Painting with Testor's enamels and a brush leaves a relatively thick paint layer that obscures the ridges, especially when a light sanding has taken off the high points as identified by a coat of primer.
I completed the engine with starter motor, oil filter and a water pump from the parts bin. One important point: drilling out a hole, even carefully with a pin vise, will be challenging because the material is quite brittle and will split and crack if you are not careful. In the photos you can see where I was trying to hog out the hole for the crank in order to fit a pulley and belt assembly from the parts bin.
I filled in the hole around the crank pulley once it was all glued up, but the rigid, brittle nature of the material is worth keeping in mind. Of course it is possible to select different materials in the ordering process; I picked the Frosted Ultra Detail option, but the White Nylon option may be more forgiving as well as cheaper.
Overall, a mean looking engine. Now I just need a mid-engine chassis suitable for a 9-litre V12 ...
(PS it has been pointed out to me that the Chevy logo on the valve cover is backwards ... I have flagged this for the people making the parts, and presumably this is a minor software edit. I hadn't actually noticed, given that most of my past work is on imports ...)
So are we there yet? Not for bodies, unfortunately, until the resolution can be improved significantly beyond the current level of about 0.15 mm (about 0.006"). That being said, the possible level of detail is also 0.006", or about an eighth of an inch at 1:24 or 1:25 scale. This is minuscule -- bolt heads on a water pump are going to be 3/8" or 9/16", for example. Just be careful what material you select because this can have an impact on what you can do with it. To summarise:
Property
|
Styrene
|
Resin
|
3D
|
Selection
of subjects
|
Mainly high-volume, high demand markets
|
Mainly specialised markets for low-demand niche
products
|
Potentially very extensive once the necessary
computer files exist
|
Finish
|
Excellent, smooth surface
|
Variable
|
Poor today, visible ridges due to tracking of
printer head
|
Detail
|
Depends on molds
|
Variable
|
Potentially very high level of detail at the
scale of the printer head resolution
|
Porosity
|
Low
|
Variable
|
Low
|
Work-
ability |
Good
|
Variable, can be brittle
|
Depends on material selected – can be brittle
|
Prep needed
|
Dish soap, dry, primer
|
Alcohol
or acetone to remove mold release agents. Putty for pinholes and bubbles. Heavier
filler-primer needed for more porous castings.
|
Dish soap, dry, primer
|
PS it has been pointed out to me that the Chevy logo on the valve covers is reversed (mirror image). An error in the computer file obviously... perhaps I'll file them off.
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