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Just wondering how people feel about resin minis. I grew up with metal ones, just got back into painting a year ago and have been enjoying GW plastic and painting some of my old 80s/90s citadel pewter but I've recently assembled some Forgeworld LOTR models and have to say I think they're fantastic. I'm really looking forward to painting them - the detail just seems so crisp. I've come across quite a few people online saying that they hate resin and won't work with it. I get the downsides - the dust (I've made sure to wear a mask), the amount of flash that you have to work away (I've really enjoyed working with a modelling knife to get rid of it), the fact that pieces don't always fit properly (I've enjoyed some judicious application of green stuff), the fiddly nature of working with superglue (I didn't find it a problem), the warping (only had an issue with one piece and bending in hot water worked a treat). In short if felt really satisfying putting these models together, they look great and I'm looking forward to working with resin again. Am I nuts? Or are there others who feel the same?

Resin is awesome. People who say they don't like it are usually only doing so because they aren't patient enough to work with it and get it's true potential out.It is easily the best material for conversions and kitbash work. Plastic is beginning to catch up with resin in terms of holding finer details, but I still don't think it's as good yet.

Give them a wash with some dish soap / washing-up liquid before you prime them.

Are modern GW minis resin or plastic? If the answer is plastic who is making resin minis?

mrFickle wrote:
Are modern GW minis resin or plastic? If the answer is plastic who is making resin minis?

GW is plastic (unless you get finecast), FW is resin. I've recently bought resin minis from TT Combat, for DropZone Commander & DropFleet Commander.

Pretty much every small '3rd party' miniature manufacturer is working in resin. The setup costs of plastic just isn't feasible unless you're GW.
Even larger companies like Warlord games reserve plastics only for their main range and everything else in resin.

The biggest problem with resin is how variable it can be.
I've had resin minis that were absolutely superb. Like, no mouldlines, hardly any sprue, exquisite detail, take it out the pack and assemble level good.
I've also had resins that were absolutely atrocius. Like, more flash than mini, carve the model yourself.
Resin's reputation certainly isn't helped by the fact that by far the best known resin is Citadel Finecast, which is almost universally atrocious. Next in line is Forgeworld, which again is known for extreme prices and poor quality control.

I really like the way you can heat up the majority of the pvc-type resin out there and bend to your will, so I like it, even if gluing can be a pain at times.

I love resin, it's the best medium for fine detail.

You see a lot of complaints about it, but they seem to mostly come from people who don't have much hobby experience ("why won't my plastic glue work?" ) or from those who don't like to put the extra effort in.

There's a large amount of people that are used to working with HIPs plastic, then they buy a resin model they get frustrated when it doesn't go together smoothly without any work.

I totally understand that it's not for everyone, but I'd prefer it if most of GW's character minis were produced in resin.

I love working with resin and most people's frustration could be eliminated with quality superglue and zip kicker.

The problem with Finecast was never the level of detail (though for a while they would have bubble voids in the minis themselves... ) it was the fact they used low temp resin. I live in the southern US and it gets Hot here 6 months out of the year and I can't tell you how many models I have that have droopy weapons or arms etc. Some, I have been able to fix, but others, I can never get back straight again.

Resin is awful. Too many chances sometring will snap or get bent out of shape, plus the cleaning process is a pain in the arse. If a model is available in both plastic and resin, I sure as hell go with plastic .

Plastic - Resin - Metal - 3D print resin

Each is fantastic if produced and worked correctly; each can be a disaster too.



Eg there are some PVC plastics which are annoying to work with. Eg Privateer Press wound up with some that were annoying to work with where they wouldn't file nicely nor were they easy to scrape with a blade to clean up.
Though by far the most glaring issue with most PVC plastics is that they are often sold as fully assembled so cleaning off mould lines is a pain (this is often what a big chunk of the board game market uses).


Resins can be fantastic, holding great detail. They are the most fragile in general, so if parts aren't well designed they can snap or break. They won't take a fall as well as plastics or metals. However paint will stick to them well and they are easy to clean up.
Lots of fine detail also shows really well on them.

As noted finecast is in a class of its own for failures and problems; most others are not anywhere near as bad. For me one big issue was that finecasts errors weren't random loan bubbles;but clusters that repeated cast to cast so even replacements could have the same error or worse. Which was one of the huge issues - even when GW replaced a faulty one the new one could be just as faulty.

Metals are like resin and will hold great detail - can be pretty durable too and the most easy to strip paint off and start again (there's a reason metal models often command very good second hand prices and some rare/popular ones can even increase in value). OF course paint can chip off more easily and superglues don't tend to hold as strongly (unless properly scored and pinned) as with resins.

Finally 3D print resins are highly variable in terms of durability and performance; can be outstanding or totally rubbish. Very much like resins to work with ,but also with quirks of their own and the whole 3D print process itself produces its own ups and downs. Eg mould lines are a pain to clean off regular models, but they are local and follow a clear line around each part; support makes, layer lines, print lines, interruption imperfections - these can all happen on a 3D print and are much much more random in placement once the model is off the supports.

