First-timer needs help smoothing out rough model

Hello, a little while ago used a third-party service called makexyz to print out a helmet for a Doom Slayer Cosplay. The Thingiverse model is here. Pictures of the helmet are here.

In retrospect I maybe should have asked for more infill, maybe a finer filament, used a smoother model but this is what I have to work with. As you can see there are many visible vertices on the outside among other little imperfections. I would prefer a smoother shell. This is what I'm shooting for.

I planned to smooth it out by sanding, plugging any holes with wood filler or bondo, then sanding again. As is evident I've already wet-sanded (400 grit 3m WetOrDry) at it a little already, but I don't want to do anything I will regret later without the input of more experienced people, as the print was very expensive. Do I have the right idea? Should I resort to a more radical solution like acetone? (it is ABS, printed using FDM process if that helps.) Or will I have to live with the jaggies?

some parts are pretty dodgy and I would fill.
Bear in mind the picture on thingiverse has clearly been filled and painted.

I don't know enough about acetone smoothing. but as long as you didn't leave it in too long - it can only help.

Just out of professional curiosity - what did it cost you ?

That is going to take a lot of work to get it perfect. I'd start with some sprayable body filler on the outside to make it easier to smooth out and some two part resin on the inside to give it some more strength.

For objects that need strengthening and smoothing, I will brush on epoxy, with working times varying between 5-60 minutes depending on the exact application I'm going for. Any issues in the transitions between areas of epoxy can easily be sanded out and painted over.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

some parts are pretty dodgy and I would fill.
Bear in mind the picture on thingiverse has clearly been filled and painted.

I don't know enough about acetone smoothing. but as long as you didn't leave it in too long - it can only help.

Just out of professional curiosity - what did it cost you ?

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A little over $300. Thanks for replying!

You could have had your own printer for that much and made it in a better quality.

In about 10 seconds in Blender, you could have made it look like this before it was printed too.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p...psvu9ypdp1.jpg

well it was printed in parts, and the model was designed for a fair bit of post processing.

Price wise, hmm. Not as much as I was expecting.
Given the sheer amount of time involved alone.

that said, I'd hope that I would always produce a much cleaner print than that.
The original helmet was chopped into sections for better printing, so you really shouldn't have parts as rough as some of those.