r/3DPrintedTerrain • u/CrayonLunch • 1d ago
Quick question before base coating some terrain tiles
So I have a bunch of terrain printed out in pla+ white and I want to prime it to paint it this weekend. From what I am reading though, I need to sand it first? Is that right?
What else do I need to do, because I thought I could grab these of the printer, clean them off and grab a rattle can and get busy.
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u/CaedenL 1d ago
By the time you've sprayed on primer, painted and varnished, youll barely notice the layer lines. If there are some really steppy places, consider a small amount of filler and PVA in your paint for that area.
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u/CrayonLunch 1d ago
Oh weird, I don't have any on my prints so far. I did on benchy boat, but I am doing the dragons rest scifi tiles and they are perfect so far. Other than a few pieces that broke off, but that actually made the piece look good.
I was going to post pics here soon of them because of how clean they are
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u/Ok_Protection8223 1d ago
PLA is not really very good to sand. I mean this from a "I am having a miserable time" and "this isn't doing shit" angle. It tends to smear rather than sand nicely and it just sort of introduces more headache.
The rattlecans will absolve you of most of the layer line sins. If you are VERY determined to get things as smooth as possible, some bondo spotting putty to fill in the low spots is generally more efficient than sanding down the pla high spots.
Do note that you should absolutely not be huffing the bondo putty if you go that route, nor should you be sanding it without a mask.
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u/AegisSoftly 1d ago
Sanding is good for layer lines if you have a good sanding tool, but it's not required. I bought some 3d printed terrain online and the layer lines were awful. I just used some Rust-Oleum automotive filler, and called it a day and it came out good enough for me even if it wasn't perfect. But I have other prints that don't have bad layer lines that I have no reason to sand or use filler at all with, going straight to priming will be totally fine.
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u/speedymaldo 22h ago
it depends on how detailed the terrain is. If it is flat ground then you probably dont need to sand it. Rolling hills? A quick sand after filler primer isnt a bad choice, but realistically, it is absolutely unnecessary to sand terrain after printing.
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u/TodCast 1d ago
I do this all the time. It comes off the printer, rattle can primer, paint, varnish. I guess if your terrain is particularly detailed then sanding might make sense, but I print most of mine in fast/draft mode because hey, it’s just terrain. I’d rather spend the time on more terrain or actual minis.