HIPS plastic is just easier to work with. It cuts nicely, it saws nicely, it's easy to scrape off mould lines or sand off if you prefer that, easy to clean up injection runner points, easy to convert, etc etc.

But resin is okay if you don't actually have to "work" with it and it comes out of the packaging just fine.

Resin is fine until you get a model with misaligned mould, warping that just refuses to stay straight, bad mould lines/flash, missing detail, etc. or you simply want to convert a model.

Most resins I've used don't hold paint as well as typical HIPS plastic.

There's also huge variability in what constitutes "resin", some are soft and flexible, others are hard and brittle, some manufacturers have really good results out of the box others will package up junk and send it out to you.

The big pros to resin are the increased detail and that it allows for undercuts. Undercuts are really a big factor, look at the plastic DKOK versus the resin DKOK, particularly the great coats. In some areas it's really obvious where compromises were made in order to make it from plastic, like where the bottom of the coat is folded up, or creases in fabrics not being as deep or realistic looking.

The quality of the resin makes a huge difference in the end result. Most of the resin models I work with are either Hasslefree or Mad Robot and they're just fine. I still think HIPS is my favorite for conversions. Generally speaking, I'm good with metal, plastic, and resin.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:
HIPS plastic is just easier to work with. It cuts nicely, it saws nicely, it's easy to scrape off mould lines or sand off if you prefer that, easy to clean up injection runner points, easy to convert, etc etc.

But resin is okay if you don't actually have to "work" with it and it comes out of the packaging just fine.

Resin is fine until you get a model with misaligned mould, warping that just refuses to stay straight, bad mould lines/flash, missing detail, etc. or you simply want to convert a model.

Most resins I've used don't hold paint as well as typical HIPS plastic.

There's also huge variability in what constitutes "resin", some are soft and flexible, others are hard and brittle, some manufacturers have really good results out of the box others will package up junk and send it out to you.

The big pros to resin are the increased detail and that it allows for undercuts. Undercuts are really a big factor, look at the plastic DKOK versus the resin DKOK, particularly the great coats. In some areas it's really obvious where compromises were made in order to make it from plastic, like where the bottom of the coat is folded up, or creases in fabrics not being as deep or realistic looking.

Watch out for mentioning coats/fabrics on this forum in the context of resin vs plastic. I once did that and the gakstorm spanned over several threads

But in all seriousness - I get why people who are in this hobby mainly for the gaming aspect despise resin - it can be unwieldy pain in the arse, and if you are painting your army to a „tabletop standard” of three block colours anyway then you won’t appreciate the detail.

But if you are in this hobby for the miniatures then the enormous disparity in detail is worth the sweat. I’m currently assembling the FW Avatar. Yes, it takes long hours to repose it, to fill/sculpt the gaps, to clean it, etc, but the disparity of the level of surface detail on this very model vs it’s fresh plastic incarnation is just mind blowing. This thing actually looks like made from recently solidified lava even before painting.

My overal favourite take on miniature production is how many of the FW kits are structured and what is popular in the general model making hobby - what looks ok in plastic, stays in plastic, what can look ways better in resin is done in resin. I get that this combines the worst of both worlds from the maker PoV, but at the same time combines the best of both worlds from the hobbyist PoV.

Mostly. I will go against my previous and say that vehicles should categorically not be made from resin. Select components, very small vehicles (the elysian car things for example) where joins do not necessarily need to be perfect or can be hidden etc, fine, but tanks, flyers etc, I've only ever had bad experiences with forge world resin. They should make them more like scale models in my opinion.

Really enjoyed this thread. Glad I started it. Thanks for all your replies

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Mostly. I will go against my previous and say that vehicles should categorically not be made from resin. Select components, very small vehicles (the elysian car things for example) where joins do not necessarily need to be perfect or can be hidden etc, fine, but tanks, flyers etc, I've only ever had bad experiences with forge world resin. They should make them more like scale models in my opinion.

It's a balance I guess, they do the resin because they don't need to invest in the infrastructure to do the plastic, so if they stopped doing them in resin they'd probably just cease to exist rather than being ported over to plastic.

 queen_annes_revenge wrote:
Mostly. I will go against my previous and say that vehicles should categorically not be made from resin. Select components, very small vehicles (the elysian car things for example) where joins do not necessarily need to be perfect or can be hidden etc, fine, but tanks, flyers etc, I've only ever had bad experiences with forge world resin. They should make them more like scale models in my opinion.

Since they started using CAD sculpts vehicles have improved massively; I bought one of the new Barracudas a few years ago and it went together like a dream.

I mucho prefer resin, because:
*Resin is mostly one piece, there are no seam lines you have to work on extra to fix/hide.
*Resin, if cast properly, has very minimal mold lines to clean.
*Resin does not break when clipped from gates (if you know how to), unlike plastic bits that just snap.
*Resin is heavier, feels better when handling.
If the model is available in both plastic and resin, I would normally pick resin. Unless I could get the plastic one like 40% cheaper.

