Round2's POV on Resin - A non-Automotive Perspective

[Bernard Kron]

Round2 has a blog that makes for interesting reading, giving a valuable insight into a manufacturer's perspective. It can be found here: http://www.collectormodel.com/ .

Their most recent post, entitled "The use of Resin in modeling", is written from the point-of-view of the world of Fantasy and Sci-Fi rather than the Automotive world. It also should be taken with a large grain of salt since it definitely reads like "the company line". But the outcome, that they are seriously considering resin production is equally interesting. Here are some highlights:

The use of Resin in modeling

posted by RJ 2:23 PM

Monday, January 13, 2014

Recently I have had some inquiries about resin. I do not have a lot of experience with resin as a medium so I asked one of our advanced designers for some feedback. His response is as follows.

As a material, resin is not as forgiving as plastic. It is more brittle, and if made solid, the end model is much heavier than a plastic one. Most modelers’ experience with resin kits are building “garage kits”, which means a guy or group making an unlicensed kit of their own in their basement or garage and selling them to whoever is interested. By the nature of that market, quality is very spotty. A lot of the product being sold at a show like Wonderfest is this kind of stuff. ... If we or Moebius didn’t make a kit you see in there, somebody made it themselves and they are selling them.

Yes, resin kits are much more expensive, but we are trying to find sources that will make them for a reasonable price and with more consistent quality than those found in the aftermarket. Garage kits usually go for no less than $125 and could be anywhere above that. ... Why are we doing kits in resin rather than styrene?

Our public answer is that we want these to be super detailed kits. Because of the injection molding process, detailed textures get minimized on the sides of plastic parts. They almost always have to be smooth to keep the part form being trapped in the tool. ...

What are your thoughts on resin as a medium?