How to Paint 3D Printed Aircraft Engines

3D Printing has never been better and I believe we are only seeing the start of great things to come. I picked up this 48th-scale gem of an R-2800 at a recent model show and I am floored by the detail. In this video, I will show you how you can paint these engines and enjoy all of the detail they have to offer.
Supplies used:
Tamiya LP-11 Gloss Aluminum
Mr Color Aqueous H-56 Intermediate Blue
Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey
Tamiya XF-69 Nato Black
Vallejo 70.950 Black
Sharpie Chrome
Tamiya Panel Line Accent (Black)
Mig Ammo Panel Line Wash Dark Sea Blue
Mix for Ignition wires:
Tamiya XF-57 Buff - 10
Tamiya XF-2 Flat White - 6
Tamiya XH-3 Flat Yellow - 1
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[@bp8339]

Great Informative video MAP! Such a joy to watch and listen without you having to compete with distracting "music". I wish more people would film it first then add a voiceover.

[@markc7002]

Your engine painting is exceptional!!

[@luto2000]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, and props for pronouncing “Vallejo” correctly !!!

[@henryhbk]

Great job, I’m starting one of these today, and this was helpful. And totally on the yellowish wires. On the skyraider I did, the kit didn’t have the wires so I made them with lead wire (ugh, so tedious) and did brass color from a reference photo and that looked pretty good, but yellow looks better I’d say. Hopefully mine will look as good as yours since I’m using this as a static display for an engine swap diorama.

[@joemoore4027]

The thingy between the magnetos is the Prop Governor which controls the pitch of the prop blades by the pilot. The disc is where the control cable is attached. Sorry, old engine mechanic talking ! I agree about the 3D printing, I hate those huge casting blocks ! Great looking P&W !

[@paulking8235]

Thank you so much for the excellent commentary. And thanks for not ruining it with music. Fantastic painting by the way.

[@CarlosTorres-ow9qr]

That is really AWESOME, thanks for the tips …

[@Th.G.M.]

Wonderful engine and tutorial! Thank you!

[@josephstabile9154]

Great tutorial. Thanks! A couple facts: gloss & semi-gloss paints were used to paint the real engines, not flat paints, although natural or plated finishes, such as on piping and conduit, often would have a dulled-off or matte finish. The reason is that the glossier the paint finish, the more its resistance to oil penetration ("staining"); the duller the finish, the more the oil penetration, leading to a more rapid failure of the paint finish ("flaking"). Bolt heads generally were NOT "bright", because they often were not plated if they were going to be painted, AND because, operationally, they were seldom "wrenched-on". Tear downs to rebuild damaged engines was usually NOT done because the majority of the time engine damage was beyond repairing, at least at unit level, and for this reason , and for reason of operational turn-around time, was out of the question; that's why God made crates of new engines, ready to go. The observed pale yellow-tan spark plug leads were actually outer insulation sheathing made of woven (herring-bone-like pattern), glass fiber cloth-like material.

[@johnwhite3218]

Personally I use the cheap e.l.f. Makeup Brushes from the Rite aid/ Walgreens. $1 each and many different styles for your dry brushing needs.

[@conrailfan6277]

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Me too, I bought a bag of make up wedges, some of the cheap face powder kits and a fistful of cheap nail files to build and weather HO scale Freight Cars, Locomotives and Buildings!!!!

[@hattrick8684]

Damn that motor looks good

[@paulwomack5866]

I enjoyed watching this; disclaimer: I know very little about modelling in general and 3d printed engines in particular. It looks great. But I do know a little about photography. I would be happy to have taken quite a few of this images AS STILLS. How (the heck) you managed to get such close, clear, sharp video footage at all baffles me, and how you managed to do it without the camera totally fouling up access to do the work also baffle me. So all I can offer is a hearty "Very well done".

[@eb-pe8xg]

No Corsair in your stash!? Go straight to your hobby room and think about what you've done, and don't come out until you've ;learned your lesson.

