Monster print

[thingster 0]

Hey guys,

 

A few days ago I found a cool 3d model of a "headcrab" on Thingiverse which is a fictional alien-like enemy found in the Half-Life video game series but I guess most of you already know these little guys. I thought that it could be a great little gift for a good friend of mine who is a huge Half-Life fan so I printed it on my Ultimaker and did some post-processing for a smooth surface finish. I also painted it with an airbrush gun. The figurine is about 11 cm long.

 

Here are some pics of it. Hope you like it.

 

[gr5 990]

Very nice paint job. I hated those things in half-life. Always hard to shoot as they get under your feet. They make my skin crawl (like spiders).

 

[ian 32]

looks like my first girlfriend.....

 

[olivierc 2]

Very nice, very smooth surface. What kind of post-processing did you apply? good-ol' sandpaper or some chemical?

 

[alex-marakesch 0]

Did you use ABS or PLA?

And really cool post-processing!

 

[SandervG 1,052]

hahaha @ Ian!

And very nice paintjob indeed!! Overall a nice looking print, but the funny thing is that it doesn't look like a 3D printed object anymore.

What did your friend say?

 

[IRobertI 430]

As I was reading the post and had the image at the bottom of my screen I was sure that was a render... Damn nice job man.

 

[thingster 0]

My friend was quite happy of course.

For post-processing only a little bit of dremel, sandpaper, and acetone vapor. Nothing special here. It's ABS with layer heights of 0.15 mm, so it was more a "rough" model before.

Thank you guys!

 

[olivierc 2]

oh ok, you used acetone on ABS, I thought it was PLA. I'm interested in printing with ABS just for that reason, but I don't have a heated bed yet

 

[makingzone 2]

Guy be carefull with acetone and protect yours personnals jewels, Acetone may make you impotant...

 

[thingster 0]

Guy be carefull with acetone and protect yours personnals jewels, Acetone may make you impotant...

 

Haha, impotent? Or do you mean important? Seriously, acetone is the candy under the chemicals. It's not toxic nor carcinogenic. It isn't even irritant to the body although it has some drying effect to the skin. Of course nobody wants to breath the acetone vapors, but even then it's not toxic at all although you might experience a little bit of headache thanks to the amount of acetone intruding the body. To be honest, the body produces acetone contentiously for itself as it is a derivative of so-called ketones which is a metabolic waste product. You have always a bit of acetone in you as a part of your metabolism.

 

If you want to try the bad stuff then use DCM (but I won't recommend).

 

[alex-marakesch 0]

Can you pls advise, what model of air brush did you use, and what kind of paint? And one more question did you use any lacquer?

Thanks in advance

 

[thingster 0]

No lacquer. The airbrush gun strongly depends on your preferences. It's not a good idea to give recommendations there because everyone has other needs. The only point I want to emphasize is to NOT buy cheap airbrush guns from eBay. Their quality is just so bad that you won't have any fun with them. Because of colors you can use every airbrush color you like. Don't buy the cheap ones. With the not-so-cheap stuff you will get good results, independent from the brand.

 

[kingcatwell 1]

Beautiful model very well done, makes me want to switch to abs printing.

 

[ian 32]

why switch to ABS printing... this model would be no problem to do in really nice quality PLA.

Ian :-)

 

Beautiful model very well done, makes me want to switch to abs printing.

 

[viralata 78]

Very nice indeed. Could you tell us how long it took for the finishing.

 

[IRobertI 430]

why switch to ABS printing... this model would be no problem to do in really nice quality PLA.

Ian :smile:

 

I would assume because he wants the convenience of using acetone for finishing. It's a lot quicker and easier to let the model sit in vapour for a little while rather than using sandpaper and polish for hours to get the same result

 

[kingcatwell 1]

I would assume because he wants the convenience of using acetone for finishing. It's a lot quicker and easier to let the model sit in vapour for a little while rather than using sandpaper and polish for hours to get the same result

 

Spot on, even with sanding (dremmel) and filler and filler primer, pla still is a touch rough.

 

[thingster 0]

Very nice indeed. Could you tell us how long it took for the finishing.

 

If you'd like to include the drying process because of the vapor then a few hours.