Washing a new model

Resin castings are the only parts that might need to be washed to remove any mold release still around .
Injection molding doesn't use a release agent , the parts shrink just enough as they cool and pop loose from the mold .
 
I still wash the sprues, but not every time. Just warm water and a couple drops of a de-greaser (SuperClean).
And as the others have pointed out, while it was a wise and necessary step years ago, to clean mold release agents from injection-molded styrene, it's not today. But I do it some times to remove skin oil from handling the sprues.
It's really more of a meditative act for me, like looking at the box art is. It's about thinking about the build, the anticipation, before I start removing parts and assembling the kit.
 
I always wash sprues before building.
I had a few previous bad experiences with acrylic paint beading up & fisheye-ing and removing all the sprue mold release grease prevents this. You also need to watch for the fingerprints you leave on the bare plastic before painting (but that's a different issue).
One of our IPMS members gave a presentation about his tour of the Eduard factory and showed a photo he took of a mold machine operator spraying the inside of the mold with a can of release lubricant so the stuff really is on the mold and likely on the plastic sprue too.
I soak the sprues, sometimes overnight, in a container filled with water and with a very small amount of Dawn dishwashing liquid then rinse the sprues in another container filled with fresh water. Usually the sprues look the same in the water after soaking, but occasionally, I've seen some thin misty wisps of grease that have been removed from the sprues. One time on an old SMER MiG-17 kit, I looked in the container after soaking overnight and it was filled with lumpy white-colored masses that came off of the sprues! After this experience, I always wash my sprues before building. I know it's extra work that most of the time is unnecessary, but I like to give myself the maximum opportunity to minimize my build and painting problems.

SMER_MiG-17_Sprue.jpg
 
" showed a photo he took of a mold machine operator spraying the inside of the mold with a can of release lubricant "
wow .
 
RocketRanger said:
I had a few previous bad experiences with acrylic paint beading up & fisheye-ing and removing all the sprue mold release grease prevents this.
Click to expand...
I've never washed the sprues before and never had an issue until my last couple of kits. Both kits were from Trumpeter, 1/16 scale armour.
I had the same effect on a couple of parts when using Mission Model acrylics.
I think I will wash my next kit from Trumpeter. Besides that, Trumpeter kits are good to in my opinion.
 
I generally do not wash the sprues, but I was recently working on the AMT/Round2 Razor Crest and it had a weird greasy feel to the plastic that I had never encountered before with other AMT kits. Not sure if it was maybe due to the metallic effect on the plastic or not.

so, mostly no, unless I specifically notice an issue with the plastic
 
kevin said:
I've never washed the sprues before and never had an issue until my last couple of kits. Both kits were from Trumpeter, 1/16 scale armour.
I had the same effect on a couple of parts when using Mission Model acrylics.
I think I will wash my next kit from Trumpeter. Besides that, Trumpeter kits are good to in my opinion.
Click to expand...
I had a weird issue with Mission Model paints and will never use them again

I used them over a primed model and while paint went on ok, when dried is was actually not waterproof. If I got a part wet, it acted like water was actually a solvent like painter remover or alcohol and would just start disintegrating

I later found that while the instructions say it is not needed, you really need to add some kind of special "varnish like" stuff to their paint so it "hardens" properly.

Never had an issue like that with Tamiya or Vallejo and just too fiddly for me
 
I've experienced the same issue with Mission Model paint as well. I'm not going to purchase anymore
 
I no longer wash before hand, but I do wipe down the assembled model with IPA prior to primer
 
Ok, most of y'all don't wash your models?

That's just weird?

How do you chew on that filthy sprue right outta the box?

When I lick a rear stabilizer, that baby's gonna taste like Super Clean. Or DAWN.

You folks are gross.

Rob.
 
blakeh1 said:
I had a weird issue with Mission Model paints and will never use them again

I used them over a primed model and while paint went on ok, when dried is was actually not waterproof. If I got a part wet, it acted like water was actually a solvent like painter remover or alcohol and would just start disintegrating

I later found that while the instructions say it is not needed, you really need to add some kind of special "varnish like" stuff to their paint so it "hardens" properly.

Never had an issue like that with Tamiya or Vallejo and just too fiddly for me
Click to expand...

I love Mission Model paints but will only buy certain colors (tire black, worn tire black and others)
The one glaring downside of Mission Models paint it's easily scratched. A coat of enamel clearcoat will prevent that. It does help on primed surface and use their thinner for airbrushing.
 
Eagle-1 said:
Ok, most of y'all don't wash your models?

That's just weird?

How do you chew on that filthy sprue right outta the box?

When I lick a rear stabilizer, that baby's gonna taste like Super Clean. Or DAWN.

You folks are gross.

Rob.
Click to expand...

It's a matter of preference.

I rarely wash my sprues. What difference does it make if you're going to put a primer coat on. Washing sprues is a waste of time for me - except for resin kits.
 
kevin said:
I've experienced the same issue with Mission Model paint as well. I'm not going to purchase anymore
Click to expand...
In all honesty, it's definitely a different animal. Yes, they scratch easily once dried - nothing but a coat of enamel clear can fix it. When I first used Mission Models paint, it is a learning experience. Once you figure out how to tame it, you shouldn't have issues. Airbrush straight out of the bottle or thin using their brand thinner for airbrushing. A primer coat helps too. But…. DO NOT a thin with water for airbrushing.
 

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