Remodeled Johann Strauss Monument

Two close friends had a travel themed wedding and asked me to 3D print centerpieces based on different countries that they had visited including Austria.

Based on the scan of the front surface that usharingan uploaded to Thingiverse, I went through a number of modeling operations to make it into a solid printable model (detailed below). As a result, it's not a perfect likeness to the original (more so on the sides and back).

After designing and printing this, I found out there is a very detailed full scan available on Sketchfab that looks printable with the exception of the lights near the front.

My old printer handled thin sections very poorly so I had to print the included standalone statue and glue it on in place of what original printed.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

FlashForge

Printer: 

Creator Pro

Rafts:

Yes

Supports: 

Yes

Resolution:

0.3mm

Infill: 

10%

Filament: MatterHackers - Build Series PLA Silver

Notes:

I printed at 0.3mm layers because I had limited time, I would recommend more like 0.2mm to get more detail.

I like printing in gray if I plan to paint the model especially if I'm not priming first.

Post-Printing

The legs of the model didn't print well (issues with my printer) so I cut him off at the pedestal and reprinted just him laying down with support. I glued it on using hot glue.

The model was finished using Rust-Oleum "Oil Rubbed Bronze" spray paint.

How I Designed This

This is just a brief overview of what I did to generate a solid model from the original surface. I used 3D Builder to generate a solid model, merge the front and back, and flatten the bottom. The rest of the work was done in MeshMixer.

1. I removed the ground from the original model
2. Rotated the model flat then extruded down to fill under the model creating a solid
3. Reinforced thin features around the arms and legs on the statue by thickening
4. Mirrored archway to create the back of the arch
5. Merged front and back sides
6. Flattened the bottom for printing by extruding the model down
7. Smoothed the seams between the front and back
8. Reworked surface to clean up anything that didn't look right or subjectively bad
9. Removed statue from the backside
10. "Inflated" the backside of the statue and some of the heads to correct flatness caused by scanning artifact