3D Printed E100 pt I

My brother in law just got himself a 3D printer and wanted to see what I could do with the prints. This is an exciting time for experimentation and exploration.

He printed a 1:100 scale E100 super heavy tank. Thought the actual tank was never completed, this is an impressive large (even at a small scale) vehicle. The turret is something of a debate since none were produced. For my purposes of learning how to prep and finish 3D printed pieces, a large vehicle with lots of flat surfaces is an excellent and forgiving test.

To fill in the gaps in the filament layers, I first tried to use Milliput. I had only recently started to experiment with Milliput as a sculpting medium, and noticed that when my hands were too wet, the putty thinned to the consistency of clay slip. I hoped I could control this for use as a filler.

When it came down to it, the thinned Milliput was a poor choice of filler materials. The consistency was, well, inconsistent. Some parts globbed up and others were too thin to even fill the gaps.

After a few layers of this putty, I let the model cure for a while, and returned with sanding films and needle files.

Not sure if the pictures show the irregularity enough, but it will take some work to clear this back up.

Next round will be with Tamiya gap filling putty. I've heard good things...