MB 3D Print - THE FILES!!

Many of you have asked and I am here to deliver, I have finally gotten around to getting the files tidied up!!

The price for your very own MB??? None! It's free!!

That's a lie, the price is actually that you send me pictures of the results so I can have the joy of seeing what you all make. (If you don't show me, I'm going to have to break into your house and take a look for myself. This isn't a threat, I'm simply telling you what I'm going to do)

https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/murderbot-desk-buddy

EDIT: someone has been very kind and spent some time reducing this model down to a reasonable file size so if you want something smaller/cleaner to work with you can find it their version of the model here: https://cults3d.com/en/3d-model/art/murderbot-desk-buddy-reduced

While I'm sure many of you out there are practiced 3d printers and can take the stl and run, it seems like this will be the first dive into 3D printing and figure painting for some people so I'll go through some of my process to give you an idea of how I got to this result.

This is actually my first time sculpting, printing and then painting something to completion, so I am not experienced and you can totally do it too. As you may see from my blog I am primarily a digital artist and I occasionally do gouache and ink work, I have literally never painted or sculpted a figure before. (This counts as foreshadowing if you run into any problems with my files lmao)

Sculpting:

I sculpted the model in Nomad Sculpt on my Ipad and tidied things up in blender. I am still a massive beginner with sculpting so I incorporated pieces from some other freely available models to assist me (these are credited in the listing with the model). You don't have to worry about this part!

Printing:

I printed this on my MARS ELEGOO 2 printer. The settings I used for my print are included on the model listing; with these settings the model took about 7.5 hours to print.

The Files

I have uploaded 3 different file formats, a .stl, a .chitubox and a .ctb. An stl is the basic 3D model on its own, it can be opened in most 3D software if you are looking to edit it and it can be imported into any slicing software (slicing is the process of cutting any model into layers for the printer). If you use this file you will have to add the supports to the model yourself (supports are very important in preventing catastrophic print failure).

The .chitubox and .ctb files are specifically from the slicing program I use which is chitubox. The .chitubox program is for the model with the supports for printing attached and the .ctb file is the sliced file that is ready for the printer. VERY IMPORTANT TO NOTE is that these two files are sized and prepared based on my 3D printer dimensions. If you want to use these files, I recommend checking either files in chitubox (and have it set up for the model printer you will be using) and checking the size before going ahead with printing. If the size is too big for your printer you will have to resize the model and add the supports again but you can use the files I have supplied as reference.

I specifically used Chitubox 64 for this as Chitubox basic hates me and won't slice the model so it is solid inside. Printing something solid is easier to print than printing it hollow and trying to cure the resin trapped inside/drain the model (uncured resin is nasty nasty and will also generate gas that builds up pressure and will crack your print).

I recommend using either the basic stl for printing or starting with the .chitubox file and setting up the slicing settings by yourself. The ctb is a good reference for how things should look but probably not the best starting point to guarantee a successful print. If you add supports yourself, I recommend looking up some youtube videos on how to properly support a model, and what parts of a model need the most support and avoiding visible marks on your models from supports.

Post-Printing

Its important to clean and cure your print properly after its done, but if you are getting it done at the library or somewhere else you may not have to worry about this.

To remove the supports I used a heat gun to warm and soften the resin supports and little clippers my friends use for gundam to cut them as flush to the model as possible.

The next thing you want to do is sanding, sand down the marks from the supports, any lines or imperfections from the printing. Resin is relatively soft so this is not hard. I personally bought some cheap sandpaper that went from 400-1000 grit, glued it to icecream sticks, disposable knives and some flat toothpick things and used that to get into small crevices. Sand with wet paper to prevent resin dust going everywhere.

Painting

After sanding I sprayed the model with a primer, I specifically used Mr. Finishing Surfacer 1500 in white. This was my choice simply because its what my local gundam store had and I chose white because I didn't want to use a darker base coat that I had to lighten for the armor (simply put most of the model is white and white is a pain in the ass to paint opaquely)

After this I went in with my standard run-of-the-mill acrylic paints. The key to getting a smooth finish with no brush marks and lumps is to thin/smooth out the paint a little with water and build up the colour in layers.

I painted my base colours (white for the armor, black for the shoes and visor and a dark grey for the suit underneath the armor). To get a cool beaten-up effect I laid some light blue into areas on the armor where shadows would fall, after that I dabbed panel line accent colour which gets into the crevices and lines of the print and accents them (you can also just use really watered down black paint for this, I was lucky to borrow supplies from a warhammer 40k friend). I also covered parts of the armor with it and rubbed it off for a grimy effect and then dabbed some brown paint in for extra colour variation. I then came in and dry-brushed some lighter colours on the dark areas and fixed up the white where I wanted it brighter.

Then finally I coated the whole thing in a matte varnish to protect it and it was done!! My own Murderbot completed!!

Hopefully if you haven't done something like this before, this helps you get started There are dozens and dozens of great tutorials out there for more info or if you want to take your design in a different direction to mine.

Most importantly?? Have fun!!

If you have any issues or questions feel free to message me and we can work on it together!

If you know more than me in this sphere of things, please feel free to correct anything and save someone else a lot of trouble trying to replicate my work.