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I recently bought my first resin Forge World models for 40k and I wanted to know if there was anything I needed to know before I start painting/priming them.

The only thing I know is:

1.) for bent out gun barrels and bent/wrapped resin parts, you hold them under very near boiling hot water and try to bend them into the proper shape and then instantly drop them into very cold water. [I need to figure out how to do this without hurting myself]

2.) You're supposed to water off the release agent with soap and warm water before priming otherwise the paint will be very gloppy.

3.) Don't use plastic glue, just use super glue.

Is there anything else? I'd appreciate some much needed resin tips. Anything to AVOID?

Imperial Armour Masterclass Volume I apparently has a section on working with resin but is it recommended. I wanted to know it was worth getting since it does cost £26 and I could get the IA Apoc. book instead. Thanks!

no its not worth getting the IAM, even though its pretty to look at


Wash off release agent as you have stated, Superglue and always ALWAYS pin as much as you can as deep as you can without damaging the figures,

Fix bent things by heating in a warm tub of water (not boiling) and bending gently in the water to test how plyable it is, when you can actually move it with ease, bend into shape you want and find something to hold in place (two soft pad hobby vice's work a treat) and leave to reset in room temp, this will prevent it reverting to its previous state which happens when you blanch it in cold water or enviroment. also never keep resin in direct sunlight it will bend!

also, when putting together, get a good diamond bladed sander, and sand the connection areas, there can be alot of flash or excess resin on FW kits.

finally Base with black twice and then light dusting of white this will give you the best base for your paints and also allows you the best effect from them both for dark and bright colours!

And wear a dust mask when doing something that will throw up dust!

I don't recall there being much in the IAM book on working with resin that you can't quickly and easily find by checking threads on here.

Is the book worth it in general though?

Useful step by step things? I actually learned how to paint using the Citadel book despite it being sort of short.

Also very off topic but do you Imperial Guard players prime your Chimeras/Leman Russ/Manticore/etc white or black? I'm going for the Vostroyan grayish pattern and I was wonder which primer I should use.

As I'm reading this book (for the eighth time) right now, I can tell you what it is and what it isn't. It focuses, heavily on imperial guard, specifically the Krieg which were covered in the Imperial Armour books. However, what it does and does amazingly well is weathering effects. It also has some work on snow based terrain pieces and mud which are very good techniques. If you're looking for a How-To book for doing amazingly weathered and realistically gritty IG tanks and planes, this is the book for you. If you're doing Tau or Eldar... not so much. They also use a lot of airbrush work in the book and assume you have a lot of various bits of modelling stuff, and don't really cover anything smaller than an IG tank in any detail. The figures themselves are mostly glossed over with general terms, though the tank painting and terrain modelling have step-by-steps.

So yes, in summary. Imperial Armour Model Masterclass - How to Paint Tanks and Planes: the Advanced Class.

As far as I know, there isn't anything more about dealing with resin in the book than the advice they give on their website. Mind you, that's a broken link. Still, important note: don't breathe in resin dust.

TwilightWalker wrote:And wear a dust mask when doing something that will throw up dust!

^this.

Resin dust is no joke.

the book is good but it mainly seems to focus on painting techniques more than the resin. it does have a section on how to work with resin but is pretty short. so the best idea is to look online for help and ideas.

Get thyself to the "Fine Scale Modeler" website, they have buckets of tip and tutorials on working with resin.



Here are some quick tips from me though, as I work with the stuff almost everyday, it seems.


1. Get a box of razor blades from Walmart (cost $1), then get a scraper/holder (cost $2). With this tool you can chop and remove parts from the sprue with out having to dremel and create hazardous dust. Work on a self healing cutting board by the way.

2. Buy a set of carbide scrapers tool. These things are the best modeling investment I've ever made. They can carve or shave smooth a resin surface with ease. The produce thin shaving that are large and pose no hazard. With these you can quite literally work 3-4x as fast with resin and plastic! Also unlike scalpel and exacto blade they're blunt so can't hurt yourself while carving into some thing held comfortable in the palm of your hand.

3. Get some wet and dry sand paper and a shallow plastic container. Like the bottom of the container with your sanding paper and then fill the container with 2-3 mm of water. Not you can easily sand parts flat without getting dust everywhere.



