Chas,
My experience with resin cleanup is to 'cover up'.
Trying to gently remove it and not destroy everything around it is almost harder than pouring in the first place. If you can scrape way or grind away the offending resin, then blend it in with the surrounding subject you may be better off?
Hard to say without seeing what cleanup there is to do.

Mr Young this is looking superb mate! I'm just reading about the collapse of Singapore at the moment and already your dio 'fits the bill'. My only criticism would be the colour of the water, too blue? But then I've never been to the Far East so don't really know what I'm talking about!

Well bl**dy done sir! More!

Matt

Thanks Scott, will try this Friday night, my first modelling 'session' of the week.

Good to hear from you Matt, the water didn't go completely to plan, as you can see, the lower resin layer didn't show through as much as I had hoped. Here are some shots of Keppel, present day obviously:


Thanks,

Chas

uh looks good I suppose, the colour looks quite vivid from here I can't see much on your pic to be honest.. But then with your ripples, remember that there should be maybe different kind of riples closer to the wall.. good luck anyway

its coming along nicely chas =]
the water looks great to be honest i cant really tell about the first layer not coming through

keep it up i cant wait to see the car being rolled over the edge !!!

Chas
If the resin contain Styrene you can try Acetone.
Ok I found the MSDS of the product
check the link http://www.diggersaust.com.au/files/casting_resin.pdf
it is a mix of unsaturated polyester resin and styrene, so I dont know if Acetone will work
Make a try and please read the MSDS

Cheers
Seb

Seb, apparently Chas uses the same kind of resin as I did for years (the very harmful one with some styrene in it), Acetone does not the job properly as it leaves the stuff you dipped in it quite sticky. the only stuff i know that does the cleaning job alright is trichloretylene but it's quite a dangerous product to use!
But i would also take any alternative suggestion!

Thanks JB
I was looking to some technical data sheets.
Well Trichloro is ok when you are using nitrile glove and hood, well for you outside use.
I dont think of alternative of chlorinated solvent, trichloro is already quite agressive solvent.
But Chas Please read the MSDS

Cheers
Seb

Hi Seb, I have managed to clean up the spilt resin with an X-Acto. I didn't want to risk damaging the model or my life! When I pour resin, I do it outside with a gas mask on, but no gloves or eye protection (apart from my glasses). Is this a potentially harmful practise?

James, scratchbuilding the car will be difficult but I'm looking forward to the challenge, it should be fun.

Thanks for your feedback JB, always welcome. At the moment I am working on foam effects around the broken pipe and adding more ripples closer to the wall.


Here is the area where the leaking occurred. I will have to re-pour resin to get it up to the right height.

Let me know how I am going so far.

Chas

Hi Chas,
Now this is one suberb looking build!! I've been following it all along.
I love the step by step story and it's nice to see that something can go wrong too, in an-experience-sharing kind off way...
As for the watercolour, someone once explained to me that if you look at it at a shallow angle, it can turn green, varying in shade under the influence of (sun)light.
When you look down on it, it turns much darker/deeper to an allmost black, again influenced by the light.
The colour also turns darker as the water gets deeper.
I'm no seaman though and he seemed to know what he was talking about. so I hope this helps a bit.

Maybe you should add 1 more layer of resin with a hint of dark green, maybe even some black in it, to the water, just to deepen the colour.

Chas
Well Outsided with Gas mask it is ok for me
Good luck
Seb

I think for your first effort with resin pouring you have done well Chas,its so hard to get the colour right when it is in the liquid state as when it dries it always looks different,for me the colour looks ok.
If you are thinking of doing another pour on top of this one be carefull to match the colour as any difference will show at the exposed edges,you will end up with a dividing line showing the two different colours of the pours,i made this mistake with my resin pour although only slight it is noticable to the eye.

Good work mate

Steve

The real shots make the color better for me.

Are the drips on the frame along the front what you're trying to clean up? If so I'd look to sand them down and refinish the wood vs. trying to chemically remove the resin.

