Wednesday 21 September 2011

Resin And You: A Starter's Guide

By The Megapope   Posted at  20:19   tutorial 1 comment

So today in the post, my Horus Heresy era mark 5 space marines from Forge World arrived!


And I figured it would be a good excuse to do a post about resin models, since they're a bit different from the usual plastic or metal jobbies, and come with their own bonuses and DEADLY PITFALLS. Well more like mild inconveniences really but that just seems a bit silly in all caps.

The main bonus of resin models is that the detail really is amazing. They look much nicer than metal or plastic, and combined with computer modelling Games Workshop have been busy rereleasing various old metal range miniatures under the Citadel Finecast line. 


A knife and decent sharp cutters are pretty much top of the list for modellers anyway, but with resin they come in especially handy. Resin is very brittle compared to the usual Games Workshop plastic, and if you're in the habit of pulling things from the sprue by hand there's a small chance you'll break part of the model if you try it with these puppies. Be patient, take your time and cut everything out carefully. 
Before doing the cutting part of the clean up process, resin pieces should be cleaned with some soapy water first. This is especially the case with Forge World stuff, which comes off the sprue noticeably slippery to the touch, covered in a thin film of setting agent. It comes off very easily with some soapy water. Because I was paranoid about losing mine down the sink, I used a small jar with warm water and a bit of dish washing liquid inside and a plastic straw to stir them about with, then I carefully wiped each piece dry with some kitchen paper.


Something I noticed was that the torsos of the resin space marines weren't nice and hollow in the bottom as usual, but instead had all this extra resin filler crap that was part of the molding process. It had to be cut out carefully with a knife, and it was a bit of a pain in the butt to do so. I ended up accidentally taking a nick out of the bottom of a torso belt, but I guess at least my fingers were spared.


 Finally all the pieces are nice and clean. From here on in it's doing your thang with super glue. Plastic cement isn't going to work on this stuff, so remember that if you're using the 'sets as soon as it touches anything' brands of superglue, to be careful about working out your positions and weapons in advance. You won't have the luxury of moving bits like you do with plastic cement.
And here are my five Mark 5's, ready to be turned into veteran sergeants, Sternguard, regular troops or whatever else I decide to do with them. I reckon some of them are gonna look even more badass when I add the Greek helmet crests that I've got coming in. 



1 comment :

  1. Thanks for this. I really had no idea that resin models required different care than plastics. Good to know for the future

    ReplyDelete

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Hatching from his egg high in the glacier crowned majesty of the Himalayas, the Megapope quickly devoured his other siblings and later on his parents, for being damned cheeky. He ran a bloody campaign of terror across the wind swept steppes of the north, coming to be known as 'That Horrid Bastard' by the terrified tribes of the region. Many years later he came second in a beauty contest, won $10, didn't pass Go and didn't collect $200.

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