One of a kind 3D printed Mech

[Madhatter]

Hi everyone

Last night, I did a great trade on this one of a kind 3D printed Mech/robot and I thought I would share this here because I really like the design.

It's made from 3D printing and to my knowledge, there was only ever 1 made. The guy who produced it apparently does a lot of 3D printing of mechs for those RP games (like Warhammer etc) and he made this really big one as a 1 off just to see how it would go. It was given to another fellow from my club and because I took great interest in it, he and I agreed to do a trade (1/48 HB F-111A which is fine by me because I would never have made it)

Now comes the fun part. I know NOTHING about these mech's (if indeed that's what they are called) and am hoping someone could point me to a source of painting inspiration. I have already made a few searches for Mech's but haven't found anything too good for painting ideas. So if you know of any good sites that have some robots similar to this, could you please link it for me (and everyone else )

I also have some questions about the plastic on this. I don't know the type of plastic it is, but I am rightly or wrongly assuming that normal extra thin cement won't work with this? I'm also thinking normal putty is wasted on this material? Would Milliput be ok?

It's fully articulated and that's also a bit of a downside as it moves a little to freely and it's hard to keep a pose properly. I am thinking I should choose a pose I like and CA it all into place before trying to add some more details to it (like covers for the joints).

Speaking of additional details, I'm thinking of some hoses or what not, but at this scale (Unknown BTW), they may not be applicable.

I had thought of adding chipping, but again, these things are meant to be huge so I'm not sure chipping could be accomplished properly without it looking terribly off scale. Your thoughts here?

Here are some pictures of the mech itself. It has many positives and a few negatives (but then that's 3D printing limitations) The detail added is amazingly awesome and very well done. Some areas are quite rough whilst others amazingly smooth. The whole thing will need a good sanding to remove as much of the print lines as possible. That ought to be fun.

The first 2 pictures below show some of the limitations of 3D printing, but they are small areas that could easily be fixed up. Not really an issue

Well, that's all of the pictures I took. If you have any ideas on how this should/could be painted, please, I am all ears. I'm also open to design modification ideas

Regards

Si

[ICMF]

The first 2 pictures below show some of the limitations of 3D printing

Slight correction: the pictures show some of the limitations of FDM printing. #notall3dprints

Seriously though, that's down to the extruded nature of FDM printing. You wouldn't see that on an SLA, DLP, MJM or other printer. (they'd have different artifacts, but not the 'squeezed toothpaste' look)

Assuming you want to smooth out the print lines, if it's printed in ABS, an acetone vapor bath will level the surfaces quickly and easily. If it's PLA, I believe the preferred chemical is ethyl acetate (same process, just a different solvent)

Apart from that... some tubing would probably look pretty good. I'd also be inclined to cover the exposed joints, if possible.

Neat looking model, though.

[Madhatter]

"Assuming you want to smooth out the print lines, if it's printed in ABS, an acetone vapor bath will level the surfaces quickly and easily. If it's PLA, I believe the preferred chemical is ethyl acetate (same process, just a different solvent)"

How do I tell the difference?

Edited June 11, 2016 by Madhatter

[ICMF]

There are a few ways.

Simplest: light it on fire. PLA melts, with a blue flame and has a sweet smell. ABS burns, with black smoke and a noxious smell. This probably works better with raw filament than a finished print, though.

Also simple: brush some acetone on a hidden surface (I can see a couple of loose lengths of filament - you could pull one of those off). If it melts, it's ABS. If it doesn't, it's PLA.

Or you could ask the guy who printed it. He should know.

[matiwashere]

Now comes the fun part. I know NOTHING about these mech's (if indeed that's what they are called) and am hoping someone could point me to a source of painting inspiration. I have already made a few searches for Mech's but haven't found anything too good for painting ideas. So if you know of any good sites that have some robots similar to this, could you please link it for me (and everyone else )

There is a wide range of things you can do with it colorwise, for inspiration I'd suggest doing a few image searches with these keywords:

Battletech / Battlemech - rather "old schoolish" 80s design with lots of warning stripes.

armored core - from a japanese video game, there's also a bunch of kits of the series from kotobukiya, maybe they will give you some ideas.

