The sections below are meant to help you through your hobby journey. They’re thorough on purpose and include a lot of tips and hard-earned lessons we’ve picked up over time and want to share with you.

Read Before Continuing: Safety

Wear gloves when handling unpainted parts if you’re sensitive or prefer to avoid skin oils transferring to the surface, which will ruin primer and paint adhesion.

Ventilate your workspace when sanding, priming, or airbrushing. Even hobby products deserve fresh air.

Do not sand resin without proper protection.

Always use a mask or respirator, eye protection, and gloves. Resin dust is harmful to humans. Resin dust is not a flavor.

Wet sanding is strongly recommended whenever possible to minimize airborne dust.

Sharps warning: Hobby knives and scalpels are extremely sharp.

A dull blade is more dangerous than a sharp one — it requires more force and slips more easily.

Replace blades often and always cut away from your hands.

Small parts are fragile by nature. Use tweezers or clamps instead of fingers when possible to avoid stress or accidental snapping.

Keep parts away from heat sources. Excessive heat can cause warping before assembly or painting.

Common Mistakes (and How to Avoid Them)

1. Gluing Before Dry-Fitting

  • The mistake: Committing to glue before checking how parts actually line up.
  • What happens: Misaligned limbs, gaps, or a pose that looks… emotionally unstable.
  • How to avoid it: Dry-fit everything first. If it doesn’t sit right without glue, it won’t magically fix itself with glue.

2. Using Too Much Glue

  • The mistake: Thinking more glue = stronger bond.
  • What happens: Glue squeeze-out, fogging, loss of detail, and regret.
  • How to avoid it: Use a small amount. Let capillary action do the work. For heavy parts, pinning beats drowning it in glue every time.

3. Forcing Parts Together

  • The mistake: Pushing, bending, or “convincing” parts to fit.
  • What happens: Stress fractures, snapped pegs, and sudden silence followed by swearing.
  • How to avoid it: If something doesn’t fit, stop. Check alignment, remove excess material, or contact us. Forcing it never ends well.

4. Thick Paint Straight From the Bottle

  • The mistake: Painting without thinning your paint.
  • What happens: Clogged details and a finish that looks like it was applied with a trowel.
  • How to avoid it: Thin your paints slightly. Multiple thin layers beat one thick layer every time.

5. Priming Too Heavy or Too Close

  • The mistake: One heavy coat of primer from point-blank range.
  • What happens: Lost detail, texture, or tacky surfaces that never quite feel right.
  • How to avoid it: Use light passes, keep your distance, and build coverage slowly. Primer is a foundation, not frosting.

6. Sanding Without Protection

  • The mistake: Dry sanding resin without a mask.
  • What happens: Resin dust in places it doesn’t belong.
  • How to avoid it: Wet sand when possible and wear a mask. Your lungs will thank you.

7. Panicking and “Fixing” It Before Asking

  • The mistake: Gluing, filling, snapping, or repainting before reaching out.
  • What happens: A small issue turns into a much bigger one.
  • How to avoid it: If something looks wrong out of the box, stop and contact us first. We can usually fix it — but only before it’s permanently altered.

8. Storing Finished Pieces in Heat or Sunlight

  • The mistake: Leaving the model in a hot car or direct sunlight.
  • What happens: Warping, softening, or slow sadness.
  • How to avoid it: Store and display in a cool, shaded environment. If you’re uncomfortable, the model probably is too.

9. Expecting Gravity to Be Merciful

  • The mistake: Putting a top-heavy piece on a narrow shelf and hoping for the best.
  • What happens: Gravity does what gravity does.
  • How to avoid it: Use stable surfaces, museum putty if needed, and don’t tempt fate.

Final Reminder

Mistakes happen. That’s part of the hobby. But if you’re unsure, ask first — we’d rather answer a question than help undo a disaster.

Check Your Parts Before You Start

  • Lay out all parts on a flat, clean surface.
  • Compare the parts to the product photos.
    If a parts render is available, use that as your reference — it’s the most accurate checklist.
  • Note: We sell accessory parts (such as alternate heads or weapons) separately. These may not be included unless specifically listed. A complete model will still include all required parts.
  • Small components like fingers, blades, spikes, and accessories are often packed separately for protection.
    Carefully check all packing materials and bubble wrap before discarding anything.

Pro tip: Open the box over a table and inspect everything before throwing away packaging. Small parts love to hide.

