鶹
Customer Review
- Reviewed in Canada on August 21, 2024EDIT: Update - I got two more kits - Narsil and the elven daggers - and had major resin issues with both. Not only does the resin fill the blade molds very poorly - it takes a lot of effort to get the correct amount in the mold without air bubbles - but the cure time took several hours and the blades are still not solid.
The resin in the two extra kits was the metallic gray - I see some people get clear resin instead in their kits. I think this makes a huge difference in the quality of the final result.
I bought this with 0 experience with Make It Mini kits, but I do have quite a bit of experience with UV resin (3D printer). I love LotR and thought the concept was super fun!
I received the hunting axe kit, which only supplies one haft, and enough resin for two axe heads. All the add-ons (the hammer, anvil, map, file, etc.) are awesome little collector details. I give this two stars for that alone.
I had a very hard time with the resin. Not the mixing part (I had the metallic grey liquid resin and a bottle of silver mica), or the pouring part - but as others have mentioned, the curing process was...not good.
I noticed the sticker over the recommended time to place in sunlight - new sticker suggested 60 mins in sunlight.
I had to leave it outside in direct sunlight for 2 days before the first attempt fully cured...before that, I tried my 405nm curing station for regular 3D resin prints - no dice. 20 full minutes of that and it was still completely liquid so I have no idea how anyone can make this work with a UV flashlight! The resin was fully mixed and a regular consistency so this was surprising to me. I assumed a UV curing chamber would be more efficient than a UV flashlight I see others use for these, it was not.
Axe head #1 - once fully cured - did turn out very well. It notched into the haft securely and only needed a tiny bit of filing to look clean, however the prolonged curing attempts made all the mica sink to the bottom of the mold so one side it bright silver and the other is dark grey.
Axe head #2 - put this one out in the sun immediately, thinking the UV waves in the curing chamber were not sufficient or the wrong type. Day 2, it was still 50% uncured on the covered mold side (the exposed top of the mold was fully cured, so I tried to check the bottom) - it is unsalvageable as it completely separated. With the axe head - you pour the resin into the impression in the mold, so it can't be flipped.
The plastic stand is also incredibly flimsy - some glue is needed to hold it upright and together. You can use one half of the ball this product arrives in as a sort of plinth to mount the stands, so they are themed - also a nice touch
If they can work out the resin issues this would be a rock solid product
