Hi Carl
Have followed this from the start. Just to ask a few questions, the 3D printed winches etc, in the pink they seemed to be slightly rough, did you sand them? as the fitted bits seem nicely smooth. Also you mentioned painting the railings, were they removed from the deck when the glue dried or painted in situ???
Mark
Hi Mark - re the 3D winches, due to their size and delicacy, it would be very difficult to sand them. Some of the parts are only 0.2mm thick. All that has been done is that they were gently 'washed' in luke-warm soapy water and left to air-dry and then sprayed with grey primer. The thickness of the paint imparts a degree of smoothness. These winches (and a few other fine detailed parts) are printed in a material called Frosted Ultra Detail - a resin type plastic - but can be quite brittle and need considerate handling.
As to the other, white, 3D parts.....they are printed in a 'nylon' type of plastic. They are printed in a powder medium which needs to be cleaned off before painting. Again, these are washed in luke-warm soapy water and left to air-dry. One issue with the 3d printing process in this material is that the parts are microscopically porous - paint will 'bleed' through the surface. On a solid object that is a single colour this isn't an issue, but with parts such as the vent cowls with red innards the red paint will bleed through to the outer surface of the cowl. To prevent this, a single coat of satin varnish was applied following washing and left to dry for a couple of days prior to final painting. These 'white' 3D parts have a slight rough finish to them (a bit like 1200grade wet n dry). This finish doesn't really detract from the finish of the part but if the modeller requires a perfectly smooth finish then they will need to give the parts a light sanding prior to painting.
Railings - These were painted in situ on the model. Again, the stanchions are scale height and thickness so are quite delicate until they are combined with the horizontal railings and handrails. I am still experimenting with different methods of fitting the railings - so far I have threaded the rails onto the stanchions 'dry' off the model and then, using superglue, located the stanchions into pre-drilled holes in the deck. Once the stanchions had dried, superglue was then touched in on the joints of the stanchions and rails using a piece of brass wire. The following day, the flat-top handrail was either superglued or soldered to the tops of the stanchions. My next experiment is to use a copy of the deck plan fixed to a flat piece of wood as a template and assemble and paint the rails off the model. Luckily, the plethora of railings on this ship are broken down into manageable chunks as there are small gates at intervals.
I will try to pop up some more photos a little later.
Carl