Hi Chas
Very nice job so far

It's looking pretty good Chas, though I would tend to agree with Rom above about darkening the colour, especially near the wall.
Ah no sweat with the leaking, anyway, you have to put a second coat to get an even level because the resin retracts, so you will cover it up at this time,
really good looking -and not even for a first try anyway!
JB

Very nice work Chas
Aplaus!!

It might be to late now but if you decide to re-pour the water, I would use "Easy Cast Clear".
http://www.barnesonline.com.au/InfoPages/infoeclear.htm
Cheers Jason

Hey Chas, you're diorama is looking really really good. And It's nice to see that a part of my country's history is in works!

The color of the water looks great but if you really want to take it further, go a little darker green and you'll nail it spot on! I say this because the waters around our ports during the early days naturally weren't exactly perfect..with all the ships and boats going around,etc.. A ton have been cleaned up since of course.. Thus the color of your water now is closer to Singapore present day. I know as I was posted to a fast craft squadron along the southern part of Singapore and I've sailed around those areas as well.
Just MHO.

One other thing, all the wharfs I've seen over here had the color of asphalt concrete--a dark grey. But I wouldn't know about the material they used during the time frame you're modelling. Regardless-- you're doing a great job.

Cheers from the sunny island

Thankyou Ron, Seb, Steve, Petros, JBA, Karol and Nick. Ok you've all convinced me to do another pour, a very thin layer of dark green over the top. I think I will be able to brush the exposed sides with dark green resin to hide the colour difference...

Scott, I will try sanding the spilt resin as you suggest.

Jason, I'm happy with how "Diggers" resin performs, do you know what the advantages of 'Easy Cast Clear' are? Besides, it's about double the price of Diggers, perhaps a bit out of my range too... Thanks anyway.

Karol, it's good to get a first-hand insight from you, thankyou.


I have only painted the front part of the diorama, the concrete slabs and rubble have only been primed. I'm unsure of the correct wartime concrete colour but I was planning to paint it dark grey anyway.

Thanks all for your feedback, hopefully more updates soon.

Chas

Morning Chas, Looking forward to the update Keep it up!

Martyn

I have been using it for regularly about 6 months now.
There is no need for a gas mask as there are no fumes to worry about. There is some heat gernerated by the exothermic reaction but not enough to cause any concern. The resin pours at about the consistency of cream.
If you have a look at this link
http://armorama.kitmaker.net//features/585
you can see the water I have made. Now this was done with the first version of Easy Cast Clear a few years ago. The exothrem was quite exessive then but the new fomula is a lot more gentle.

Cheers Jason

Well... I've let this project slip a bit due to the sudden urge to make some small figure vignettes. However, today I was motivated to do some more painting of the man with gramophone.



I've still got a lot to paint; buttons, hair, vest and of course the gramophone (after some intense scratchbuilding). Please let me know how the figure looks so far, and what could I improve...

Jason, your water and whole vignette is great! It looks like good stuff, no fumes is a big bonus. I might have to 'invest' in some of that resin one day.

Chas

Nice work Chas. Glad to see this one back on the bench!

Martyn

Hi Chas,

Excellent work so far, the resin sound horrible to work with. There is a slight lump of water on top of one of the planks but it's looking really good and your foming water from the pipe is a nice touch.

Excellent stuff, keep up the good work.

Al

If you are still looking for a chemical to clean up the resin with, you can try MEK - Methyl Ethyl Ketone, which is a common ingredient in most industrial paint strippers. It has been outlawed in several areas of the world and its possible you can't obtain any, but you would find it at a local paint store that deals with industrial contractors. Working with Ketones is DANGEROUS! though and I suggest you either do it outside or wear a respirator, and use it with extreme care. Apply it by rag, wearing rubber gloves and leave the rags to dry outside. MEK is a very HOT solvent meaning it dries very fast and is absorbed in your skin very fast also. Aside from an acid wash it is probably the strongest liquid chemical an average person can obtain. Its definitely the strongest solvent I've ever used and I was an industrial painter for many years. If you are spot cleaning I'd use a glass eyedropper, cuz itll melt most plastics, and let it sit only for a short time. It will take EVERYTHING off so don't use it for surfaces that are painted or finished. If you need to clean your oven or barbecue it works great for that too.