For the initial round of figures, see [[3D Printed Team]] ## Intro New team members have earned their place to join the ranks. Overall, this was a smoother process than the first round on the printer, and a lot fewer figures which helped. I did not need any reprints since I got pretty good at adding supports previously. There was one print failure on the arm of one figure, but rather than reprint I fixed (not great, but enough) with milliput. Overall feelings are mixed. I'm glad the prints went smooth, but the paint jobs are not my best. The designs I like. I've hardly painted this past year and it shows. I'm disappointed in the eyes on all figures, but they are so small and tiny it's hard to add any color or detail. The green shirt isn't very uniform even though I tried several layers with brush, and the skin on robotic figure isn't good (also brushed, turned out too red and then I tried to back it off). In any case, I did get to play around and try a few different things. I tried to work on blonde hair and while neither is great, I have learned some (improved compared to the blonde in [[3D Printed Team]] where it was too yellow). I tried the concrete texture by MIG and learned how to apply and work with it (although I probably should've covered the sides of the base as well for uniform texturing and color). I worked with barbados rex enamels, which I liked. ## Photos ![[IMG_4265.jpg]] ![[IMG_4286.jpg]] ![[IMG_4288.jpg]] ![[IMG_4257.jpg]] ![[IMG_4277.jpg]] ![[IMG_4279.jpg]] ![[IMG_4283.jpg]] ### Blonde Comparisons This top one was using some browns and bone white that I had on hand ![[IMG_4262.jpg]] In this second photo, I used the colors ordered to align with recommended blondes (converted to vallejo). Ice yellow (highlights), ger cam orange ochre (base), smokey ink (not used), and pro acryl golden brown. ![[IMG_4273.jpg]] ## Lessons Learned - **Thin Barbados Rex When Airbrushing:** A while back I ordered some Barbados Rex paints but hadn't tried them until now. I actually sprayed it without thinning since it looked fairly thin already, and while it sprayed and finish turned out alright, it also created spider webbing, a clear sign it should've been thinned. Add some thinner next time (but maybe not too much). - **Barbados Rex brushes alright out of jar:** In contrast to the above, it brushes pretty well. I had sprayed the blue on the evangelion plug suit but did a pretty hasty masking job with the intent of brushing the edges after. I did, and it worked out well. - **Barbados Rex goes over Alclad and Mr. Color without issue:** sometimes I wonder when mixing/changing paints, even though I know the theory around which should be ok where. In this case, I wasn't confident if I would have issues with the barbados rex enamel over the aclad silver base or the Mr. Color white (I think it was this anyways). It worked fine. - **Hand brushing large areas like shirts/pants is a pain:** Maybe sometimes it's ok, but timewise the wizard sitting in a chair took a lot longer. I spent about 3 hours hand brushing the base coats - entire figure brushed and still needed plenty of work after initial base coats. On the other hand, the two other figures were airbrushed first with some pretty quick masking, and then touched up and detailed afterwards. I spent far more time on wizard and probably should've masked to spray at least shirt and pants and then just touched up the edges instead of trying to brush them. I didn't because I figured masking would be too hard or take to long, but I think a rough mask job would've been enough. On the other hand, hand brushing small details (on the robotic figure) doesn't take long at all. It looks more tedious and time consuming, but after a base color of silver airbrushed, the hand brushing details goes by pretty quick since you don't need much paint, lots of large layers for coverage, etc. - **Blonde hair really hard for me**. I am still struggling and probably haven't learned the correct way, but have learned I'm no good at it. I followed some tutorials a bit although I just picked the closest paint colors I had without buying new paints for the anime focused figure. It came out too red/brown on the base color and not blonde enough. Furthermore, the small fine line strokes really didn't work right or placing the highlights. It just looks weird to me. There are color variations, sure, but it's not realistic looking in my mind. Still struggling. Ordered paint colors closer to tutorial to try with robotic figure if they arrive in time. See [[Hair - Painting Blonde Hair]]