Flattening FDM layer lines

[Fitz]

Here are a pair of FDM-printed 15mm (1:100) Hummels. (They're the models I was sure I had already printed but could not find, and then I found them after I printed another one.)

• The one on the right has been primed, but otherwise it's just as it came off the printer.[\li]
  
  • The one on the left has had its big side plates smoothed — I gave them a rough scrub down with a sanding stick so all the peaks of the ridges are at a consistent height, then painted on some UV resin to fill in the valleys, cured it and fine-sanded the surface.
  
  Models like this, with very large flat areas, really suffer from the FDM layering process. Fortunately it is fixable, but though the process isn't enormously arduous, it's not something that I'd want to have to do all the time. It starts getting pretty fiddly on smaller panels or in more constricted areas, so I'd stick to the most obvious panels, the ones on which the layering ridges stand out most to the eye.
  
  Unfortunately, a side effect of this smoothing process is the loss of any shallow surface detail — you can see that the smoothed one on the left has lost the vertical seam in the middle of the plate, and the canopy eyes along the top edge. The seam can be pretty easily re-engraved, but I don't think I'll bother with recreating the eyes.
  
  
  
  
  I've begun the painting process, and I think the extra effort of smoothing those big side plates is well worth while. Elsewhere, where there are lumps and bumps and details to distract the eye, it's not so necessary, though I think I might be tempted, on the next one, to also do the front bevels of the superstructure as well.

[Burgundavia]

Nice work getting rid of layer lines. Honestly on a gaming table, the layer lines are going to stand out more than a missing detail. So getting rid of them really does work.

[HerbertTarkel]

Nice work getting rid of layer lines. Honestly on a gaming table, the layer lines are going to stand out more than a missing detail. So getting rid of them really does work.

Fully agree - those lines stand out, but you’ve done a fab job of “blurring them”. Nice!