Anybody know where I can get good AMG resin kits/action figures? I'm a frequent eBay customer, and it's excellent for the action figures, but I'd like to find resin kits that aren't shoddy recasts from Thailand.

well i have bought from four sources... 1 ok recast, 2 good , but recasts, 1 originals only but expensive.
http://www.e2046.com/
resides in Hong Kong, offering recasts of good quality, excellent service, decent prices, and (most importantly) a huge selection of kits, many of which are no longer available in thier original castings. It seems they'll even revive a dead kit if they have enough interested customers.

http://www.hlj.com/
Offering original casts only, this japanese based company's service is very good, but as they offer many other items, are based in japan, and have originals only, they can be somewhat pricey. Also, one of those "high quality" originals turned out to be the poorest quality kit I've purchased.(Urd, standing in a swimsuit, by Max Factory)

These are likley to be my only two sources for resin kits,i have been very happy with them, and I simply do not want to risk anyone else.
Hope this helps.

Thanks, lion! I have bought from HLJ once before, but it was a pre-assembled action figure; I've never tried one of their kits. I'm definitely open to trying re-casts, so long as they're decent quality and have all their parts. ^_^; Most of the ones I see on eBay say things like "stand not included". So, I'll definitely have to try that other link you posted.

ah the stand is almost never part of the kit....even originals. but it depends on the kit.

Ah, okay, I never realized that. *feels a little silly* :sweat: That site with the Hong Kong casts has an amazing selection! How long does it take them to fill pre-orders, do you know?

The pre orders are kits they have decided to recast, I figure the process takes about a month from the pre order announcement. I ordered this kit http://www.e2046.com/trade/productview/39 as a pre order, it was only a little over a week before the order was filled and in the mail. They packed the kit in a weird locking tupperware style container, filled with bubble wrap, the thing was bombproof, i don't know if this is the usual practice, but it sure worked.
So what materials and methods do you use to fit, build and paint the kits?

Actually, I've never done a resin kit before. I haven't ever had the money before now. :P I've done a lot of customizing to old action figures and model horses, though. With those, I'll use whatever I have in my art supply stock. ^_^; Sculpey and epoxy to build onto things, quick dry epoxy to "glue", combinations of spray paint, acrylics, and pastels for color, a spray fixative... and either matte or gloss clear coat sealant, depending on what kind of a look is needed. Is there anything special I should know that's unique to resin kits?

You're a 'basher!!! yay! Resin is much nicer to work with than the pvc used in most action figures, but it has it's problems also. It's brittle, if you decide to change a pose you're going to have to be prepared to do alot of scratch building and filling around the joints. The saving grace is the resin sands perfectly, and is a dream to carve with a dremel tool, a sharp blade works well also. You'll also find imperfections, especially bubbles, in even the best kits... these will have to be filled before, and after, any primer coat. Also nothing really wants to stick to the resin. even after washing and roughing the surfaces i intend to epoxyi find that parts tend to seperate rather easily. I use a steel pin in every joint that's large enough to accept one, and I may drill through several peices to reinforce a structure (i cut the pins from bycyle spokes, but you could use any stiff wire). All in all i prefer the resin figures to the styrene planes and tanks i built growing up.

strange.... we seem to have our very own thread going here

Cool, thanks for the heads-up on that. One item you may want to invest in is a carbide scraper. You can find that at www.riorondo.com . It's used for customizing model horses, which are made out of a really hard plastic that's even more of a pain to carve/sand than action figures. They claim it "carves off seams like butter". It's about $55 for the whole kit, which includes a handle and 6 tips, but they claim it won't need sharpening for years unless you use it to carve *metal*. Don't know if you need anything like that, but I'm always happy to share my resources. ^_^

lol, and yeah, I guess we're the only ones that are into models and such. It is a pretty expensive hobby.

"Don't expose them to intense Gamma radiation" ..... okaaaay. I have worked with carbide tipped tools for many years, doing everything from turning steel parts to destroying plexiglass(i needed a finer saw). I actually make my own carving tools for fine work from Allen(or hex) keys. I think Jimmytheshank may be a fellow builder, but he's having a computer shortage lately and hasn't been online.

ANYONE ELSE BUILD MODELS, ESPECIALLY RESIN KITS??

lol, I guess we're it. ^_^;;; Oh yeah, on your kits, do you use decals or hand-paint the eyes? Do you have pics of your finished products anywhere?

Yup, I do kits.

That's cool. Got any tips/hints/advice?

Jimmy! yay!
I hand paint the eyes, they're suprisingly easy to do a decent job on, the eyelashes are usually quite well defined, and it's really just a matter of coloring inside the lines.
Here's how i do the eyes on my kits so far, in ten easy steps:
(note you must let each step dry before doing the next)
1 Paint it black....the whole eye, including lashes.
2 glaze the eyeball, not lashes
3 paint the eyeball white
4 glaze the eyeball
5 paint in the iris area with black
6 glaze the eyeball
7 color the iris, leaving a tiny bit of black on the outer edge and for the pupil
8 glaze the eyeball
9 apply some white in the top corner for the reflections ...keep in same corner of each iris (look at anime eyes, the white hilights)
10 glaze the eyeball

hope this works for you!

Wow, that's great, thanks! I never would have thought to paint the whole eye black first, that's way easier than going back to do the outlines later. So do you use an airbrush to paint the large areas on the kit? I have a cheapo airbrush to use with a can of propellant, but I haven't even opened it yet. ^_^;