Uncured Resin

[Jack L]

Bought these two from ebay - 3D printed resin. Cheap enough that if they were useless that it wouldn't be too much of an issue. Quality at a glance looks pretty good. However on the straps on their backs the detail is soft. And so is the resin. While carving away to get some sharper detail, some very soft resin revealed tiny amounts of liquid. Scraped (carefully) away it seems to be solid underneath.

To get to the point, are these usable? I'm assuming a case of not quite cured enough? Will an alcohol wash be sufficient to get them to a painting stage?

[vizenz]

Hello Jack,
In principle, liquid resin can be removed with isopropanol without any problems.
Or you can place the figures in the sun or under a cheap fingernail UV lamp, expose them with a UV flashlight - or whatever is available to you. Then the resin will harden.
But if there really was still liquid resin on the figures, there is probably another problem. Many such figures are constructed in layers. The designer digitally built a dummy which he then uses for various projects. To do this, he then puts the various items of clothing and equipment on this dummy in individual layers. The problem is that there are often holes left between the different layers. Unfortunately, liquid resin always remains there trapped in the printing process. This then either finds its way somewhere through the outer areas and “bleeds” through again and again. Or pressure builds up somewhere due to temperature differences, which at some point causes the figure to crack. I've seen vehicle models that have been built and painted and were on the shelf for months and at some point literally burst.
I would clean the figures in isopropanol and then place them on a tissue for a while. If such spots with liquid material form again, they will most likely be unusable.
Best regards,
Andreas

[Jack L]

Hello Jack,
In principle, liquid resin can be removed with isopropanol without any problems.
Or you can place the figures in the sun or under a cheap fingernail UV lamp, expose them with a UV flashlight - or whatever is available to you. Then the resin will harden.
But if there really was still liquid resin on the figures, there is probably another problem. Many such figures are constructed in layers. The designer digitally built a dummy which he then uses for various projects. To do this, he then puts the various items of clothing and equipment on this dummy in individual layers. The problem is that there are often holes left between the different layers. Unfortunately, liquid resin always remains there trapped in the printing process. This then either finds its way somewhere through the outer areas and “bleeds” through again and again. Or pressure builds up somewhere due to temperature differences, which at some point causes the figure to crack. I've seen vehicle models that have been built and painted and were on the shelf for months and at some point literally burst.
I would clean the figures in isopropanol and then place them on a tissue for a while. If such spots with liquid material form again, they will most likely be unusable.
Best regards,
Andreas

That's perfect Andreas, many thanks!