Aaaargh! Resin kits

Hello again.

So here it is .... the model I've been dreading!Guess what..... it was as tricky as I'd expected. I've now built 2 of these bad boys, the first one was an utter pain.

If you've never built a resin model before then this is not a good choice for a first go, I'd recommend a more organic model, eg warboss on bike or chaos sorcerer, I found both of these to be much more forgiving with their curves and rumples.

The biggest issue with the drop pod is the inevitable warping of the parts, an unfortunate but unavoidable side effect of the casting process. This manifests with glaring obviousness in the 3 vertical vanes which form the frame of the model, the solution.... submerge all the parts in very warm soapy water, this will soften the parts in a couple of minutes so you can reshape them into nice straight (or nearly so...) vanes instead of grey bananas!! At the same time you need to wash the pieces so as to remove as much of the residue lubricant from the casting process. Leaving this infernal substance on the parts will dramatically reduce the adhesion of paint, as I discovered with my first attempt at a resin model!

My second tip for building resin kits is..............PIN EVERYTHING!!!! That's right pin all the joints where practical. The drop pod is very heavy when complete and needs all the joints pinned for extra strength. I failed to pin the first one I built and it fell apart after I'd picked it up a couple of times. For pinning I use 18 gauge (1.20mm) jewellery wire which is readily available from many craft outlets, get the unpainted stuff cos the paint will come off inside your joints and they'll fail! This gauge fits nice and snug in holes drilled with the 1mm bit you get with the citadel pin vice. I find that this tight fit along with super glue works a treat.

So below is a photo of the base top part with pins fitted and ramps in place ready to fit the base bottom part, a good splodge of glue and some patience along with 2 pins and it all went well.

As an aside, forge world conveniently put a dimple in each of the 2 base sections to show you how they should be positioned, just align the dimples and the pieces fit nicely....after a lot of filing and shaving of flash, another of resins big issues.

I then pinned the joints between the vanes and the base and the vanes and the central turbine, the assembly of these pieces needs to be done quickly as the glue needs to be on all pieces and can dry quickly. I find the key here is to do several dry runs and to be patient! Very very patient!!

Below is the finished build..

I'm quite pleased overall, it's better and stronger than the first one, not perfect by a long way, there are small gaps between the ramps and vanes when it's closed up but after all it'll be open when it's on the table so it should be all good.

To conclude I have several points to make regarding the model;

1/ Typical resin kit.... lots of small air holes which needed to be filled (green stuff works well).

2/Really badly warped vanes, I got these virtually straight with warm water.

3/On the base top piece the holes for the ramp hinges to slot into are very thin and prone to breakage, in fact one of them had a bad case of air bubble AND flash and I had to remove it and replace with some green stuff which I shaped to replicate the original...only time will tell if this holds...

4/ Resin kits are tricky but well worth persevering with..... patience, patience and more patience.

My next post will be the finished article.....

Hope you found this interesting