you can see from the 1-cm grid, he’s a rather big fellow (and heavy!)

I got the mesh directly from the game using 3d Ripper DX and fixed and refined it in Netfabb Private. (http://www.netfabb.de/)

I printed it on my Form-1+ (http://www.formlabs.com) in formlabs clear resin v1 using 0.1mm layers. Total print time was about 12 hours but I probably put 30 hours into post processing it and painting it after that.

This is how the body looked freshly out of the printer (already washed with Acetone):

And after support structure removal:

And some post processing. A little filler and sanding makes for nice prints! I usually use automotive spray filler, then wet sand it, repeat. In the end I top coat that with 2K epoxy spray finish. The 2K coat, while protecting the print, will also give you the possibility to use window cleaner to wipe out any botched airbrushing / painting:

And this is the result for all the parts. I connected the body through his helmet with the head using a 4mm stainless steel rod, which was glued into the body. It’s still possible to turn his head (and helmet)

I also printed him a visor. It’s still unpolished here, you can see the visor polished in the first pics (sorry for the blurry pic)

Polishing was done by sanding it up to 800 grit and then using acrylic polishing paste. After that, I applied transparent glossy spray coat to protect it from UV light (which would turn the clear plastic yellowish)

I also designed him a stand, so he can happily float around in his jet pack. The stand is also printed (except the hardware parts) and the base was airbrushed black. The curved beam was also polished but coated with transparent matte spray:

This is how he looked before painting:

Summary:

  • Printer: Form1+
  • Material: Clear resin v1 using 0.1mm layers
  • Used 3d Ripper DX and Netfabb Private
  • Total print time: 12 hours (30 in total, post processing included)
  • 2K epoxy spray finish
  • Polishing: by sanding it up to 800 grit and then using acrylic polishing paste
  • Dimensions: Height (with base): 20cm, Height (without base): 15cm, Width (Helmet): 8cm, Depth (Helmet): 7cm

Hope you enjoyed.

Tobias

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Kudos @Tobias_4 for all the post processing and painting, came out really well :slight_smile:

Awesome print! I love kerbal space program. What Airbrush do you use? I was thinking about getting one myself and I’ve love to hear if you think you are getting your moneys worth.

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Where do I start :slight_smile:

I got alot of airbrush kit over the last couple years (see pics)

If you really want a good cost / perf ratio, get a no name chinese made double action(!) gun. They get sold under all sorts of names + in all types (usually with a 3 digit part suffix, like 130, 135, 180etc) but one of the cheapest sources I found (if you don’t shop in mainland china) is www.hobbyking.com. Make sure you get the right size of color container + needle diameter for your application. (~7ml and 0.3mm is a good starting point for printer-sized models. You will be able to base coat relatively fast and you still have the ability to do more detailed work)

These guns are surprisingly good for their price and you can get replacement needles and gaskets pretty much everywhere for cheap too.

If you want real quality, the Harder&Steenbeck guns are pretty good imo - I got the evolution AL plus myself and I’m very happy with it. The one big advantage of the more expensive guns is the fact their gaskets can also take non-acrylic lacquers. You will still want to use spray cans for the more exotic stuff like fillers and 2K epoxy.

Their price/perf ratio is MUCH worse than the chinese type tho - you can get at least 4 different sized chinese airbrush guns for the price of one of these - I wouldn’t recommend getting them as a total beginner.

Beware that you will have to invest in more than just the gun though; you will need a compressor, I really recommend a spraying booth (see pic) and good colors aren’t cheap either. Also, learning how to airbrush properly can take a while even if you just use it to base color things.

Hope this helps, otherwise feel free to ask.

Tobias

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Kerbalnauts unite!! =D Awesome job!

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Very cool!!!

can i get the stl files to print ? :wink: