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wiTH
Joe Bilton
Turning a 3D printed
building into a terrain
centrepiece

TOO FATLardies
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Hi all, and Merry Christmas...

I’ve only been in the Wargame hobby for
around five years, but even that short time
has been enough to see the rapid growth
of 3D printing, especially for terrain. When
I first started, the options for commercial
buildings were either resin or MDF kits, but
now there is a seemingly endless selection
In both of these situations there’s almost
of highly detailed 3D printed models.
never any cleanup required. For this
In this article, I’ll be looking at how I
particular article, Patrick was kind enough
approach upgrading a 3D printed house.
to send me a free copy of his Café de
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with just
Normandie.
painting up a 3D printed house and using
it in your game. However, with a little extra
The excellent thing about using polyfilla
work you can drastically improve the
is that it hides any striations whilst also
appearance of the building, turning it into a
giving the model a natural, non-plastic
piece of terrain that catches the eye.
patina. This is crucial as it affects the way
paint adheres and how light reflects – all
The goal with this approach is to take a
of which are important factors in making
model that is clearly made of plastic or
the model look real. I use a small artists
resin, and give it the appearance of a real
palette knife to apply a very thin coat
structure made of stone and plaster. There
of regular ready-mixed polyfilla to the
are a couple of aspects of a 3D building
walls. I apply it to the complete model,
which detract from the illusion – and
with any separate floors held together, so
they are striations (in the case of filament
the thickness of the polyfilla is consistent
prints) and surface sheen.
across a gap. Obviously, I separate them to
dry – otherwise I’d end up with each floor
The answer to both of these issues is
stuck together!
simple – polyfilla!
The polyfilla is applied in this way to the
When beginning to work on a 3D model,
walls, but not to architectural details like
you might need to start with a little
quoins and window frames. I also don’t
cleanup. This can vary depending on
apply it to cover brick work, unless the
the type of print and also the specifics
detailing on that wasn’t good enough.
of the model. Some models need almost
However, these also do need to have their
no cleanup aside from the removal of a
plastic-surface covered. To do this, I use a
few strands of filament. Others may have
50:50 mix of water and polyfilla, and apply
support structures that need to be snapped
it with a paintbrush to any surface that
or clipped away. I have two sources that
needs a ‘stone’ texture. I also apply this to
I use for the vast bulk of my 3D printed
the roof, and any other additional detailing
terrain collection – resin prints from Paul
I’ve added using card or styrene.
at Sabotag3d.com and FDM prints from Pat
at Patrick Miniatures.
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Once all the polyfilla is fully dry, it’s time using Flory Clay Wash. I then highlight
to prime the model. Unlike scratch-built using vertical streaks of the original base
models using polystyrene, there’s no danger colours. Keeping the paint streaks vertical
to the material from a spray primer, so it’s is a great way to add weathering to the
very easy to undercoat everything. I’ve building, as very often weathering patterns
recently discovered Halfords Camo Spray in are caused by rain running down the
Khaki (though I’m reluctant to tell you this, surface of a wall. I accentuate some details
in case it leads to a nationwide shortage!). using darker washes, as well as modelling
But, in the spirit of Christmas, I do actually rising damp and algae. To finish, I added a
recommend it. It’s cheap, durable and a shop sign (made in Photoshop and printed
great colour. onto Gekko Dry Rub Adhesive Paper), and
glazed the windows with sheets of acetate.
I always find the next stage – painting – to
be the fastest stage of the whole process. The end result is a nice looking model
which doesn’t look like a 3D print anymore,
Once the model is primed I usually have the but retains the benefits and details of using
painting all completed within a day. I use a 3D prints. You can apply this approach
variety of acrylic model paints (a selection to any 3D model – so have fun and

Joe Bilton
of Citadel, Revell and Vallejo) to block in the experiment with the techniques.
base colours, then give everything a wash

1
The Cafe de Normandie model
from Patrick Miniatures comes
as a 3D print, or can be purchased
as an STL file for home printing.
The building has three separate
floors, has one main roof and a rear
sloping roof. I begin by cleaning up
the model. This can involve very
little work, as in this example, or
may sometimes mean removing
supports left over from the printing
process. Use snippers
or a craft knife to
remove any
stray bits of
filament.
 2
I use an artists palette knife to
apply a thin coat of polyfilla to
the plastered wall areas.

If the model has separate floors,

as shown here, I hold all the
floors together when I apply the
polyfilla and then separate them
to dry.

This means that the thickness

of the polyfilla is consistent
across all pieces.

3
When the polyfilla is almost dry, I use my
finger to smooth the surface and remove any
bumps or messy areas. I use the edge of a
craft knife to tidy up around windows and
doors.

The overall effect is now starting to show.

 4

At this stage I cover all other

exposed areas with watered-
down polyfilla. I don’t obscure
details, but I want all printed
surfaces to pick up a natural
texture.

This includes the roof, façade

stone and quoins - but not the
sign, which I have kept clear
to facilitate the placing of the
signage, which will be added at a
later stage.

5
Once everything is dry, I spray the model with
a primer. I used Halford’s Khaki camouflage
spray paint, but any primer will do. The coating
of polyfilla really helps the primer to bind to the
model.
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Once the primer has been allowed to dry, the model can
6 then be painted using acrylics, and washed with Flory Clay
Wash. I use the original base colours to boost the colour and
accentuate the details.

When placed alongside other buildings undergoing the

same process, you can see that we are starting get a realistic
Normandy 1944 look.

This close up shows the detail that is

brought to the fore by this technique
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7
Finally, I apply some
weathering using washes.

It’s important to keep a

vertical look when applying
weathering streaks – it looks
more realistic. To help give
a touch of run down realism I
apply splatters of ochre paint
to the roof to simulate lichen.

The classic CAFE DE

NORMANDIE sign really sets
the model off . The sign was
drawn in Photoshop and
printed onto Gekko Dry Rub
Adhesive Paper.

To add a final detail, I like

to glaze the windows using
sheets of transparent acetate.

Job Done!

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