I’m about to paint a PLA 3D print for the first time, and while there is some advice on what primer to use (an automotive etching plastic primer seems to be it), I’ve not see anything but hand wavy “add a layer of clear coat” for sealing.

Does anyone have any advice on a matte finish clear coat product that works well, as much so I know I have the right class/type of product?

Also, is there much difference between the products from hobby shops vs hardware stores? I can imagine the hobby ones are at a consistency for painting fine details, but it may also all be the same thing.

Thanks

  • AnyOldName3@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    21 hours ago

    I’ve never actually needed primer to paint PLA unless the paint I was using was terrible, and wouldn’t have stuck to the primer very well, either. Tamiya’s acrylics have been entirely issue-free for me, both with a brush, or thinned and airbrushed, and they’re not that expensive, but I’ve also had acceptable results with random fifteen-year-old tubes of really cheap acrylics that were sold more as a children’s toy than a serious paint (although a lot of these tubes had gone bad in that time) and with Humbrol and Revel acrylics and enamels (although their acrylics come in pots that don’t seal very well, so it’s not that uncommon for them to be already cured when you first open them - if you’re buying liquid acrylics for model painting, Tamiya is a better choice).