There was a moment recently when I opened a postage box and discovered a puddle of uncured resin inside.
Not slightly under-cured resin.
Not a model that needed another hour in the UV curing station.
A puddle.
Actual, liquid, uncured UV resin, trapped inside a hollow miniature and leaking into the box it had been posted in.
And, naturally, I had already put my hands in it.
Fortunately, I knew exactly what I was dealing with.
But imagine if you didn't.
Imagine if you'd bought a pretty little 3D printed tank online, opened the box with your kids around, handled it with your bare hands, put it on the painting desk, and thought nothing of it.
Or imagine you'd spent twenty hours painting that tank, only for it to crack six months later and start leaking uncured resin onto your display cabinet.
This is why I'm writing this.
Because there are some absolutely fantastic 3D printing sellers out there.
There are also some who are cutting corners in ways that go far beyond producing a shitty-looking miniature.
And I found one of them hiding at the bottom of a box.
Recently, I visited Fraser.
He had some stuff for me in trade and, because Fraser apparently possesses an almost supernatural ability to avoid doing anything which requires even a modicum of organisation, I'm now selling some of his stuff on eBay for him.
Why?
A: He can't be bothered.
B: He just won't do it.
Simple.
With my birthday having just passed, I was originally meant to be spending the day rolling dice at Element Games. Unfortunately, the rising cost of diesel meant combining a trip to see the Mrs' family with a visit to Fraser instead.
Whilst I was there, he handed me a box containing a collection of random 3D prints he'd bought online.
And let's just say...
It was terrible.
There were some Goblins(?), I assume. The print quality was awful. The details were incredibly soft and difficult to make out, and the seller had apparently used a very rubbery resin which made the whole thing unpleasant to handle.
I don't have sensory issues, but certain materials just make me go:
Ugh.
Rubbery squishy materials, especially Mushrooms...
I don't know what it is about mushrooms, but the combination of the texture and the general sensation of touching one makes my brain immediately file the experience under "Absolutely fucking not."
And unfortunately, this resin had that sort of texture.
Fraser had also apparently had a box of Knights from Highland Miniatures and had already binned them before I arrived.
Fucking idiot.
Just to be absolutely clear, that isn't a criticism of Highland Miniatures. Their STL sculpts are fantastic when they are printed properly.
To be fair to Fraser, I ended up binning about half of the Goblins(?) myself. The details were so soft that they were practically unusable.
Then I started digging through the bubble wrap.
And I could smell resin.
The Mrs, who had wandered past my workstation, could smell it too.
"Oh dear."
There was a Druid lady kit buried somewhere in the box, including both a 28mm and a 54mm version.
The 28mm one was fine. A quick thirty-second blast in the UV curing station and she was ready to go.
And I understand why sellers don't necessarily want to fully cure certain models before posting them. Thin swords, spears, banners and other delicate components can become incredibly brittle if they're fully cured, and nobody wants to receive a model whose sword has snapped off somewhere between the seller's house and the Royal Mail depot.
But there really needs to be better communication about this.
If you're sending someone a resin print that isn't fully cured, tell them.
Give them instructions.
Tell them to leave it somewhere safe in sunlight for a few hours if they don't have curing equipment.
I've done exactly this when I've sent prints to Dave in the past. I've literally put notes in the boxes saying:
"90% cured. Please leave in direct sunlight for a few hours to finish curing. If you can still smell chemicals afterwards, it needs longer."
I'm conscious that my friend has a younger son, and I don't particularly fancy accidentally contributing to a household having uncured resin lying around.
But I could still smell resin.
So I kept digging.
And eventually I found the source.
At the bottom of the box was the base for the 54mm Druid.
It was hollow.
And inside it was wet, uncured resin.
It had apparently been printed, washed to whatever extent the seller considered sufficient, and then thrown straight into the box.
FUCK.
At this point I had resin on my hands.
There was resin on the box.
There was a bit of resin on my desk.
Fortunately, because I've been printing with resin myself for years, I knew exactly what I was dealing with. I stopped handling everything, washed my hands properly, got gloves and cleaned everything up.
Nothing had to be thrown away.
But it was one hell of a moment when I tipped that box over and discovered it.
There is a massive difference between:
"This model isn't fully cured because the seller doesn't want the delicate parts to become brittle during postage."
and
"I've just printed this thing and I'm going to chuck it in a box while there's still liquid resin inside it."
The first is understandable.
The second is just fucking lazy.
And that's really the point of this post.
I'm not here to bash people who sell 3D printed miniatures.
I'm not even here to bash cheap 3D prints.
Not everyone has the disposable income, space, time or inclination to buy a printer and set up an entire resin-printing station at home.
There are plenty of excellent printers and sellers out there producing fantastic models.
But there are also sellers who seem to be operating on the principle of:
Print it as quickly as possible.
Use the cheapest resin possible.
Don't waste time curing it properly.
Get it into the box.
Get paid.
And that is where things become a problem.
You can usually spot some of the symptoms.
Poor detail.
Visible layer lines.
Bad supports.
Cheap, excessively flexible resin.
Models that have clearly been printed at a speed which prioritises quantity over quality.
And, perhaps most importantly, hollowed models without appropriate drainage and venting.
Because if you've hollowed a miniature to save resin but haven't provided suitable openings for the uncured resin and fumes inside to escape, you've created a little resin-filled time bomb.
And eventually that can become a problem.
Properly prepared resin prints should not randomly "explode" resin all over your display cabinet.
Yet exploding or leaking hollow prints are one of the complaints I see repeatedly from people buying resin miniatures online.
I've even seen people discussing this in relation to 15mm WWII tanks from Forged in Battle following their move from traditional resin casting to resin printing.
You can have a beautifully painted model sitting on a shelf for months.
Then one day:
Crack.
The model splits.
And suddenly you've got sticky, uncured resin leaking out of something you've spent hours painting.
That's not just annoying.
It's potentially hazardous.
Uncured UV resin isn't something you want children or pets getting into, and it certainly isn't something that should be leaking out of a miniature because somebody couldn't be bothered to finish processing it properly.
So, if you're buying 3D printed miniatures online, especially from sellers offering suspiciously cheap models, be aware of what you're buying.
Ask questions if necessary.
If a model is hollow, ask whether it has been properly cleaned and cured.
If it isn't fully cured for transport, ask what the seller recommends you do when it arrives.
And when you open the box, pay attention to the smell.
If something smells strongly of uncured resin, don't just shrug and start handling it.
Stop.
Put some gloves on.
Get it somewhere safe.
And find out what you're dealing with.
There are plenty of fantastic 3D printing businesses and hobbyists out there who take this stuff seriously.
This isn't aimed at them.
It's aimed at the people who are cutting corners to save a few minutes, a few pence of resin and a bit of labour, while somebody else gets to deal with the consequences.
Because there's a difference between selling someone a cheap miniature...
...and sending them a bottle of uncured chemical resin disguised as one.
Anyway.
That's my public service announcement for today.
Until next time, have a nice day.
And check your miniatures for leaks.
You'd be surprised what lurks beneath the base.
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