Dark Star

Danegeld · July 21, 2011, 1:43pm

On July the 17th I ordered the Dark Star model from Stargazer models for £35.00 GBP (equals -$57.86 USD) It arrived on 07/21/2011 not bad for something that came from England to the US.

The model came well packaged and carefully enclosed in bubble wrap. I took a few pictures of what I received to share with you, noting that a few stray dark hairs from something were stuck in the tape and the “cocktail stick” mentioned in the instructions seemed to be missing. This isn’t really a issue I’m sure I can get something to easily replace it.

Now that I have the model I realize I need some tools, and other materials before I can start working on the model. Hopefully I will get in touch with some local modelers who can share some tips on assembling this since I have never put together a resin model or really tried to do a good quality paint job. I consider my current skill level “Novice”

http://s1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark%20Star/?albumview=slideshow

Danegeld · July 21, 2011, 1:51pm

!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar001.jpg)!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar008.jpg)!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar010.jpg)!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar012.jpg)!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar017.jpg)!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar019.jpg)!(http://i1190.photobucket.com/albums/z442/danegeld/Dark Star/DarkStar021.jpg)

TomZ2 · July 21, 2011, 2:55pm

Danegeld · July 21, 2011, 3:12pm

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2879389977/

I always enjoyed this movie.

Joe_Brown · July 22, 2011, 8:20am

I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Ian ‘Stargazer’ at Wonderfest, and he always does great work on his kits. Since this is your first resin kit, do bear in mind that while the kit instructions are short, they are accurate [H] and worth reading!

The real key to success with any resin model is that they have to be cleaned up by you. No joke - if you don’t clean the heck out of that model, paint will not stick to it! Many of us who build resin kits have favorite cleaners:

Simple Green

Purple Power (used to be Castrol Super Clean)

Soft-Scrub

Dawn Liquid soap

I will use an old (retired) toothbrush to scrub the model down with cleaner, and then another old retired toothbrush and clean water to clean the soap off with. Obviously, use eye-protection and some disposable gloves when you do this. It protects you, and modeling is supposed to be fun, not about hospital trips. Allow the parts to air-dry overnight.

I then prime all the parts, usually with Krylon fast drying primer. Then build and paint. Ordinary glues will not work on resin, so you must use either superglue (CA glue) or 5-minute epoxy glue. Assuming that you dry-fit all the parts first, you want to adjust the fit by sanding.

Sanding resin is rather hazardous as it creates really small - virtually invisible - dust particles that you will inhale and once in the lungs, it doesn’t come out. Bad. So wet-sand, or, use ventilation that will get the particles away from you and trap them in a filter. Like a paint booth set-up.

Really useful links for building resin model kits:

http://www.smallartworks.ca/Articles/Tips/Modeltips.html

http://www.starshipmodeler.com/basics/ss_resin.htm

http://www.gremlins.com/jim_bertges/first.html

http://majorwilliams.blogspot.com/2010/12/gundam-building-101-how-to-build-resin.html