Meridian Idaho Temple

• Size: 180 x 179 x 174 mm
• Scale: 1:210

This is not an MMU-style multi-color print. It’s a series of single-material prints that, assembled, form a full-color replica of the Meridian temple.

I printed the building in gray, spray-painted it in matte white, and then wiped the paint off of the ledges with acetone to keep them gray. (But printing in matte white and optionally painting the ledges gray would work out similarly.) The Hilbert Curve pattern makes a nice roof texture. As for the inside of the bowl-shaped top, I painted it silver. The building's main entrance faces south.

Window inserts, printed in pale yellow and glued in place, give the appearance that the temple is illuminated inside for use by ladybug-sized saints. Although it hasn’t occurred to me at the time, this would’ve been a great use of my wife’s vinyl-cutting machine.

The skylight is meant to be printed in a glossy transparent material, slowly (~10 mm/s), with very thin layer height (~0.05mm), 0% infill, zero bottom layers, external perimeters first, and ’nearest’ seam placement.

The gold statue blowing a trumpet, representing an angel’s announcement of Jesus Christ’s return, is a challenging part to print. It’s not quite impossible, though, if you use a bit of XY size compensation (aka horizontal expansion) and print the angel in a headstand position with supports on his right bicep. His hand is likely to break off when you remove the supports, so just glue the tiny trumpet to the end of his wrist. His chest is meant to face south, and his trumpet southwest.

The physical model pictured here sold at auction in March 2025, for $80 USD, to help a bunch of local kids raise money for their upcoming summer shenanigans.

Removed flaws over skylight and over back and side doors. Scaled up to fill 180x180 print bed. Split into pieces by color. Beefed up the angel's right arm and his trumpet. Added window inserts.