Just over two and a half hours to get all the mold lines off this guy. I wasn't trying to set any speed records but it still takes a while to get everything cleaned off.
I picked up a trick from The Inner Geek a while ago when he outlined how he cleaned the mold lines off his model. The key is a black sharpie marker.
Take the time to go over each part and mark over every mold line you want to remove. This is basically an indicator to show you when you've got an uneven joint finally smoothed out. If you've got any uneven areas left along the seam, you'll still have black marks. Just keep scraping or sanding until you get all the black off along the joint.
I set up shop outside the other afternoon so that I wouldn't be cleaning up all the shavings for the rest of the evening. My Wife appreciates it when I keep the house clean. I would grab a piece from one box, clean it, drop it into the other box and repeat.
The other things I used were a pair of clippers to get the big bits of sprue clipped off and an old toothbrush to get all the fine shavings off where I couldn't brush them away with my hands.
All things considered, I think I was fairly lucky with this model. Not much work cleaning off the mold lines compared to some of the horror stories I've heard of out there. There were only about a half dozen pieces that had small bubble pockets I ended up needing to fill with greenstuff.
And as far as warped pieces, both gun barrels had to be bent straight by dipping them in hot water for about a minute, but that's it.
Setting up shop outside is a great idea. When I couldn't work outside, I had a large box that I would set on a table and work with my arms inside of to catch the shavings and dust. It wasn't a 100% fix, but it certainly made clean up easier. Remember, resin dust is not healthy and should not be inhaled. Anytime you can see the dust hanging in the air you should technically be wearing a dust mask.
For filling small holes I've also used the Green Putty found in hobby and model shops. It's closer to tooth paste consistency than Green Stuff. If you mix in a bit of rubbing alcohol it will thin it down so you can brush it on (use a cheap throw away brush). Let it dry for twenty minutes or so then sand it to knock down any high spots.
- The Inner Geek
Project Link: Follow my Eldar Titan project
