Styrene or Resin: How To Tell The Difference?

I'd go with the styrene cement method. Then you know they are or are not styrene. The other material is that IM toy plastic that isn't resin or styrene  

SprueOne

I'd go with the styrene cement method. Then you know they are or are not styrene. The other material is that IM toy plastic that isn't resin or styrene  

So long as the material used is not resin , then I should be able to saw the material without concern for my safety.

The Rommel Rod is 1/25 - 1/24 scale? A dust mask and an open window (two for cross draft if possible) for vapor is all that is needed at this scale of cutting and modification 

Resin comes in a wide variety of colors. I've seen figures in yellow, white, creamy white, light gray, dark gray, even blue or pink.

Resin dust is inert; plastic dust is inert, saw dust is inert. None is more or less toxic than the others. You're more likely to have problem with regular old house dust than any of these. When you get tested for allergies, theu don't test for resin or plastic. These are all, however, iritants, i.e., they'll cause you to cough or sneeze if you ingest them. If you have a problem, a simple dust mask or bandana will rptect you from the dust. In large quantities, far more than any of us will generate cleaning resin or plastic, may be highly flammable, jujst as large quantities of flour can be very combustable.

As to glueing them, CA will work on them be they plastic or resin.

Ifyou really wanted to test them, I guess you could put a match to one. Plastic  will definitely burn...many model ships met that fate in my misspent youth, but I don't think resin will.

Styrene will burn smoothly, with copious amounts of sooty smoke, and it will melt easily...  Resin will burn with the same smoke, but will won't melt, and it WILL sputter, and bubble and generally behave badly... 

Also, it can't be stretched like styrene sprue, it just breaks... Plus, if you sand it, then sand the styrene, the difference is rather striking in the sanding dust.. There's a LOT of it with resin, far more for the same amount of sanding with styrene..

Resin dust is inert; plastic dust is inert, saw dust is inert. None is more or less toxic than the others. You're more likely to have problem with regular old house dust than any of these. When you get tested for allergies, theu don't test for resin or plastic. These are all, however, iritants, i.e., they'll cause you to cough or sneeze if you ingest them.

Ditto... Irritant, yes, toxic, no...

Resin is only toxic while it's a liquid, both as an inhalation and ingestion-hazard (the catalyst especially) and a splash hazard... It can cause chemical burns to exposed skin as well..  Don't spill it on your skin, and don't pour it in your eyes or drink it, m'kay?

Now, were you to be sanding resin parts on say, an industrial scale, eight hours a day, 40 hours a week, then air-quality standards set by OSHA have to be met and the proper safety equipment furnished and worn..

For most modeler's purposes, we don't get exposed to nearly enough of the stuff to make a difference, even over the course of a lifetime of modeling, unless you've already got some pretty bad respiratory issues t begin with..

Don't sweat it, unless it makes you feel better, psychologically, about it...

Thanks, SprueOne, ajlafleche and Hans for the good suggestions and info.

I've read so many warnings about resin dust in modeling magazines, I presumed it was especially bad.

I will take normal precautions about where and how I create any dust from cutting the items.

No sweat... I said "most modelers" to leave out those who built models for movies like Star Wars and such, since they make HUGE resin parts and cut/sand them with large power-tools...

The easiest way is smell.  Some people have sensitive enough noses to just smell the part and can tell right away.  Sometimes I file or sand a little on the sprue attachment or gate area and smell the dust (carefully, inhale as little as possible).  This will definitely smell enough to tell.  Urethane resin smells really stinky compared to styrene.

Heh.. Wish I could.. My nose has been broken so many times, I'm afraid to sneeze, lest it fly off across the room..

Well, here are the results so far:

1- Doesn't melt or smoke / burn like styrene when heated over a flame

2- Glue for styrene has no effect

3- very hard

4- very brittle

5- no odor released from a saw cut.

Considering the info posted by all , I am going to guess the substance used to make the Halloween decorations  is a type of resin and will be treated as such when I saw and trim it.

Many thanks to all for the informative and helpful suggestions !

Taste test...resin is more bitter...

Manstein's revenge

Taste test...resin is more bitter...

Sprue-ce, next time this comes up, just use the simplest method,,,,,,take a piece of sprue from a styrene kit and try to glue it to the sprue from the Subject kit, or a place out of site

if they bond, they are styrene, if not,,,it's resin or something different

I had to do this with an old Jenny kit I got at a show, I couldn't tell which it was from the molding,,,,,,the sprues welded with Testors, so it's a styrene kit

only takes a few minutes this way

Good point !