[@ronaldbyrne3320]

🤣🤣🤣

[@MrHrannsi]

🤣 One on the bench, one in the stash, guess I got the Corsair situation covered 😊

[@NeoIsrafil]

Aw, dont be worried about messing up, it's just 3d printed resin. Make friends with a guy like me who's got a resin printer and you're good. Dunno about anyone else, but I sure wouldn't charge my friends for a simple little print like that as long as they brought me the files and maybe a little resin or a few bucks just to cover its cost. (Resin is like 20 bucks a kilo so it's not exactly super pricey) Dont let games workshop and other resin sellers trick you into thinking resin is worth 100 bucks or more for a small print, it isnt. ❤

[@thethirdman225]

I wish someone would do this for others besides the R2800. Looks great BTW.👍

[@ChineseSweatShoppe]

I need a good r2600 and bmw 801

[@thethirdman225]

@@ChineseSweatShoppe Bristol Hercules for Beaufighter and Centaurus for a Tempest II or Sea Fury.

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

I love painting and detailing Top Fuel drag engines. 3D printing has changed the way I detail them. No resin for me either. No parting lines either.

[@Sky4ce_]

Apart from printing defect that bothers me, its a perfect work!

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

I am very slowly designing a Griffon engine because availability of them is awful, and there is a lot of small stuff that's fun to add to builds. 3d printing gives so many options.

[@jonflanagin6682]

This would be so cool in 1/24 scale.

[@zacklewis342]

Looks great, but those 3D printed assemblies have a major drawback, and that's the inability to properly paint them. They need to be made as parts so you can get to all of the surfaces.

[@seamusmon]

beauty!

[@jimsmalleimb7709]

Um... 3-D printed parts ARE resin. But wow, what a nice paint job!

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

Yeah, I was really confused....

[@WayneMcCormick]

Resin is not the only 3D print material. For this scale and detail, it would be resin, but miniatures can be printed with PLA, PETG, etc.

[@jasonhurdlow6607]

@WayneMcCormick I 3D print all of those so I know that, but he was like "we won't use resin parts anymore, we'll use these"... and what he's holding is clearly 3d printed resin. Like he didn't understand what he was holding WAS resin.

[@malaudisa]

That's a beautiful little engine, you said Tony Bell made it, but is he selling them commercially? How do we buy one from him?

[@ModelAirplaneMaker]

Hi there - you will have to reach out to Tony Bell on FB: facebook.com/tony.bell.581730

[@goforitpainting]

Cool 🛩

[@Duececoupe]

Might try one for my 1/48 and later 1/32 Skyraiders....🤨🤔😎

[@TonyGrant.]

That was beautifully shot - what's your technique/equipment

[@danwilliams1686]

I hope they make a 1/32 r-2800 for the hobbyboss invader

[@rolandruesch6862]

Amazing but invest in expensive 000 brushes to make your live simpler to paint the heads of the bolts.

[@Panzermeister36]

Great work Chris. Do you use anything to thin thr Tamiya paint when brush applying it?

[@ModelAirplaneMaker]

Hi Evan - I just use the acrylic thinner when brush painting Tamiya. It is not ideal for brush painting but it does the job. Vallejo brushes so much better

[@John-vi4ys]

Please share who you purchased this from, I would love to order some from them if they sell to others. Thanks!

[@ModelAirplaneMaker]

You will have to reach out to Tony Bell: facebook.com/tony.bell.581730

[@francofava8818]

Muito bom

[@MyllerSWE]

You need a better mic or boost your speech volume! Your sound is way lower than other videos on YT. Other than that a great video!

[@ekspatriat]

What I cannot 'unsee' is the completely innacurate number of cooling fins on the barrels. The real engine has many more (I'm thinking 3 x)

[@turkeytrac1]

It's 1:48 scale, so stop and think.

[@kevinkelly6524]

Whose engine is it? Is thre. Link? It’s beautiful

[@ModelAirplaneMaker]

Tony Bell makes them - you will have to reach out to him: facebook.com/tony.bell.581730

[@FAITA2009]

Omg. Where to buy this engine?

[@shanepatrick4534]

I provide a 3D printing service and those supports are getting in the way of you getting the best mini you can. I have no Idea why chinese model makers use this terrible supporting technique from 2019

[@davidgenie-ci5zl]

6:27 Those are not pushrods, rather those are pushrod tubes. Excellent little engine you have there, nice video.

[@hattrick8684]

And winner for pedantic comment of the day goes to! lol Honestly I was thinking the same thing when he said it. I’m just happy he knew what it was though. So many people don’t even know what a pushrod is anymore let alone there’s tubes lol.