My main complaint about resin is pricing vs. quality.

Quite a few times I've paid a premium price for a resin model... and gotten something so distorted and filled with flash and poorly fitting it might have been easier to scratch-build for about the same amount of time and far less cost.

It doesn't seem to be unique to me, either; when Squidmar Miniatures on youtube built a Tau Manta it required lots of work just to get something close enough to fitting together they could fill the remaing gaps with epoxy putty.

But when one comes in where the quality matches the price, it can be a wonderful experience...

 CragHack wrote:
*Resin is heavier, feels better when handling.

Most resins are pretty much the same weight as HIPS that most plastic models are made from, many resins are actually lighter. Almost all common plastics and resins are about a specific gravity of 0.9-1.1 (90 to 110% of the density of water).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Vulcan wrote:
My main complaint about resin is pricing vs. quality.

Quite a few times I've paid a premium price for a resin model... and gotten something so distorted and filled with flash and poorly fitting it might have been easier to scratch-build for about the same amount of time and far less cost.

It doesn't seem to be unique to me, either; when Squidmar Miniatures on youtube built a Tau Manta it required lots of work just to get something close enough to fitting together they could fill the remaing gaps with epoxy putty.

But when one comes in where the quality matches the price, it can be a wonderful experience...

Squidmar's Manta seemed exceptionally bad, I've seen other Manta builds that didn't have so many problems. Watching Squidmar's build videos I wonder if they compounded their problems with a couple of bad choices where they trimmed certain pieces to make them fit, which then made other bits oversized and ended up in the situation where basically everything needed to be trimmed. Not excusing FW in the slightest, terrible quality for such an expensive model, but that one seemed exceptionally bad.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

 CragHack wrote:
*Resin is heavier, feels better when handling.

Most resins are pretty much the same weight as HIPS that most plastic models are made from, many resins are actually lighter. Almost all common plastics and resins are about a specific gravity of 0.9-1.1 (90 to 110% of the density of water).


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Vulcan wrote:
My main complaint about resin is pricing vs. quality.

Quite a few times I've paid a premium price for a resin model... and gotten something so distorted and filled with flash and poorly fitting it might have been easier to scratch-build for about the same amount of time and far less cost.

It doesn't seem to be unique to me, either; when Squidmar Miniatures on youtube built a Tau Manta it required lots of work just to get something close enough to fitting together they could fill the remaing gaps with epoxy putty.

But when one comes in where the quality matches the price, it can be a wonderful experience...

Squidmar's Manta seemed exceptionally bad, I've seen other Manta builds that didn't have so many problems. Watching Squidmar's build videos I wonder if they compounded their problems with a couple of bad choices where they trimmed certain pieces to make them fit, which then made other bits oversized and ended up in the situation where basically everything needed to be trimmed. Not excusing FW in the slightest, terrible quality for such an expensive model, but that one seemed exceptionally bad.

Material density has little impact on the weight difference in this case, the infill percentage has. Larger plastic minis are mostly air with a plastic shell, resin minis are solid. This difference is huge in case of vehicles, but even medium creatures are noticeably heavier. Nothing in the realms of metal of course, but way nicer to handle than featherlight plastic models.

nou wrote:

Material density has little impact on the weight difference in this case, the infill percentage has. Larger plastic minis are mostly air with a plastic shell, resin minis are solid. This difference is huge in case of vehicles, but even medium creatures are noticeably heavier. Nothing in the realms of metal of course, but way nicer to handle than featherlight plastic models.

Fair enough, I guess I was thinking of infantry where resin models are featherweights the same as plastics.

Personally, while I don't mind resin, I still prefer plastic for vehicles because that's where the benefits of solid metal machined moulds come in. In the past I've just glued a few coins inside tank models that I wanted to be heavier. I think that's a better deal than having to fight with the bent gun barrels and warped panels that are so prevalent on resin vehicles.

Companies like Tamiya are doing magic with plastic when it comes to vehicle kits these days.

AllSeeingSkink wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Vulcan wrote:
My main complaint about resin is pricing vs. quality.

Quite a few times I've paid a premium price for a resin model... and gotten something so distorted and filled with flash and poorly fitting it might have been easier to scratch-build for about the same amount of time and far less cost.

It doesn't seem to be unique to me, either; when Squidmar Miniatures on youtube built a Tau Manta it required lots of work just to get something close enough to fitting together they could fill the remaing gaps with epoxy putty.

But when one comes in where the quality matches the price, it can be a wonderful experience...

Squidmar's Manta seemed exceptionally bad, I've seen other Manta builds that didn't have so many problems. Watching Squidmar's build videos I wonder if they compounded their problems with a couple of bad choices where they trimmed certain pieces to make them fit, which then made other bits oversized and ended up in the situation where basically everything needed to be trimmed. Not excusing FW in the slightest, terrible quality for such an expensive model, but that one seemed exceptionally bad.

Possible. I'm obviously not privy to their full process, so there's no way to know.

But for the price paid, I'd expect a perfect fit every time.