Multi-Colour Miniature Painting with 3D Printed Guides

Logan F.

The Painter's Secret Tool

Professional miniature painters have long used masking tape, blu-tack, and commercial masks to achieve clean colour boundaries on complex miniature subjects. 3D printing extends this toolkit dramatically: custom fitted masks, colour reference tools, and dry brushing stencils designed specifically for your miniatures are now printable in minutes. This guide explores how to use your printer to make your miniature painting both more efficient and more consistently professional.

These techniques are particularly valuable for makers who print and paint their miniatures in runs, i.e., printing 20 identical guards for a tabletop game. Consistent paint schemes across multiple models are dramatically easier to achieve with custom printed painting aids than by hand masking each model individually.

Printed Masking Templates

A masking template is a thin shell printed to fit over specific sections of a miniature, such as the helmet brim, a chest armour section, or a specific limb, leaving the rest of the miniature exposed for painting. Design the mask in your CAD tool by Boolean-subtracting the miniature mesh from a slightly larger shell volume, then cutting away everything except the mask section. Print in TPU at 95A Shore hardness; the flexibility allows the mask to conform to the miniature's surface curves and creates a gentle seal that prevents paint bleed. Apply the TPU mask to the painted miniature, airbrush or stipple the contrasting colour, and remove it, and the boundary is crisp and clean.

This technique is used professionally in scale modelling and works equally well for 3D printed miniatures. The printed mask can be reused across all copies of the same miniature, making the investment in designing and printing it very efficient for batch painting. For the miniature subject prints themselves, see our miniature printing guide for optimal settings.

Colour Reference Boards

Print a flat tile with raised text labels and separate areas for each filament colour in your miniature palette. Use the actual filament colours — one small printed square per colour. This physical reference board sits next to your painting station and allows instant visual comparison between filament colours and the paint colours you're mixing to match them. Invaluable for consistent colour matching across a large project or between sessions. PLA is ideal for reference boards — consistent colour with minimal surface texture that accurately represents the actual printed colour without distortion.

Dry-Brushing Stencils

Dry-brushing (dragging a nearly-dry paintbrush over raised surfaces to deposit paint on high points only) is most effective when it follows the surface's structural geometry. Printed stencils with raised ridges matching the miniature's major surface transitions guide the brush direction, producing more consistent and controlled highlighting than freehand technique. Design stencils that match the major structural zones — the back of a cloak, the surface of armour plates, the side of a vehicle. Matte PLA in a neutral grey is ideal for stencil printing — the matte surface doesn't confuse the eye when comparing stencil position to the painted surface. See our companion painting techniques guide for the broader context of 3D print finishing that these tools complement.