I need some tips on preparing resin pieces and assembling them.
Are you trying to cast pieces or copies from originals??
If you’re talking about resin castings you’ve purchased, that’s easy(ish).
First thing to do is prepare the parts by removing the casting pour stubs, either by dremelling them off, or by using a razor saw. Then I would suggest some serious test fitting of the parts with eachother, and in the fuselage/place they’re ultimately destined for. Resin can shrink, so is sometimes made oversized for the hole, and then doesn’t shrink, meaning lost of sanding. btw - wear a respirator for sanding resin, as it isn’t good for your lungs.
Once you’ve got it in the right size, check the castings for micro-sized holes, caused by tiny bubbles in the resin. often these only show up when you paint, so a coat of primer (after a good wash down of the part) could show these up. I use Mr Surfacer 1000, as that also helps fill up any holes as well as priming the part for the final paint surface.
To fill any bubble marks, use gap-filling CA applied with a cocktail stick, then sand the resulting blob down within the “golden hour” before the CA cures & sets too hard. Re-wash & re-prime the part, and then build it up into whatever subassemblies you see fit, gluing it with CA (super glue) as you go. It’s a lot more brittle than styrene, so be careful not to snap any small parts off during construction.
That’s all I can think of for now, but I’m sure someone else will have something to add. [;)]
I think Mike has pretty much covered the subject if you are trying to use ready made or purchased resin parts. The emphasys would be on a good clean, I usually scrub the parts when still attached to their stubs with dish washing liquid and an old toothbrush. If you don’t, the mold release agent still present will prevent the paint from sticking onto the parts…
If you want to cast your own parts, then take a look at FSM (couple of issues ago) where a whole article is dedicated to casting
regards
GB
I keep a pin vise with a .020 drill mounted in it on my bench, to drill resin parts and pin them in place on models. This is vital on the radio control ships that I build, but a good idea for just about any model that will have to eventually be moved. Unless you have gobs of surface area, adding a mechanical reinforcement to the glue joint is a good idea.
For primer, I have found Floquil Primer to stick best to resin, although I am sure other brands will work too. Washing the parts to remove any residual mold release is a good idea, and I usually wipe down with alcohol or Polly S Paint Prep after to displace the water and remove skin oils.
HTH
Kurt
However, if you do forget to wash them, do not worry. I did this once and the paint adhered just fine anyway.
Sry to revive a dead topic but I am just curious as to how the bleep you detach the resin part from the backing? Cobra Company suggested a hobby knife…but detaching a long thin piece from a large backing seems really really hard to me. I dont want to break any (more [;)]) pieces, so whats the best way to do this?
Ideally, you want a rotary (Dremel) tool with some sanding/grinding bits. But if that’s too expensive, the way to go is to get a razor saw. They should be in the same area of your hobby shop as all the hobby knifes. By sawing off a large piece of the stub or backing, you can get the part off and use sanding sticks or files to remove the last small bits of excess. Above all, use patience! Good luck.
So youre basically saying cut the outline of the part out with the razor saw, and then sand the backing till it is the desired shape? Razoooooorrrr sawwww…! Thanks
Just wear a respirator, get it at home depot or lowes!