Resin Kit Building 101: Part 1 - Washing Your Kit

NOTE:  You can click on most pictures to get a larger view of them.

Since I've started doing reviews on some resin kits that I've built, I figured it would also be a good idea to give some helpful hints and tips for those of you who are new to building this unique form of models.  I can then refer back to these articles without re-quoting the same text over and over again.

My first article is going to cover bathing.  No, not your bathing, but rather, the bathing of your resin kit.

Resin kits are made from pouring liquid resin into a rubber mold and letting it harden.

The resin is usually made up of something where two different chemicals are mixed together, kind of like when you are mixing epoxy.

In order to keep the resin from sticking to the molds, the rubber mold is usually coated with some sort of oil before the resin is poured.  This is a method that most bakers use when making cakes.

This oil does stick to the finished product.  I don't know why resin kit makers don't wash thier finished product, maybe it is too time consuming, but whatever that reason is, it is just a written rule that you should expect that your kit will still have traces of this oil on it.  And unfortunately, glue and paint does not like to bond well with items that still have this oil on it.

So, the very first thing you should do with your brand new resin kit, after you have admired the craftsmanship, is to give all of the parts a bath.

A hot water bath with dish detergent or clothes detergent works well for breaking down the oils.  I would suggest using some sort of brush as well.

I personally put the parts in a bowl, pour in some laundry detergent and then fill the bowl with hot water.  The temperature can be comfortable for you to reach your hand into the bowl to grab and wash the parts.  I then take a part and give it a thorough scrubbing.  I'll rinse the part and then dip it back in the soapy bath and then repeat the scrub and rinse part.  I will then set the part down on some paper towels to air dry.  Usually, they will dry within 30 minutes.

And that really is all there is too it.  By taking this little detour in your build process, you will save yourself lots of headaches later on when your paint does not want to stick to the model.

I hope you found this article as useful and informative as I did while writing it.  Please feel free to leave any comments, questions or suggestions below.

So for now, "Live Long And Prosper!"