Shapeways

[bmathison1972]

OK, starting the aforementioned Shapeways thread with my three recent figures. [there was actually a fourth, but it was damaged in transit and is being replaced].

1) goliath beetle, Mecynorrhina oberthuri decorata
artist: Eric's Studio
size: 55 mm (not including legs)
material: plastic, white, strong, and flexible (WSF)
painting: orange and white base acrylic paint; black added with Pitt pens. Underside also has dark red and dark green acyrlic paints. Sealed with satin varnish.



2) treehopper; I painted it based on Umbonia crassicornis here: http://bugguide.net/node/view/158738/bgpage
artist: Duncan Toys
size: 87 mm (not including front legs)
material: plastic, WSF
painting: red, blue/green, and brown for basal acrylics. Later added orange acrylic. Accents and punctures using various colors of Pitt pens. Sealed with satin varnish.



3) Opabinia.
artist: Reaper Media
size: 58 mm (incl. proboscis)
material: plastic, WSF
paiting: basal dark dray green acrylic paint, with paler as accents and underneath; proboscis with yellow-orange acrylic paint; accents and eyes with Pitt pens. The eyes and proboscis were inspired by the ROM figure. Sealed with satin varnish.



the fourth figure was an orchid mantid. I repaired and painted it but wasnt happy with the paint job so I will re-do it when I get the replacement figure.

[brontodocus]

Great idea for a thread, Blaine! The models turned out wonderful! Too bad, the Jerusalem Cricket you had ordered did not print. The beetle is representing a species which once was the holy grail among beetle collectors and was sometimes referred to as the "pearl" or "jewel of Tanzania" for its rarity (until another population was discovered in the 1990s) and dried specimens were traded for several thousands a piece. The Umbonia crassicornis treehopper looks wonderful and it's good to know it's quite large, too.

[sphyrna18]

Whoa! Nice job, Blaine! Those look outstanding. Great job with the paints! Can't wait to see what you do with the mantid. And what's this about a Jerusalem Cricket that didn't print? 

[bmathison1972]

Whoa! Nice job, Blaine! Those look outstanding. Great job with the paints! Can't wait to see what you do with the mantid. And what's this about a Jerusalem Cricket that didn't print?

the Jerusalem cricket order was canceled b/c they said it wouldn't print correctly. I hope they resolve the issue. I'd really like one

[bmathison1972]

orchid mantid, Hymenopus coronatus
artist: Jam Design
material: plastic, WSF
size: legspan 60 mm wide by 35 mm deep.
paint: base of cream (white + a hint of yellow), then pink highlights. Brown, green, and yellow added with Pitt pens. Finished with satin varnish.

My figure is on the left, with the Furuta Chocoegg Funny Animals figure on the right. The Furuta represents a rather pale specimen, while mine has as about as much pink as they come, so you get the full range between the two figures. Kabaya did an orchid mantid too, as part of their Insect Directory series.

Note: this figure, although sold as WSF, had a different texture. It was not so porous and grainy and was much harder to paint (paint wanted to pull away as it dried).
This is also my second one. The first one was damaged in transit (two legs broke). This one also had one leg broken in transit but I didnt bother Shapeways again since I can repair it with Plastruct. After painting one of the forelegs broke and had to be repaired. In other words, if anyone is interested in this figure, it's more fragile than others!

[sbell]

I have been very busy lately--and it turns out I have no modern animals from Shapeways (yet!).

But I do have some printed fish that were done for me by the university where I work. And for the first time, I've actually prepped, primed and painted the figures! Outrageous!

I'm not great at it, but it was fun. Maybe there was less anxiety involved because the models were gifted instead of costing me anything (although the knives, files, primer, brushes & paints made up for it).  And I still have a few more models to paint.

I will post each fish separately, so that no single post gets crazy long (and these will probably show up in appropriate threads elsewhere of course):

Payara Hydrolycus armatus

I'd originally intended to do the more familiar H. scomberoides but when image searching found one with more blue highlights and reds. Turns out it was a different species (H. armatus). That's what I get for searching with a common name I guess.




One challenge is that the printer was not a super-high resolution, so there is a lot of texture to the printing. So that swirling pattern is part of the plastic.

The fish also photographs more blue than it looks IRL. But it is still painted to be silvery/shiny.

Obviously, some features of the model are affected by the medium--the teeth are much thicker than they should be--and the pelvic fin is printed as one thick fin. I could have tried to fix it had I noticed before I started painting, but I didn't.

The model can't stand on it's own, so it requires a base. My son created this one using Sculpey, and the figure is mounted using a Colorata peg. The figures have an internal mesh instead of being solid or hollow, so once I drilled through, the hole was...less straight. But it's not like this is a toy anyway.

So that's my first one! More fish a-coming! Probably with less explanations, since much of this kind of carries over among all of them.

[sbell]

My second printed fish:

Clown Knifefish Chitala ornatus




Like the Payara, this one is a little more silvery IRL. Something about the silvery paint turns blue-er in the camera lights.

But they're still kind of bluish.

Also like the Payara, this knifefish cannot stand on its own--this time, my daughter made the Sculpey stand. To my eye, she almost managed to copy a Colorata base.

[sbell]

Fish number 3!

Green sturgeon Acipenser medirostris




This is the first one I painted. I decided to make it a green sturgeon because I don't have one. It turned out a little more green than I'd intended. But I've noticed that, given the nature of the material, I can probably get away with some colour exaggeration since these figures aren't detailed to the point of skin. So I go all out because why not!?