Missing or Broken Items

Before reaching out, please review our Return & Replacement Policy:
https://dmminisus.com/policies/refund-policy

We believe in being transparent about how issues are handled, what’s covered, and what information we need to help you resolve issues quickly and fairly. This policy is also listed on our product pages so expectations are clear before and after purchase.

Our policies are applied consistently to all customers. While we understand frustration when expectations don’t align with outcomes, we can’t make exceptions based on individual circumstances. We’re a small shop — not Amazon — and we can’t absorb free replacements for issues that are normal to the hobby or easily resolved during assembly.

If something is missing or arrives damaged, please:

Take clear photos of:

  • The affected part
  • The full model or parts layout, with the missing or damaged area clearly indicated
  • The shipping box, especially if it shows signs of rough handling
  • Keep all packaging materials, including the box, padding, and bubble wrap
  • Carriers may require these for an insurance claim, and discarding them can affect the outcome of both the claim and any refund.
  • Contact us within 30 days of delivery

Damage reports submitted after 30 days are considered customer-caused.

Reprints, return shipping, and replacement shipping may incur additional costs.

Gift Orders – Important

If this order is intended as a gift, please inspect the contents upon delivery and report any issues within the same 30-day window, even if the item will be gifted later.

Waiting until the item is opened weeks or months later often means the reporting window has passed — and nobody wants to gift resin confetti instead of usable parts.

Recommended Hobby Tools

These are the hobby tools we use daily to clean up, prep, and assemble models before painting. This is not an exhaustive list, but it covers the majority of tools needed for proper preparation.

Cutting & Cleanup

Flush Cutters

Sanding

Adhesives

Assembly & Reinforcement

Gap Filling

Optional Beginner Upgrades (Nice to Have)

These aren’t required, but they make life easier as projects get bigger.

Affiliate & Link Disclosure:

The Amazon links provided above are for convenience only. We do not receive stipends, kickbacks, commissions, or affiliate revenue from these links. We recommend these tools because they’re reliable, commonly available, and items we actually use — not because we’re paid to say so.

Assembly Tips

Assembly Tips

Safety First (Always)

  • Always use proper protection when working with resin.
  • If sanding parts, wear eye protection, gloves, and a P100 respirator.
  • Resin dust is harmful if inhaled — protect yourself.

Dry-Fit First. Always.

Before any glue touches the model:

  • Dry-fit every part to understand how the model goes together.
  • Some models have specific assembly orders — installing one part too early can prevent another from fitting later.
  • Fully test the assembly before committing anything permanently.
  • This is also the best time to plan gap filling, seam cleanup, and pinning if needed.
  • Use poster putty / blue tack to temporarily hold parts together during dry-fitting.
    This helps test poses, alignment, and assembly order without committing to glue.

If it doesn’t fit cleanly dry, it won’t magically fit with glue.

Inspect & Prep Before Assembly

Even with careful cleanup, no model is ever 100% perfect — including our own.

Before assembly:

  • Inspect all parts for support marks, small craters, or surface imperfections
  • Some flaws only become obvious after priming, which is why prep matters
  • Remove any remaining support marks
  • Sand down imperfections
  • Fill small pits or craters as needed

Do this before assembly — it’s much harder once parts are glued together.

Prep Your Connection Points

Glue bonds best to roughened surfaces.

  • Lightly sand all contact points before gluing
  • Use coarser grits (80 / 120 / 180) on connection areas only

This creates texture for the glue to grip and results in a stronger bond.

Gap Filling (What We Use & Why)

Some cuts land in less-than-ideal places — this is a design choice made by the sculptor, not something we control during printing or cleanup.

We use different fillers depending on gap size:

  • Large gaps or holes:
    Epoxy clay
  • Large seams: Milliput — easy to work with and smooths nicely with isopropyl alcohol
  • Small holes or pin marks: Super glue, then sand smooth once cured
  • Small seams: UV putty or UV clay — instant curing with UV light

There are many methods, but these are the safest and easiest in our experience.

Tip: If you want parts to remain removable while gap filling, protect one side with painter’s tape or a light layer of Vaseline.

If you want them permanent, glue first and fill afterward.

Assembly Order Matters

  • Start with the largest structural parts and work outward
  • We recommend starting from the base and working upward
  • Ensure legs fit cleanly into hips and upper legs before committing other parts
  • Avoid locking yourself out of a clean fit by assembling too far ahead

Glue Smart, Not Heavy

More glue does not mean a stronger bond.

  • Apply glue around the contact area, not just the center
  • For pegs: apply glue to all sides of the peg and surrounding contact surfaces
  • For flat joints: apply glue closer to the edges to help with both bonding and light gap filling

Reinforcing Heavy or Fragile Parts

For extra strength:

  • Use a pin vise and metal pin (paperclip or brass rod)
  • Pinning provides mechanical strength that glue alone can’t
  • The metal reinforces the joint and gives the glue something solid to grab

For very heavy parts, consider two-part epoxy instead of CA glue.

Final Advice

Take your time. Test everything. Most assembly issues come from rushing — not from lack of skill. If something doesn’t feel right, stop and reassess before committing it permanently.

Painting Basics

Where to Get Paints

We use a supplier that carries Vallejo and Army Painter, available here: https://dmminisus.com/pages/paints

Disclosure: We do receive stipends through this supplier. Recommendations below are based on actual use, not brand obligation.

Paint Types (What Works Best)

  • Acrylic hobby paints (recommended)

Brands we use and trust:

  • Pro Acryl (our favorite)
  • Vallejo
  • AK Interactive
  • Army Painter (generally a bit more expensive than the rest)
  • Golden (excellent quality, significantly more expensive)

You can use craft paints like Apple Barrel or FolkArt, but:

  • They usually lack leveling agents
  • Without proper thinning, they leave heavy brush marks
  • They require more thinning and more layers for coverage

They work — they just fight you more.

Thinning Your Paint (This Matters)

  • Thin your paints — thick paint hides detail and clumps
  • Use water or acrylic mediums:
    Flow medium
    Matte medium
    Gloss medium

Important notes:

  • Too much water can cause pigment separation
  • Mediums help keep pigments suspended and flowing smoothly

If the paint looks chunky or streaky, it’s not ready. Use the back of your hand or a piece of paper to test your paints consistency and finish.

Brushes: What to Use & Why

Sable Brushes

  • More expensive upfront
  • Hold a sharp point longer
  • Better paint control and smoother application
  • Will last significantly longer if properly cared for

Best used for:

  • Detail work
  • Layering
  • Highlights
  • Smooth blends

Synthetic Brushes

  • Much cheaper
  • Lose their point faster
  • Once they’re out of shape, they usually stay that way

Realistically:

  • Once a synthetic brush goes bad, it joins the “I use this brush to mix paint” pile

Best used for:

  • Base Coats
  • Metallic paints
  • Oil paints
  • Enamels

These paints can permanently damage good sable brushes, so don’t risk it.

Brush Cleaning & Care (Do Not Skip This)

Good brushes die from neglect, not age.

Cleaning After Painting

  • Rinse thoroughly with water
  • Clean with brush soap, not hand soap or dish soap

Soaps we recommend:

  • Joanna’s Brush Soap & Conditioner (what we use)
  • The Master’s Brush Cleaner (also excellent)
    Just remember to keep the lid closed, or it will dry out

Conditioning & Storage

  • Gently reshape the tip after cleaning
  • Let brushes dry horizontally or tip-down, never upright
  • Never leave brushes sitting in water or paint

Proper care = years of use, especially with sable brushes.

General Painting Workflow

Basecoat → Shade → Highlight

  • Ensure your basecoat is fully opaque
  • We prefer dark primers because they make missed coverage obvious
  • This is the most common beginner mistake
    If you can see through the paint, it will look bad. Period.

Painting Translucent Colors (Yellow, Orange, Some Reds)

These colors are notoriously difficult.

Best approach:

  • Start with an off-white basecoat and achieve full opacity
  • Apply one or two thin coats of the target color
  • Yellow especially benefits from this
    A pink undercoat is very popular and works extremely well

Skipping this step usually leads to frustration.

Highlighting: Avoid Pure White

  • Avoid pure whites like titanium white for highlights
  • True white rarely exists in real-world lighting
  • Pure white makes models look flat and artificial

Reserve pure white for:

  • Reflections
  • Specular highlights
  • Extreme edge accents
  • Highlights on an off-white

Use off-whites for everything else.

Drying Between Layers

  • Let layers fully dry before continuing
  • A hair dryer can speed things up slightly, but:
    Can cause paint clumping
    Excess heat may cause cracking

Use low heat and caution.

Final Reminder

Mistakes are normal.
Paint is forgiving.
Panic is optional.

That should get you started — happy hobbying! Remember, this is a hobby, not a speedrun. If something comes up that isn’t listed here or you just want a second opinion, shoot us an email at info@dmminisus.com