You could also just take a piece and put a couple of drops of Tenax or similar on it and see if it softens.

That's pretty much what the last post said it just eliminates the trying to glue together part.

GreenThumb

You could also just take a piece and put a couple of drops of Tenax or similar on it and see if it softens.

That's pretty much what the last post said it just eliminates the trying to glue together part.

 

Tried that.- one reason why I concluded it was resin.

I am somewhat surprised that so few resin color variations occur as I would presume the color is chosen by the manufacturer rather than mandated by the resin chemistry .

These white Halloween items are the only other resin product I have seen in stores that was not tan.

                            Taste,mmmmm taste like resin.

                                                                   Greg"Detailfreak"Rowley

You have to remember that "styrene" is just a  general name for a polystyrene based plastic. There are many, many different blends and formulations utilising different addititves, co-polymers and "fillers" which can alter the plastic's properties (and reduce costs).  For a commercially manufactured mass-produced item, it would be more likely to be styrene or a styrene derivative than a polyurethane resin.

Phil_H

You have to remember that "styrene" is just a  general name for a polystyrene based plastic. There are many, many different blends and formulations utilising different addititves, co-polymers and "fillers" which can alter the plastic's properties (and reduce costs).  For a commercially manufactured mass-produced item, it would be more likely to be styrene or a styrene derivative than a polyurethane resin.

 

Manstein's revenge

 

Phil_H:

 

You have to remember that "styrene" is just a  general name for a polystyrene based plastic. There are many, many different blends and formulations utilising different addititves, co-polymers and "fillers" which can alter the plastic's properties (and reduce costs).  For a commercially manufactured mass-produced item, it would be more likely to be styrene or a styrene derivative than a polyurethane resin.

...yes, and that's why different companies' styrenes have different properties/feels to them...some are more brittle; some are soft and some fall inbetween...I feel that Dragon's is a bit softer than Tamiya's, for example... 

Dunno about current issue kits, but Italieri's 1970s era plastic was very brittle.

Do you believe Dragon plastic tastes more or less bitter than Tamiya's plastic........?

Sprue-ce Goose

Manstein's revenge:

 

Phil_H:

 

You have to remember that "styrene" is just a  general name for a polystyrene based plastic. There are many, many different blends and formulations utilising different addititves, co-polymers and "fillers" which can alter the plastic's properties (and reduce costs).  For a commercially manufactured mass-produced item, it would be more likely to be styrene or a styrene derivative than a polyurethane resin.

...yes, and that's why different companies' styrenes have different properties/feels to them...some are more brittle; some are soft and some fall inbetween...I feel that Dragon's is a bit softer than Tamiya's, for example... 

 

Dunno about current issue kits, but Italieri's 1970s era plastic was very brittle.

Do you believe Dragon plastic tastes more or less bitter than Tamiya's plastic........?

Dunno about the taste, but after cutting on hard Tamiya plastic, cutting Academy plastic is like carving cheese.

Phil_H

 

Sprue-ce Goose:

 

 

Manstein's revenge:

Phil_H:

You have to remember that "styrene" is just a  general name for a polystyrene based plastic. There are many, many different blends and formulations utilising different addititves, co-polymers and "fillers" which can alter the plastic's properties (and reduce costs).  For a commercially manufactured mass-produced item, it would be more likely to be styrene or a styrene derivative than a polyurethane resin.

...yes, and that's why different companies' styrenes have different properties/feels to them...some are more brittle; some are soft and some fall inbetween...I feel that Dragon's is a bit softer than Tamiya's, for example... 

 

Dunno about current issue kits, but Italieri's 1970s era plastic was very brittle.

Do you believe Dragon plastic tastes more or less bitter than Tamiya's plastic........?

 

 

Dunno about the taste, but after cutting on hard Tamiya plastic, cutting Academy plastic is like carving cheese.

ajlafleche

Resin dust is inert; plastic dust is inert, saw dust is inert. None is more or less toxic than the others. 

 This reminded me of something...

Is that true for all forms of resin?  I had a kit that included resin parts once that were a rust color.  Unlike any other resins I'd run into, this stuff started producing a faint smell similar to gasoline when I was sanding it.  I ended up putting the project aside and never got back to it, but though I'd ask about this for when I do get around to finishing it just in case.