Preparing Resin castings for Painting

I cast some of my products in urethane resin, because it is durable, lightweight and affordable.

Some products like my bases are made in a spin cast process similar to that used to cast metal miniatures. I have this done because it allows for speed of production and makes hopefully an affordable product. In the casting process a "paint able" mold release is used to allow you to paint them more easy. One of the slight side effects of this process is some smooth surfaces may end up being very slick. Below I will give tips on how to clean up your casting and prepare them for painting.

  1. Remove parts from packaging

  2. Remove any flash, mold lines or gates with a hobby knife,hobby file and sandpaper. I like to use sanding sticks to clean up the base edges.

    A sanding stick is either a pre made stick with abrasive sheet glued to it or in my case I make my own by gluing sandpaper to a flat stick like a piece of styrene plastic or popsicle/craft stick sold in many hobby shops. In my opinion they last longer, are cheap to make and work well to clean up things like this.

  3. I recommend all flat surfaces like the bottoms and edges of my bases to be lightly sanded with a 220-320 grit sandpaper to remove any mold lines and add a slight tooth to the resin surface. This will help paint adhere.

  4. I clean all my resin parts and bases with a mild powdered kitchen cleaner like Comet, Ajax, Bar Keepers Friend or any of the cleaners sold for cleaning the kitchen, scrubbing pots and pans with a old toothbrush and rinse them well in warm water.
    This helps remove any mold release and all etches and adds a slight tooth to the resin surface to allow primer to stick better.

  5. Completely dry, I usefully let them air dry.

  6. Attach figures to them. I use a 1/32 diameter brass rod/wire and drill into the feet and into the base and glue with a good CA glue. Sometimes I will pre-drill everything and glue the figure to the base once painting is done.

  7. Probably the most IMPORTANT part is to apply a good primer to the resin parts before painting with acrylic hobby paints. I use a good primer like Krylon spray primer or primer made by companies like Games Workshop. Automotive spray primer is good for this. Many primers are available in dark gray or black.

    Allow the primer to dry a good 24 hours before painting. Yes you can paint in 30 minutes but in my opinion allowing the primer to dry longer increases its strength and durability.

  8. Paint with your favorite brand of hobby paints.

I hope this helps you with painting your resin product you bought from me.
If you have any other questions feel free to ask me feel free to ask me