Now ideally you want to chop and carve as much as your can before moving on to you dremel tool or sanding paper. but if you must use them you will create dust. I have a cheap shop vacuum cleaner from Home Depot, with a hose attachment that I clamp to my work desk to suck away the dust as its create. It works a treat. You will still need a resperator though. but its a good investment as you'll need one anyway if you get into airbrushing.

DorianGray wrote:Is the book worth it in general though?

Useful step by step things? I actually learned how to paint using the Citadel book despite it being sort of short.

Also very off topic but do you Imperial Guard players prime your Chimeras/Leman Russ/Manticore/etc white or black? I'm going for the Vostroyan grayish pattern and I was wonder which primer I should use.

I like the book but I'm torn on whether it's worth it or not. I bought the book before I'd even tried painting a single tank and found it very informative, but with hindsight you can probably get the same information by trawling the military modelling sites out there on the web and checking through some of the youtube videos they put up. It's mainly a book about detailing and weathering tanks and aircraft as well as creating diorama pieces. It does do some very in depth step by step work on the first couple of models, but I've seen a lot of the same stuff out there on the net since I bought the book. I like it, but I can't honestly say it's definitely worth the price.

I'm painting my tanks with a dark green base, dark brown camo scheme. I use Tamiya fine surface grey primer then put on a layer of black then the green then the camo pattern in dark brown. I'm using a dual action airbrush and so far the results are good (at some point I may get brave enough to put a P&M blog of my efforts). I really find that an airbrush helps create a wonderfully smooth coat which I think looks great pre weathering. The Tamiya primer would probably work well for you, but it's a bit pricier than a lot of the others that are out there.

If you want to paint in the vostroyan colours this link may help

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=15900003

While I haven't tried to paint my Forgeworld models yet, I do a lot of work with different types of resin, and I know some types of mold release agents are a pain in the rear to clean off. It won't make your paint gloppy, what it will do is make your primer flake off like dried corn flakes off a teflon skillet.

Wash thoroughly, with a toothbrush, then wash it again, then test your primer on a small spot and let it dry for a full day before testing it with your fingernail.

Your spray undercoat will ( as I have found ) determine the overall tone of the base coat. Meaning if you are using bright colors like red or blue the prime coat should be white, and the other side if you are using darker colors like gray , or darker greens use a black primer. As far as forgeworld goes I love to hate their products. All that money for a bent or deformed piece really pisses me off. I have heard that their quality has greatly improved. I really want a Imperial Lightning Fighter but am rather nervous about the quality of the cast. I love forgeworld but get nervous about the model. I wish you luck and hope this helps!!

Mike

i picked up a lightning, and unbuilt, second hand one, quite a while back, put it on a shelf, and forgot about it until about yesterday

actually trying to clean it up and assemble it now, and the actual cast isnt "that" bad really, a few parts have extra flash or these annoying resin "nubs" that need to be clipped off and filed, but thats mostly the extent of it.....
...Except the cockpit canopy.
Its a twisted mass of shattered resin that no amount of hot water will correct.

related to the whole working with resin: what would anyone suggest pinning with? currently i just cut up paperclips for anything that requires pinning, should those be sufficient still?

2nd question: those annoying nubs i mentioned above, any quick ways to deal with those or just stick to clip as close as possible then file them smooth, the safe way


question 3: any ideas for replacing the canopy? i emailed forgeworld but got a "well its your fault for buying 2nd hand" type response basically.
my only two ideas are try to use the various peices to trace out a pattern on plasticard maybe, or possibly see if i can find papercraft lightning files, and see if i can use its canopy pattern as a pattern to replace it

(actually, fourth question: anyone got a copy its assembly instructions scanned anywhere? mine didnt come with one, most parts are pretty obvious where they go, but there a few that puzzle me greatly)


(been a long time watcher of the forums, but never really wanted to post, had a few questions, and figured well, might as well post on a semi-mostly related topic then open a new one)

DorianGray wrote:Is the book worth it in general though?

Useful step by step things? I actually learned how to paint using the Citadel book despite it being sort of short.

Also very off topic but do you Imperial Guard players prime your Chimeras/Leman Russ/Manticore/etc white or black? I'm going for the Vostroyan grayish pattern and I was wonder which primer I should use.

Don't limit yourself to just black or white primers. There are light gray, dark gray, "flat" gray, etc primers available from companies like Tamiya that you can find.

Just make sure it says "Primer" and not "Spray".