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Resin kits


TANK63

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Resin can change its shape when exposed to high temperatures. If you leave it in a hot room in direct sunlight it may sag, which of course is also true for a plastic model if carelessly left somewhere the glass can give a magnifying effect.

 

You'll read some utter drivel about resin kits, mostly by people too afraid to build one. A good quality resin kit is far nicer than a mediocre injection moulded kit. The only thing that's really different is that you need to use CA glue or, absolute worst case, some epoxy for very rare occasions rather than styrene cement. 

 

You'll read that breathing in resin dust is harmful which is true - but unless you enjoy clogging and destroying your abrasives anyway, all sanding is best done wet regardless of the medium used :)

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8 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

Resin can change its shape when exposed to high temperatures. If you leave it in a hot room in direct sunlight it may sag, which of course is also true for a plastic model if carelessly left somewhere the glass can give a magnifying effect.

 

I bought several Anigrand kits about 10 years ago and several of them came delivered with warpage problems.  One of the lower wings on their C-124 kit has a nicely curved 90° circle section over the length of the wing.  The others aren't as bad but will need some work to get them to be buildable.  I'm not afraid of resin kits as I currently have a 1/700 scale kit of the USS Idaho, BB-24, in work right now.

Later,

Dave

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I've built a number of resin kits. They can indeed have much finer detail than is possible in injection molded plastic. Resin kits can also have warped parts, which hot water will fix pretty readily. I have an Attack Squadron 1/48 MQ-8B, and at this point, the rotors have sagged badly. I'm thinking of binding some 6 mil carbon fibre on the under surfaces of the rotors to increase their stiffness.

 

What kit are you considering?

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I have built many resin kits, twisted resin parts is not a problem at all, as it was mentioned already, all you have to do is put a twisted part for 5-10 seconds in just boiled (but not boiling) water, in most case the part would restore the initial shape itself, in some rare cases just bend it with fingers. 

Haven't tried and would not recommend microwave, much less control IMO

 

Here is an example:

Generally resin kits are fun, most of the projects I completed recently were resin.

Indeed, some people afraid of resin kits presumably after negative experience with older kits, but in last 10-15 years resin moulding has made a gigantic leap with new materials and technologies. Not all resin kits are suitable for resin newcomers, but Choroszy (meaning "Good") is a reputable producer

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I've also built many resin kits, mostly WWI, a number of them by Choroszy, and I have to say that the wings tend to be warped more often than not (being very thin), and although you can (usually) rectify that with heat and pressure, some resin has a pronounced memory and will slowly resume the warped state. Choroszy and Ardpol (similar very good detail and casting levels) don't often have this problem. Usually you can rig away any residual warp if using monofilament for structural rigging, but that will only work if you replace the struts with something less flexible. I've found that most struts in resin kits are unusabe due to warpage or air bubbles in strategic places, unless they're too thick for scale (Omega kits in particular).

 

Wire embedded in resin isn't a cure all, by the way. I csored rather a nice kit from  Windsock once by sending in pictures of some Albatros wings from a couple of kits reviewed in the mag 10 years previously, where (in the absence of Eduard) the kits were rated really highly due to good detail and bomb-proof wings (2 wires in each). The wings of mine were banana shaped, the resin had simply taken the wires with it when it warped (and these were  scale thinness wings).

 

Resin behaviour also seems dependent on humidity to some extent. I had a chat once with Eric Hight (the owner of the original Copper State Models, whose kits were all resin 1/48th) and he professed never to have warpage problems, although many of his kits had aquired them by the time they reached me. We concluded that his living in Arizona could well be relevant, whereas at the time I lived in Leiden in the Netherlands, which can be very damp and is always below sea level..................

 

Paul.

 

 

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Also there are some kits that you will never see as injected styrene molded kits such as the Copper State Models 1/48th scale Handley Page 0-400 bomber and Lone Star Models 1/48 Felixstowe F.2a flying boat. Of course, one problem with resin kits is that production can cease without notice. I have seen some ridiculous prices on 1/48 Legato WWI kits. I am still looking for an out of production Master Club 1/48 Voisin III.

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