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In this article I want to show you how to prepare and paint the containers or cargo pallets printed in 3D from the Imperial Terrain designs, also known on their website as “Cargo Pallets“, which you can find on this link. At the end of the article I will also leave the link in case you are interested in buying only STL designs to print them yourself. Let’s begin….
1.- Preparation
Like all 3D printed figures, we find some small printing lines. Although I have to say that this imperial terrain design has been printed in good detail and hardly needed to be modified. In my case, I have not sanded and I have applied directly the “Gesso” primer by brush, in order to cover some of these lines, with good results as you can see below:
Once the first layer is dry, if you are not satisfied in any area, you can apply another layer to cover more parts and give it even a texture.
Before I started painting the resource boxes or Star Wars Legion cargo pallets, I gave a primer with airbrush, the Vallejo Surface Primer German Panzer Grey.
2.- Painting the resource boxes
This is where the fun begins. For this tutorial I wanted to show you a way create some rust and chipping effects with Vallejo’s chipping medium. Therefore, the first step was to apply Vallejo Model Air Rust (71080), and then Vallejo Model Air Light Rust (71129). You can also do this with a brush.
Once dry, the next step is to apply Vallejo’s chipping medium, with airbrush or brush:
After applying it, you will see that the paint will be glossy and sticky. Once dry, we will apply the base colours that the pieces of the model will have. Here’s an example, painting only the base and 2 gray boxes, so that you can see the process:
Once the paint is dry, it’s time to get the chipping effect. We will only have to use a wet brush in water and apply it to the area where we want to generate chipping effect, using the brush itself or other utensils, such as a toothbrush, etc., depending on the effect we want to obtain. Here you can see the effect achieved:
We can also apply the base coat, apply lights (dry brush for example), and then perform the chipping effect in the same with a wet brush, as you can see below:
Once we have made the chipping effect, it is important to cover with varnish all the parts where we have applied chipping medium, to preserve the work done and not to lose the paint in the next painting phases. In my case I have applied matt varnish but you can also apply another one:
Later, I have applied different washes (in this case of Citadel, but you can apply the brand name that you want) to different parts of the floor and boxes, depending on the colors or effects we want to obtain. We can also apply some lights after washing:
To complete the rust and oxide effect, I have applied the following colours in this order to different areas of the existing oxides:
- 71042 – Vallejo Model Air – Camouflage Black Brown
- 71080 – Vallejo Model Air – Rust
- 71129 – Vallejo Model Air – Light Rust
- 71033 – Vallejo Model Air – Yellow Ochre
In addition, we will paint some details such as letters, stickers, etc. in my case I have written freehand letters, and in some cases I have added some decals:
Here are some photos of the final result:
You can buy this 3d piece at Imperial Terrain, below the links:
– Design already printed in 3D: Cargo Pallets
– STL files for printing on your own (includes large containers): STL Files