[sbell]

And a fourth fish:

Tropical Gar Atractosteus tropicus




My original intention was to make one of the not-Alligator gar Atractosteus. It wound up in the Tropical gar direction, although the bands are not as distinct as I'd have liked; fortunately, they're kind of variable overall.

Or, I can blame it on this being a hybrid with a northern pike...I didn't notice, until I was painting, that the tail is clearly not a gar's heterocercal tail, but instead a pike tail. I'm guessing that the person who originally made the file kind of copied-and-pasted from an original file. I'm not going to complain. More gar is better than less gar.

And, it's missing an anal fin. Something I wish I had realized when I was prepping the model, since 3 paired fins (both pectorals and a pelvic) broke off. But I didn't. So now it's a bit of a freak.

[sbell]

And the last finished fish model I have.

Like the gar and sturgeon, this one stands just fine on its own, so I haven't mounted them on any pegs. I might eventually, but given the uncertain internal structure, I prefer to leave well enough alone for now!

Double-Nose Elephant Fish Campylomormyrus rhynchophorus




The species is mostly a guess, as there are lots of similar mormryids. That said, the genus is pretty likely. The only other thing I was certain of is that it isn't the most familiar species, Gnathonemus petersii, based on the position of the mouth, and the doubled trunk (more obvious up close).

[brontodocus]

Those are cool! So the paint adheres well, then?

[sbell]

Those are cool! So the paint adheres well, then?

After a lot of prepping, I used a lot of spray-on primer. And after it all, I used a lot of acrylic sealant to protect them, because the paint did chip pretty easily.

I used acrylic paints of varying brands--turns out, that really does matter. Dollar store brands aren't quite of the same quality as the good stuff!

[bmathison1972]

mayfly nymph by Shapeways:

artist: Zepol Sport Fishing
material: plastic, frosted ultra detail
size: 2.5" (total length, including antennae and cerci)
paint: base of yellow/brown acrylic paint; brown highlights with Pitt Pens. Sealed with satin varnish.

Note: this is an extremely delicate figure. I was happy to receive it intact! If you notice the broken antenna, that was on me (dropped it on the floor  ). Because of the delicate nature, I want to permanently adhere/glue it to a base. Looking to have a freshwater base made, or maybe buy a Colorata freshwater fish and cannibalize its base haha.

[brontodocus]

Thanks for posting the photo of the Shapeways mayfly nymph, bmathison. Nice colors.
This is definitely a must-have. I wonder if fine wire could replace the antennae.

_{I think stemturtle wanted to post this here but it seems I cannot move an individual post from one thread to another so I'll just quote it here.}

The mayfly larva turned out wonderful and it's apparently very gracile. Blaine, I guess a fine insect pin, cut to the proper length, would probably be a good replacement for the antenna, too. Or even a minute insect pin (although those seem to go rather into my fingers than into anything else, no matter which end first). But you may need a very fine drill to make a tiny hole in the head, too.

[stemturtle]

Thanks for posting the photo of the Shapeways mayfly nymph, bmathison. Nice colors.
This is definitely a must-have. I wonder if fine wire could replace the antennae.

_{I think stemturtle wanted to post this here but it seems I cannot move an individual post from one thread to another so I'll just quote it here.}

The mayfly larva turned out wonderful and it's apparently very gracile. Blaine, I guess a fine insect pin, cut to the proper length, would probably be a good replacement for the antenna, too. Or even a minute insect pin (although those seem to go rather into my fingers than into anything else, no matter which end first). But you may need a very fine drill to make a tiny hole in the head, too.

You are correct about this thread, brontodocus. Sorry for my mistake.

[bmathison1972]

Here are the trilobite and the tardigrade. I am at work now so I do not have specifics on their dimensions. The trilobite is roughly 25 mm; the tardigrade is comparable to the Agatsuma tardigrade.

For some unknown reason I got creative with the trilobite paint job . It is blue acrylic paint with yellow and red Pitt pens. Sealed with satin varnish.

The tardigrade was more fun. I did a base of pale green acrylic paint. While the paint was still wet, I took a sponge and dabbed a darker green on top of it. I really like the affects but now wish I'd chosen a different color scheme (maybe oranges and browns). Base is dark brown. Sealed with satin varnish.

[sbell]

Cool inverts. Interesting choices of colours!

And hey, if you do decide to change the tardigrade colours, you can always use some acetone to try and clear some paint. And primer is always handy! Or, just get a second one!

And I've been looking around, and while I don't have any Colorata bases to spare, I may have others. If I don't, make sure to check out ones that have come with Yujin freshwater fish (for example) as well--they use a similar-size rod, and have various gravel, wood and plant styles. Although they tend to be smaller.

[brontodocus]

Yay, super colourful!
The tardigrade's sculpt seems to be as wonderful as expected.

[Beetle guy]

Mecynorhina oberthuri from Eric's Studio.

I ordered the smooth version instead of the one with the slight grainy feel.
But turns out the smooth version has a slight grainy feel to or Shapeways must have send the wrong one.

Anyway, a post on the painting of the originally white printed figurine.

Out of the package and applied a first layer of metalic black, which shows the grain of the print. I could not sand it down without losing details.
 


Adding a little metalic green sheen over the black pronotum and dark red at the underside. The model had two large holes on the underside, which I filled with acrylic kit.
 


Black and first white added. The green highlights shine a bit through at the front of the pronotum and painting the finer details.
 

After painting the details, I made the white a bit dirty with a wash and highlighted some black parts with dark purple/red.
 

The figurine ready for a coat of varnish.
 

[bmathison1972]

if you scroll up, I also have this and painted it as the same subspecies you did