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Hi all,

I'm a bit resin phobic. I've read Insaniak's very helpful post regarding assembling resins, and I'm very tempted by the Karist heavy weapons and handler resins, but I'm nervous about the medium's reputed fragility. I'd hate to spend a lot of time and effort cleaning, assembling, and painting a model only to have my son tip it over on the table and watch it shatter.

As with other materials, I assume thinner resin parts are more prone to accidental breakage. The Karist heavy weapons team and hander look pretty chunky, which would reduce that risk. With that in mind, I wanted to ask for a frank estimation of what level of breakage risk there is with these kits.

A PVC mini falling off a table won't break. A polystyrene mini falling off a table may or may not break. My assumption is that a resin mini falling off a table to the floor WILL break. I can live with that. But what about a resin mini just getting knocked over ON the table because someone pushed it aside to make room for a dinner plate, or mail, or because they're 8 years old and they just don't care? In most cases getting knocked on its side wouldn't phase a PVC or polystyrene mini. How about a resin mini?

I understand miniatures need to be treated with some care, but I don't want to feel like I'm playing with blown glass art objects that are so precious and delicate that gaming with them is always a nervous headache. If resin is a material best left untouched in display cases, I'd like to know that before investing in these Karist units.

The resin used is a lightweight, fairly soft material (as resin goes - it's not rubbery, but not super hard and brittle), and the human sized models are only fractionally heavier than human figures. So no, getting knocked over on the table is no more an issue than it would be for plastic models, although I have seen these cause problems with harder, more brittle resins.

Getting knocked off the table to a hard floor might be an issue, depending on the model, but it's mainly long, thin components that would be at risk - and they tend to snap cleanly when they break, so are easily glued back together.

Basically, yes, resin is slightly less forgiving than plastic, but the minis are still being made for gaming, and the resin used reflects that.

They're fine - the resin (and casting quality) is actually excellent - a great balance between softness for cutting/cleaning and hardness for detail sharpness. Thermally nowhere near as responsive as, say, GW's spin cast resin, so sag on hot days is less of a worry.

And I generally drop a model I'm working on at least once or twice. These all survived fine. :-)

Thanks to you both for your responses, it's very encouraging to hear. I have plans to get a small Karist force assembled and painted this summer, and those resins look like just what I need to spice it up.