Comment by 🚀 mimas2AC
Re: "a true toad. model from sketchfab printed with a babu lab…"
I want to paint the model, and most of the body is essentially in camouflage. However, tutorials on miniature painting are quite challenging, and the paints are not exactly cheap. Does anyone here have experience with painting models and dioramas? I’d love to hear your insights! thanx
2025-02-22 · 1 year ago
1 Later Comment
👺 Nilbog · 2025-04-17 at 17:27:
That is a nice toad you got printed out there and now I want to print one.
You might have already done some stuff already by now but I would be happy to share a little bit of my experience with painting 3d printed PLA models. I am more of a hobbyist but I painted my fair share of miniatures (mainly skeletons).
To get really those awesome looking smooth prints it takes a bit of work. Which can involve a whole slew of methods like sanding, acetone, epoxy, or whatever newfangled methods are out there. Then you will need those some of those insanely overpriced acrylic modeling paint and a decent set of brushes. However I get the feeling you may want to avoid that for now.
Personally I only ever sanded some of my prints, but it is a stupidly tedious process. The process involves starting with sandpaper starting around 100 grit and moving your way up to something around 2000 grit. You also would need to keep that sandpaper wet to avoid getting dust all over the place. Some people like to apply some automotive primer before moving up to the next level of grit. Those people tend to be either very dedicated to the craft, insane or both.
For your toad here is what I would personally do.
1. Spray it with a couple of coats automotive primer. This will help the acrylic paint adhere to the model. I like the gray Rust-Oleum primer. Price ranges between $6.00-$10. Easy to find at a hardware store in the paint section.
2. Get a cheap acrylic paint kit (with brushes). For a toad I would try to seek out a set with a lot of browns. I've seen these kits go for around $10-$30. The higher priced ones tend to have a larger selection.
3. Once the primer is all dried up I would use a dark brown as a base color.
4. When the brown base color dries I would then apply a black wash (which is just really wet paint) across the back, legs, and face to get within the cracks and crevices. Wash can be a bit overpriced, $7-$14. In this case I would just take a bit of black paint and dab it into a bowl water until you get a runny sloppy paint.
5. When the wash dries I would probably apply more layers of brown. Typically a thinner coat of paint for every layer applied. This is usually achieved by adding a little bit of water to the paint. Basically the more water you add the thinner the paint becomes. It would be hard to judge how much you would need, but I am typically satisfied with two layers of paint.
6. To finish that toad model I would then use a technique called dry brushing. In this case probably I would use a light brown or something similar. You would dip your brush lightly into the paint, wipe most of off into a paper towel, then drag the brush lightly over the raised surfaces of that toad. That is usually my favorite part when working on a model, it gives it this "pop" in the texture.
Hopefully this gives you some insight in the process. If you feel like you made mistakes up you can paint over it or try again with another print. The first stuff I painted looks like absolute slop.
I also apologize if I am too vague or rambley in this post. I've never posted anything anywhere before, except probably a WoW form about 15 years ago.
Original Post
a true toad. model from sketchfab printed with a babu lab a1 mini. [gemini link]