"3D print effect" on styrene?

General Discussions Scale Modeling Q&A
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So I’m working on a Zvezda stuka - neat little easy kit and the largest part of the wing it displays a kind of 3d printing effect. It’s a styrene kit. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this. I thought it might not actually be on the surface (only a visual effect) but when I hit it with a base coat it still showed up. So I sanded it off with a fairly fine grained sanding pad - coarse enough that it took off the paint and the effect but fine enough it did not harm to the surface detail (fwiw). Anyone seen anything like this before?

what I mean is that kind of layering artifact you get some on (poorly printed?) 3D printed models, if that helps

tried to photo but it was fine enough that it didn’t really show up with my poor camera skills…

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Computer Aided Design (CAD) coupled with Computer Aided Machining (CAM) of the molds. Such artifacts can be rectified with some hand-work on the molds if the manufacturer is willing to spend the money.

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Exactly. But it can also be pro-actively rectified with more patience. and more passes, in the machining process of the molds. You can sometimes see this effect on older models in places where it wasn’t seen, hence not as important.

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