Smoothing 3-D Printed Minis

[Andrewgeddon]

Howdy all! So it's my first time messing around with 3-D printed anything, and I ended up picking up a set of "Evil Dwarf" obelisks for my army. Was wondering if anyone had any tips for smoothing out the striations in 3-D printed minis before I grabbed some sandpaper and went to town? I've seen people use the brush-on epoxy for larger stuff, but I worry about clogging up the detail on these guys. Cheers!

[CaptainA]

I've heard of guys putting the models into, like, a paint can raised up and then some chemicals inside so when they vaporize they slightly melt the plastic and smooth it out.

[CaptainA]

yeah, its called acetone vapors. Do a search and you'll find some stuff.

[InfestedKerrigan]

Burning down the house 

[Brick Bungalow]

 

I feel like anything that would smooth the whole model would also compromise the sharp corners. Do you have extras or pieces that you can run tests on?

I like emery boards for such tasks. 

[Guest]

Or you could just paint it to look like a naturally layered stone, like Sandstone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PetraSandStoneRock-cut_tombs.jpg 

I would suggest an emery board to smooth the skull at the top. And yeah, Emery boards are awesome. Super cheap. And you can cut them into different shapes if you can't get an angle with the shape it comes it. 

Could also get a Dremel. 

Beyond that, if the goal is merely to make it look not 3-d printed, you could try damaging it in manner that would remove the 3d printed look. Melting it with heat or acid. A hammer could be interesting too. 

Last option, you could build a "3d printer" model around the obelisk making it more sci-fi terrain, but would still function and would make the 3d printed look seem deliberate.