Paolo Parente Dust / Dust tactics - a tabletop game featuring warmachines with a more military painting approach.

Gundam - from a japanese anime series, cartoonish colors and lot's of white, maybe interesting for weathering it up?

But since it's you who decides after all, it really depends what you want to do with it. It would look great as a warmachine standing on a desert hill with a hexagonal camo pattern but I can also see it being an arena mech in some futuristic arena, painted up with very bright and flashy colors, maybe even with a few sponsor logos etc.

[Madhatter]

Thanks for that, I knew they had to be known as something else. I like the sound of your hexangonal camp. Will look into that

Edited June 13, 2016 by Madhatter

[Dazzio]

Well just looking at it, I can see the Timber Wolf, Maddog, Blood Asp from MechWarrior/Battletech in it, I can also see a bit of Destroid Monster from Macross (then again MW/BT did rip off Macross).

Going along the lines of what matiwashere has said, I have seen good models made up using hexagonal decals with greys/black and oranges. It sounds weird but it works. Have a look on Gundam Guy's blog, there will be a few ideas on there no doubt. As for the joins being loose, I have heard that some Gunpla modellers cover the actual ball join in a layer of ca glue to make it "bigger/tighter", dunno if that would work here??

Kind Regards,

Dazz

[Madhatter]

I kind of like the sound of a hexagonal camo, maybe making it sort of 3D and so will seriously look into that as a viable option. I haven't had much time to do further searches as yet but I will check out that blog

I'm going to experiment with the soles of the robots feet to see if normal glue will be useable to add additional details like joint shielding made of styrene. I'm thinking I might just find a pose I like and CA the joints. It's not like I'm going to be playing with it.

I was given some additional guns that have 8 barrels and look quite menacing and thought about adding them to the robot, but I've changed my mind as they didn't look like they are in the same scale. I think it has enough weapons on it as is

[matiwashere]

As for the hex pattern Fallout hobbies carries vinyl stencils for that.

http://www.fallouthobbies.com/stencils/

Also saw a video on youtube about hex camo that was quite explanatory and interesting. Just search for hex camo on youtube and I bet you'll find it.

[Madhatter]

Thanks for that link. I just bought some of the shard camo and caution bars stencils from them. They are a great idea. I really like a lot of them actually, and would happily buy most of them if I had a real need for them

[Misrule]

Thats a good looking design, Macross monster meets Command and Conquer with a bit of mechwarrior chucked in

I'd agree some sort of disruptive or hard angled camouflage is the way to go, you probably aren't going to be hiding something that big and it looks like its built for long range combat so a bit of dazzle will look very nice and logical.

I'm sort of thinking this thing would look good off world, one of the arguments against mechs is how cumbersome they are, but if you are on the Moon or Mars with less gravity these things suddenly become much easier to operate. I can definitely see this thing in a sort of grey and white scheme standing in a wrecked moon base, or red and brown for Mars maybe.

Either way, really liking the design

[Madhatter]

That's a great idea to have it off world. I might just do a moon based version in white and gray splinter. I'll wait and see how this shard stencil looks before committing

[Sgt.Squarehead]

I'm almost certain it's not one of the Battletechl Mechs.

[Dazzio]

I'm almost certain it's not one of the Battletechl Mechs.

Aye I can guarantee it is not also. I spent too many years in a BT Clan, but thats another story. It just has "elements" from them.

An off world scheme could be a good idea,

Kind Regards,

Dazz

[Will Vale]

It looks rather like a Destroid (or one of those Macross things) to me

The design would look good in Weta's Giant Killer Robots world - I posted some pics recently, here's one of them to refresh your memory. Lots of big slab-like shapes with mechanical details and loud punky paint jobs.

(click for bigger/more)

Cheers,

Will