If you've just received your order from us here at Ausminiatures, or have printed something off yourself, you're probably excited to start on your new project. But, like with boxed kits, there's a little bit of preparation and clean-up work to do before you can get stuck in. Follow this quick guide and you'll be ready to go in no time.
- Inspect the miniature. Check for any artifacts left over from the printing process. We clean up as much as possible before we ship it, but miniatures have complex geometries that make it hard to get it all. Check for little nubs left over from the removal of supports, or thin stringy lines between volumes. Use flush cutters or a hobby knife to snip off chunks, tweezers for hard-to-reach places and a file to get everything nice and smooth.
- Assemble using superglue. Any superglue will do, but the best choice is a thin viscosity superglue with a small applicator nozzle. 3D printed miniatures are made of resin, so plastic cements/polystyrene cements (which work by chemically melting polystyrene plastic together) will not work. Superglue might not cut it for heavy pieces - in this case, consider pinning to add structural strength or epoxy glue to really stick it on.
- Fill gaps with hobby putty (green stuff) or UV resin. Some pieces might not fit together perfectly, so use a hobby putty to fill out the gaps. You can also use UV resin for this (but please familiarise yourself with safety procedures first).
- Prime as normal. Resin takes primer as well as any other plastic. Once you've applied a thin layer of primer and allowed it to dry, you're ready to paint!
That's it! A little bit of preparation will get your model ready for a great paint job. Happy hobbying!