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I have never made a resin model before and I have a few questions.
1. Will it require cleaning before assembly/painting, if so how much?
2. Will regular polycement (plastic glue) stick it together?
3. How easily will it warp?
4. How easily can it be modeled?
5. How well will it stick to plastic/metal?

I can answer a few of these, but I don't personaly have any experiance with resin. Just book knoledge :-P

1) Yes yes yes. Resin has a compound on it that is used to help it slip out of the mold. This must be washed off first, or your paint/glue/primer will peal right off. Warm watter and soap with a toothbrush should do the trick.

2) No, you need superglue and lots of putty. There will be gaps that you will need to fil.

3) Its likely to come warped if the peices are large. If you leave it in your car on a hot day, it'll be warped. Warping can be repaired very carfuly by soaking the peice in warm watter and gently bending it back into place. See #4 for how carful you need to be :-P

4) Resin is brittle. You have to be extreamly carfull when drilling and cutting. Sand paper is suggested for taking off mold lines and flash, not a knife. That said, you will need to drill alot. It is suggested that everything be pinned to increase the strength of bonds when putting it together.

5) I honesstly don't know, but I suspect that superglue can bond between resin and metal/plastic.

vodo40k wrote:I have never made a resin model before and I have a few questions.
1. Will it require cleaning before assembly/painting, if so how much?
2. Will regular polycement (plastic glue) stick it together?
3. How easily will it warp?
4. How easily can it be modeled?
5. How well will it stick to plastic/metal?

(This is based on a Black Legion Dreadnought I bought from FW a few years back).
1. Yes, quite a lot. Wash the parts to remove any leftover casting residue. As for cleaning excess, I had to use a small saw to remove a large chunk of it from the Dread's powerplant. The rest of the model was fine, but in general I'd suggest clippers for smaller parts, and a fine-bladed saw for larger excess pieces.
2. No. I had to use Super Glue. I actually found resin more of a pain to assemble than metal. I didn't need to pin the model, but anything larger than a Dreadnought I would seriously consider pinning.
3. My dreadnought was largely fine, but the powerplant was warped quite badly. Generally, warm water will help to ease resin back into the correct shape.

I can't really answer the other two questions, as the dread hasn't been altered in any way, and is all resin.

Thanks guys im only really going to be assembling things with about 3 pieces to glue, but there is a mixture of metal and resin. (firestorm armada starter fleet) your answers will no doubt help me.

@Pherion... I personally think it depends on the size of the model and what glue your using as to wether or not every piece needs pinning... If you want to be 100% sure that it will stay together, then by all means pin it. But I have quite a few FW models and the only one Ive ever pinned is my chaos dragon (but thats because I really doubt anything other than using brass rods would keep that model together O.o)

@vodo I think superglue will work fine for the model. And make sure you clean it as people have stated!

1. Will it require cleaning before assembly/painting, if so how much?
2. Will regular polycement (plastic glue) stick it together?
3. How easily will it warp?
4. How easily can it be modeled?
5. How well will it stick to plastic/metal?

Unlike Pherion, my resin knowledge is ALL practical. I've worked in a professional casting shop, using a variety of resins.

1. Yes. Very much so. Depending on the mold release used. Some companies use a chemical based one that is harder to remove than babygak from a blanket. Others use a powdery one that washes off easily. After washing, allow to dry and then PRIME with an actual primer paint (or use purity seal) - like an auto primer, not GW white or black spray.

2. No. You'll need superglue or two-part epoxy (araldite). Plastic glues - barring certain freakish combinations of events (involving undercuts and vacuum seals) - generally do not work.
3. Depends on the length, thickness, mix of resin and whether it was allowed to fully harden in the mold. Warpage generally happens when one side hardens faster than the other or when the resin mix isn't right.
4. It sands reasonably easily (use a dustmask and spray with a water mist to keep dust down) and grinds and drills easily. The dust isn't inherently dangerous, but you don't want to breathe in any particulates anyway.
5. Pretty well depending on the glues used. For best results, lightly sand mating surfaces and clean of remaining dust before gluing.