Well, I picked up an astrolith bearer at Warhammer World on the weekend. Got round to opening it and boy did it look a mess...Is this normal. I have trimmed some of the flash away in this pic though.
Yes, that looks OK to me. All resin models I have are easy to build and nightmares to clean of all that crap. You have tiny triangles of resin to cut away everywhere, and those resin canals are attached everywhere. That's because resin (compared to plastic) is cast with much less pressure and only from one direction. EDIT: Oh wait, the skull broken off is not normal I think.
The skull has broken off the banner but not a major issue, trim what excess you can easily see then mist coat the model with primer, it will highlight the rest for you. Mist coat = a thin coat just to bring out detail, we use it when spraying car wheels to show imperfections.
They should just ditch it. It is worse than plastic in about every regard. My orc-playing friend built one or two resin models and then he decided he will never build a resin model again. So whenever he looks for new models to build his first question to answer is: "Resin or plastic?" If it is resin he doesn't even look at it anymore so he doesn't get angry if it looks cool. I am not as zealous, but I understand it. I hope we get plastic Razordons, Salamanders, Skink Handlers, Chameleon Skinks, Slanns, Eternity Wardens, Sunbloods, Astrolith Bearers and Starseers soon.
AFAIK you are right, I don't know of any new resin models except from Forgeworld, and those probably use a different, more expensive sort of resin that allows fore detailed stuff.
I much prefer the polyresin models to plastic there are some downsides to them for sure but they are a lot less brittle for lengthy items but then that lends them to warping out of shape - but for me I just prefer that I didn't realise it wasn't so popular - as much as I like metal models the paint chipping from them is the biggest concern.
With all my old metal, I found a decent spray varnish stopped the chipping. Plastic is cleaner. Brittle has never been an issue in plastics for me really. Unless you count clear plastic flying stands
I had one giant poly resin model from forgeworld that came with a warning about filling the stuff and that the dust can be dangerous to enhale so that's something to keep an eye on
Similar issues with my Chakkax. The double-mace was broke and snapped again after I fixed it in another spot. Now its a club.
I don't know what @Solabar uses but I have used 3 so far. 1. GW purity seal- very easy to get a milky finish 2. Testors- this stuff is really good but expensive 3. Army painter Anti-shine- this is just as good as Testors and a fraction of the price, my goto lacquer now.
I've been on the look out for a decent varnish myself, but I am scared of spray ones following a lot of horror stories regarding the dreaded milky finish. Tempted to try a brush on varnish... I actually have some of the Vallejo airbrush ones, matte, satin, and gloss, but haven't tried them out yet.
Don't be scared they only go milky if it's too cold or you apply too much too soon, I apply a quick coat then leave it 10 minutes and then apply another coat and then a final 3rd coat. Spray paints tend to sag, drip etc due to the solvent that is put in too keep it thin, if you spray and leave it for a few minutes the solvent starts to evaporate and the paint becomes tacky this is the ideal time to apply your next coat as it grabs the paint and holds it in place.
Good to know. So is it anti-shine as in a fully matt finish? Does it do a sufficient job in preventing paint chipping on metal models?