Working with resin kits?

Resin is a totally different member of the plastic family from the typical styrene of injection molded kits.

Resin is very much like two part epoxy glue, it has two components, the resin and a catalyst to harden it. and is molded by pouring it while its in liquid form into rubber molds.

Resin is a very typical material in limited run, "garage kits" which are made and sold by smaller firms or private individuals who do not have the money to invest in metal mold tooling and injection plastic molding equipment.

So, the differences:

1: glue for styrene plastic has no effect at all on resin, you'll need two part epoxy or cyanoacrylate glue (Krazy Glue) to get them together.

2: The quality of resin castings can vary significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer to a much greater degree than the molding quality of styrene in more mainstream kits does. Air bubbles are not an unusual thing in resin kits, some manufacturers go to great lengths to minimise bubbles, one way some of them do it is to put the molds in a centrifuge and spin them while the resin sets up, this uses the force of gravity to work the bubbles out.

3: ALWAYS expect to pay more for resin kits than you would for styrene, this is not a reflection of superior quality in the resin over styren, but more a reflection of the limited run nature of resin kits, as they are not mass produced, their manufacturers must charge more to recover costs and make a profit.

4: some resin tends to shrink or warp over time (this is why I prefer not to buy full resin kits) Resin aftermarket accesories for styrene kits usually don't present any problems this way, but full resin kits canbe a different animal completely.

Hope that helps

Basicly resin is a hard plastic substance that is formed by mixing two chemicals together. It is usually harder than styrene but is more brittle and makes details better than injected styrene. Additionally, resin does not require the heavy metal molds like injected styrene, as a simple silicon mold will suffice. Your better LHS will have the materials to make molds and the resin to put into them to create your own aftermarket parts (or a complete model) right at your desk.

Resin parts can be cut, filed, sanded and painted just like styrene. The biggest difference is what you glue them together with. Standard styrene glue will not glue resin parts (either to themselves or styrene) so you have to use either CA or Epoxy glue to stick them where you want them. Another thing is to have a good filler on hand as most resin parts tend to have pin holes in the surfaces. These are formed by air which has not been evacuated from the mold when it's poured (it's really hard to get the air out ). You'll find that just about any good model or auto body putty will work for this.

Hope this helps a little

Check my site, there are several resin builds there.

Thanks everybody! Swanny wow! Very nice work!! The reason I'm asking is I really want to build a Commonwealth Boomerang in 1/48 scale. I know LTD put out one, but its discontinued and I cant find one. So I found 1 in resin but I didn't know how to work with it. Thanks again everybody! Happy modeling!

Do airplane resin models need to be pinned like some figure kits or mecha kits?

Heck, I'd probably do it anyway, just in case...

QUOTE: Originally posted by Akuma Do airplane resin models need to be pinned like some figure kits or mecha kits? Heck, I'd probably do it anyway, just in case...

I would do it anyway, some of the Mecha garage-Kits I got I reckon have about 50+ pins.


On most figure kits I can get away with about 10~15 pins.

For gluing resin Kits of any type I would recommend 2-part Epoxy glue 5~10 minutes (2 minutes for small non weight bearing parts) setting time as well as plenty of pinning.