Shapeways - 2

I used Apple Barrel Plaid brand of acrylic paints for these models. The photos to the right include a penny and a quarter for size comparisons.

For the saguaros, I used Leaf Green (#20528) to paint the white strong & flexible, black strong & flexible, frosted detail, and frosted ultra detail models. The frosted ultra detail saguaros are shown at the right and show the ribs better than white strong & flexible models. There is little difference in price ($11.52 for the FUD vs. $7.27 for the WS&F), so I preferred the FUD models. The saguaros at the right may seem somewhat light colored due to the photo being taken in bright sunlight. Even with several coats of paint, the black strong & flexible models (not shown) are considerably darker.

The frosted ultra detail prickly pear cacti to the right ($12.48) were also painted with Leaf Green. The black strong & flexible cacti ($7.99) were darker after painting, so, although I didn't get any, white might have been preferable to black. There is no fine detail on the prickly pear, so the black or white strong and flexible were probably as good as the frosted ultra detail, although there did seem to be a bit of better resolution with the FUD where pads were in contact.

The Old Spanish Mission (FUD) was painted first with Burnt Umber (#20512) lightened with White (#20503), but this still came out much too dark. So I reversed and darkened the White with Burnt Umber. This was pretty good for the adobe stucco coating the mission. But it seemed too light for the exposed adobe bricks. So I darkened the White with more Burn Umber. The doors and torch holders to each side of the front door were painted with just Burnt Umber. The supporting logs were painted with Country Grey (#20526) darkened with Burnt Umber and Plaid's FolkArt Outdoor Opaque Licorice (#1640).

The Stagecoach was decorated based on a picture on a birthday card from my Wells Fargo financial advisor. The body of the coach was painted with Plaid Apple Barrel Barn Red (#20577). The leather of the front and rear boots as well as the luggage on the roof were painted with Burnt Umber. The thoroughbraces (leather supports for the body of the coach), the underside of the coach, and the metal "tires" were painted with Plaid Licorice. Because of the resolution limitation of Shapeways' printing process, the wheels had to be printed out as solid disks. So I painted the spaces between the spokes what I hoped would be a neutral color, Plaid's Country Grey, then painted the wheels and spokes Canary Yellow (#20586). The brake system and wood of the undercarriage was also painted with the Canary Yellow. My smallest brush was still too large for painting the spokes and rims of the wheels. I used the pointed end of a wooden toothpick to apply tiny amounts of paint. I also decided to leave the insides of the wheels gray instead of trying to get in and get paint all over the undercarriage.