Success on the home front

[Tiberius Cato]

Hail Brothers!

Recently I left my browser open on FW, and my girlfriend decided to look at my wishlist(no she didn't buy anything, sadly) and voiced interest in the hobby. I was euphoric to say the least. And today we went out for coffee and,long story short, she compared herself to the heretic Horus because we went to a coffee chain that wasn't Starbucks. It was pretty cute to be honest.

Anyways, let's proceed to a more forum appropiate topic. I don't know how many of you've seen it, but I have a thread over on the WIP subforum about my XI legion project i'm doing (link in my signature below), if you guys would take a look at it and guide my progress towards a suitable tale of glory and eventual forgetting of a once glorious legion I'd appreciate it a lot.

I recently put in an order for a Despoiler squad and would like any tips all of you greybeards have for a fledgling resin junky for modelling and painting.

Thanks in advance!

[Leif Bearclaw]

How fledgling are we talking here? I'm going to assume you've never done a FW model before, what follows is a few basic bits about working with FW resin.

 

From a modelling perspective there's a couple of things to bear in mind with FW resin. You don't want to breathe in any dust, so either wear a dustmask for sunstantial amounts of filing, or keep the components wet, this should trap the dust.

 

But the most important differences between FW and regular is the release agent. If this is left on the model, then you'll have all kinds of problems making paint stick to the resin properly. So you need to wash it first in warm water with a dash of washing up liquid, then give it a scrub wth an old toothbrush. This should do the trick, but to be on the safe side, varnishing the models before undercoatinf them is a good idea. Then you can just paint them as normal.

 

If your stuff is warped, it can be straightened and adjusted by soaking briefly in a bit of hot water, this will soften the resin and allow you to adjust it to fix bends and the like.

 

FW resin is head and shoulders above Finecast resin in durability and quality.

[Tiberius Cato]

This will be my first ventures into working with resin, I'll have to invest in a badass looking gas mask (rule of cool and all) when I get into conversions I suppose. How long does the resin need to sit in the water before brushing? Also, is green stuff suitable for resin models? I'm looking at developing my overall skillset in the hobby with this project.

[Leif Bearclaw]

To be honest, you only need the mask if you're doing a lot of filing, otherwise a wet file works fine (or just cut it, which is what I tend to do).

 

Yeah, Green stuff is perfectly fine for resin work.

 

As for soaking during cleaning, you don't need to leave it long, a minute tops. The brushing action is more important (along with the presence of the washing up liquid) to remove the release agent than the soaking, so make sure you give it a thourough scrubbing and you shuould be fine.

[Tiberius Cato]

What can I use as washing liquid? Will soapy water suffice?

[Leif Bearclaw]

Just washing up liquid, the stuff you use for cleaning plates. Don't know american brands, but this is what we have in the UK:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairy_%28brand%29

 

A dash of this in the water when you wash the stuff and you're golden.

[Moonstalker]

Yeah, I just use Dawn dish detergent in some warm water.  If it can be used for cleaning up oil spills, it can be used for removing release agent.  I tend to leave my resin to soak for a while, then scrub thoroughly with an old toothbrush.  Do it nice or do it twice.

[Tiberius Cato]

Alright, thanks for the advice all!

[Marshal Rohr]

Wet filing works really well. The mask is a necessity if you ever whip out a dremel. But if you're just sanding down and uneven join or breaking and edge, hold your face back and only go in one direction (away from you) and you'll be fine.

[Tiberius Cato]

Do you guys have any tips for removing the shoulder pads from the sprue? I just broke the top of the rim off on a few despite my best efforts, but a little battle damage never hurt anybody.

[m_r_parker]

Yeah, some shoulder pads don't remove well - I've had terrible results with the SoH Reaver Attack Squad (which is dissapointing as those pads are cool).

 

The only advice I can give is:

• Never cut flush against the component if the part it's joined to is flimsy / thin. In particular this is shoulder pad rims, details, etc. Leave a little excess.
• Attempt to take off the remainder with a sharp craft knife - usual warnings about sharp knifes, cutting away from you, and limiting sacrifices to the Blood God.
• The craft knife should be good enough to remove everything to a decent level. Only go for a file if it's in an obvious spot (e.g. facing outward from the model), and again obvoius warnings around resin dust and the use of face masks and good ventilation.

Some other advice I've found from assembling various kits:

• Sometimes the fit together between certain parts isn't great - and for some reason arms and shoulder pads seem to be at the top of that list, the pad is often too big for the arm it's going onto. In that situation some people swear by a combo of green-stuff and superglue, but just be aware that it's not as good as GW plastic kit.
• Depending on the kit you've bought, they'll be a series of dots on certain components, ranging from 1 to 5. These are meant to identify bit's that go together, but sometimes you don't necessarily have to go down that route. Dry fit and see where you get to.
• I'm paranoid about my resin construction, and don't trust superglue on resin at times. I pin certain connection points to ensure the model is strong when built. Typically I do the following pins: legs to base, torso to legs, head to torso, arms to torso. It's slow, generates a lot of resin dust, and can be really frustrating, but it's something I personally think helps.
• I tend not to fully assemble my models until they're finsihed painting. I tend to assemble the main leg + torso + backpack, and then have arms + shoulderpads and head seperate. Trying to paint in random confined areas is not fun.
• Resin can be difficult to undercoat at times. If you wash it well it should be fine, but sometimes the resin seems to 'bleed' release fuid after you've washed it, and this causes the paint to flake off. One trick I've been taught is to spray Purity Seal on the models before you undercoat them and the primer is applied more securely to the model.
• Mold lines can be a killer. Certain kits are good, but others are terrible (MkIV Power Armour I'm looking at you!!!) and can be really difficult to get rid off, especially if the mold has obviously been misaligned. Take a judgement call on whether you'll be able to sort it out, or are willing to accept it, and if you can't then give FW a bell and let them know. They're really good on faulty products.

[Tiberius Cato]

I've seen people talk about pinning before, it seems to work pretty good for those who use it. What exactly does it entail?

[lokkorex]

Whenever i get some new fw goodies i Cut the bitz of the sprue, Put it all in a bin of soapy water, let it soak for half an hour or something, and then scrub them with an Old toothbrush.

[m_r_parker]

I've seen people talk about pinning before, it seems to work pretty good for those who use it. What exactly does it entail?

Pinning is the process of securing to components together with a small piece of metal wire / rod, such as a paper clip.

GW do a pining kit, which is a small hand drill and a couple of drill bits. What you'll also need is some 'pins' to use, and prefereably just a little narrower that the bits that you have. Some people use paper clips, but I find the metal to be a bit too tough and has damaged my clippers in the past. I find that if you go into any electronic hobby store (like Maplin here in the UK), you should be able to find rolls of metal wire at specific diameters. It's more flexible than typical paper-clips, and the constant diameter is nice and reliable.

Always go for a drill bit slightly larger than your wire, otherwise you'll have a tight fit to get your wire into and they'll be no room for any superglue. The whole point about pining is that you're increasing the surface area between the superglue and the components you're joining, so having a tight hole leaves little to no room for the superglue.

Just a word of caution, don't get carried away with the drilling. Resin is soft, and I've drilled through to the other side of components before now

[Tiberius Cato]

Thanks for the description! I'll have to try this on my next models, as i've already got everything but the shoulders in place.