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Resin Kit Home

What's a Resin Kit?

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Q: How are resin kits different from the plastic airplane models I built as a kid?

They are different in quite a few ways. The parts are solid, not hollow. You also don't have to snap two halves of each part together, since each part is whole. They don't come on a flat "tree" like plastic models. They are made of urethane resin, which is a somewhat different material than the "Styrene" or "ABS" plastic of the airplane models. It's light and strong, and it comes in different colors. Any good modeler can build a resin kit. Sometimes you have to fill a bubble or a gap, but there are a lot fewer parts to put together, so it's really not harder than doing a good job on a plastic model. Go here to find out more about building resin kits!

Q: Why are resin kits sometimes called "Garage Kits"?

That's because they're often made by hobby entrepreneurs in their own garages! The movement was started by people who were disappointed by the lack of figure and monster models being made in the late 70s and early 80s. They had grown up watching monster movies, sci-fi schlockfests, and screaming B-Queens, and they wanted to have models for THEIR interests, dammit! Well, they got tired of waiting, and made the darn things themselves. The rubber mold technology had been around for a while, used mainly in making quick molds for industrial prototypes and forensics preservation. You've probably seen them do it on CSI!

The real veterans were inspired artistically by a plastic model company called Aurora, which passed away in the 1970s. Aurora made the best monsters and superheroes you could find! After they went out of business, there was really nothing to take their place.. until the resin kit!

Q: Why do resin kits cost so much?

Simple. The startup cost is low, but the per-unit cost is very high.

Q: Huh?

Let me explain. The rubber resin-kit molds are not very expensive to make at first, but you can only make about 20-30 kits per mold before it tears and becomes useless. You have to make lots of molds! It is also very time-consuming to pour each casting-- it has to be done by hand, we don't have any big machines. The resin is also pretty expensive, about $30 a gallon (and you thought gasoline prices were high). Did I mention silicone mold rubber costs over $100 per gallon? Add in the packaging, the artwork, not to mention the sculptor's time, and you're talking about a good chunk of money to make each kit. By contrast, a plastic model maker has to shell out around tens of thousands of dollars for his super-industrial injection steel molds, but once he does, he's set. He can then make each kit for pennies, he just has to be sure he can sell THOUSANDS of them (or he might be selling the shirt off his back next month).

The point is that to get the coolest character model you could imagine, it costs a little more. Thousands of resin kit modelers worldwide think that it's worth it.

Q: So what about pre-painted statues and deluxe action figures? Why would I want to buy something that I have to build myself??

Ahh, a most timely debate. It's absolutely true that the bar has been raised greatly in the sculpting and variety of toys and prepainted statuettes.. also known as "pre-mades". Many of the people who sculpt those superb products actually began making resin kits... myself included! In fact the resin kit biz is what inspired toy companies to seek better sculptors in the first place. I can't knock pre-mades one bit, as both a collector and a maker of them. But there is a difference in building a model yourself.

First of all, because of the small-run possibilities of resin models, a model producer can turn ideas into models for you to enjoy much more quickly and spontaneously. Toys and statuettes by contrast are made in factories, and it takes lots of time and money to commit to a product. Just like with plastic model kits, they have to sell hundreds, or more likely thousands just to pay for the initial tooling and production line. It is fairly rare to see an original pre-made monster or hero which isn't based on major movie, game or comic.

Then there's the experience of the building itself. Constructing a figure is a creative exercise that simply buying one can't match. Look at all the people who like to "pimp" their rides, tuning and customizing cars until they have a unique creation in all the world, the envy of anyone who just has the "stock" version. And they have a blast while doing it! When you build a figure model, the sculptor gives you part of his vision, but then it's up to you to complete it with your own. Do you want to make it just like the reference photos? Or give the skin some tattoos, and more of a tanned took? Totally redesign the color scheme? Add your own base? Cut and repose the figure? Change the hair? Add a Santa hat? Or even turn it into a completely different character?

It's up to you and your own creative mind, and the result will ultimately belong to you... (yay!)