Beetleboat – Say it 3 Times and It Floats

Normal Benchy? Too basic.
Purple-and-black-striped haunted boat with a glowing green spiral sail? Now we’re talking. Print it, paint it, and watch your other 3D prints get jealous. This thing screams: “I’m cursed, but in a fashionable way.”

Once upon a time, there was a boat called Benchy. Boring, gray, test print, yawn. Then Beetlejuice showed up, ate too much neon slime, and bam!—this was born. Some say this boat sails straight to the afterlife… others say it just takes you to the weirdest fishing trip ever. Either way: it’s showtime, baby.

⚙ Print Settings

• Nozzle: 0.4 mm
• Layer height: 0.16 mm
• Print time: ~3 hours
• Weight: ~50 g PLA (supports included – ghost boats need scaffolding too)
• Infill: 8%
• Supports: required (that spooky sail isn’t going to hold itself up)

🎨 Painting Techniques

Hull & Cabin

• Base coat: spray everything with a white primer.
• Stripes: mask and paint alternating black & white stripes. Don’t stress about perfection—imperfection is the aesthetic.
• Purple wash: layer diluted purple acrylic over the white areas for that “undead but stylish” look.

Sail

• Prime in white, then coat in neon green where the spiral goes.
• Paint the rest purple.
• Add the spiral detail with a fine brush and make it pop by outlining in black.
• Bonus trick: use a touch of glow-in-the-dark paint on the spiral so it shines under UV light.

Weathering

• Dry-brush black around the edges, corners, and random spots to simulate decay.
• Flick tiny specks of diluted black paint with a toothbrush for that “splattered grave dirt” vibe.

Print it, paint it, and place it on your desk. Congratulations: you now own the only boat that can both sail through water and through Tim Burton’s imagination. Just don’t say its name three times… unless you’re into chaos.

The classic Benchy is the “vanilla ice cream” of 3D printing: plain, functional, and mostly a calibration tool.

The Beetleboat, on the other hand, is Benchy gone goth. It trades the boring gray for bold black-and-white stripes, throws in a neon green spiral sail that demands supports, and adds a purple wash that screams “undead chic.”

Where Benchy just tests your printer, Beetleboat tests your painting skills—and possibly your sanity.