Printed architectural models: scale, detail and assembly
Which scale to choose, what detail survives each one, how to split a large building, and how to prepare a Revit or SketchUp model for printing.
The problem with a printed model is never the printer: it is the scale. A building that looks full of detail on screen, reduced to 1:200, has railings two tenths of a millimetre thick that simply do not exist coming off the machine. Choosing the scale is choosing what detail survives, and it is worth doing before modelling rather than after.
What survives each scale
| Scale | A 20 cm wall becomes | What reads |
|---|---|---|
| 1:500 | 0.4 mm | Massing only. Urban context, siting, volumes. |
| 1:200 | 1 mm | Window openings yes, frames no. |
| 1:100 | 2 mm | The comfortable scale. Floors and openings read. |
| 1:50 | 4 mm | Real detail: steps, railings, furniture. |
| 1:20 and larger | 10 mm | Construction detail. Fragments only. |
Splitting the building, which is what you want
The limit on one piece is 256 mm a side, but even when it fits whole, splitting it usually pays. By floor, the model opens up and shows the interior, which in a presentation is worth more than the facade. By module or by building, the pieces print in parallel and arrive sooner. And a model that comes apart travels in a flat box to the viva or the meeting, instead of on a prayer that no corner breaks.
From architectural model to printable file
Here is the part that surprises nearly everyone. Revit, ArchiCAD and SketchUp do not produce closed solids: they produce surfaces, and many of them are planes with no thickness. A curtain wall modelled as a surface has no thickness, and a surface with no thickness cannot be printed because it encloses no volume. The model almost always needs its own version, simpler than the project one: no services, no construction layers, thin elements thickened and everything turned into solids.
It is not wasted work: that simplified model serves every subsequent model of the same project. And if what you have is the project model as it stands, send it anyway and we will tell you what needs changing before you spend hours preparing the wrong file.
What scale do you recommend for a presentation model?
1:100 for a single building and 1:200 for a group or an urban siting give the best balance between detail and table size. Below 1:200 the model is a massing study and you have to accept it; above 1:50, unless it is a fragment, size and cost climb steeply.
FDM or resin for a model?
FDM for anything about volume and size: cheaper, better at surviving transport, and good to 256 mm per piece. Resin for small, highly detailed elements — furniture, screens, a facade fragment — mounted onto the FDM-printed model. Combining the two gives the best result.
Can it be printed in white to paint afterwards?
It is the norm for models: white PLA, which also gives the best detail and is the cheapest. If you are painting it yourself, order it unfinished and prime it with spray; if you would rather it arrived sanded, that is a finish you choose when ordering.