Power Armoured Paint: Carcharodon Astra 3D Printed Shoulder Pads

Welcome back to the Vault Commanders.  This time I've got something very cool to share, as I've taken my first leap into the world of 3D printing! No, I haven't gone completely mad and bought a 3D printer (one day that might change); I've ordered some some Shark icons and shoulder pads from the Pop Goes The Monkey store on Shapeways for my Charcarodons Astra.  They arrived recently and I've already started playing with them.

First up are the Mako Shark icons:

That's a lot of sharks!

And here is a close up showing a bit more detail:

There's a reasonable amount of detail given the small size of the pieces. I attempted to glue an icon to a Space Marine Scout shoulder pad, but alas I think the pad is too small (or the icon too large depending on your point of view), and I snapped the tail at it's thin joint trying to position the shark correctly. I won't bother using these on the scouts in future, but will save them for regular Space Marine shoulder pads and the larger models like the various Primaris Marines.

A second experiment with a regular Space Marine shoulder pad, and a more accurate application of super glue was much more successful:

Apologies for the blurry shot, but you get the idea!

Up next are the shoulder pads. These come in a variety of styles to match the various Marks of Space Marine Power armour, and I've chosen a standard rimmed set ("Gen 7") which comes as a sprue of 10.  It's made from a frosty plastic, so the detail is a bit tricky to make out:

Frosty!

I applied the usual regime when dealing with new models (wash in warm soapy water, then rinse in cold) before priming the inside of one of the pads:

That's better!

You can see the detail a lot more clearly now.  And of course, I had to paint it! It took the paint with no problems at all:

Very pleased with how this has turned out. The final question of course is how does the shoulder piece fit to a Space Marine. So here is one I prepared earlier:

Mr Choppy is coming for you!

Overall I'm very happy with the 3D printed icons and pads; they are fairly easy to work with (certainly a lot easier than making decals look good), and look a lot more impressive than any crappy free hand I could attempt! Recommended purchase.

I've got the first set of models built (with shoulder pads added) and primed, and I'll share those next time. As ever, thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings and see you soon.