Green Stuff World UV Resin Test
Not so long ago the team at Greenstuff World released a truly interesting product – their quick pour UV resin (in this case transparent). The videos looked very promising. You pour the resin then expose it to UV light and within seconds its set. Easy to use and clean up and super-fast drying means a world of applications for the tabletop hobby community.
But does it do what they show? I was very tempted to do an order direct but then I remembered local hobby store – Hobbytech Toys – stocked the Greenstuff World range and we always support local if we can! A trip to hobby tech saw me pick up a 30ml bottle for $25 Australian and the test was set… right up until I realised I had no UV light. Due to a quirk in the Australian import process Hobbytech don’t stock the UV torch but it turns out the local camping and fishing stores stock them for squid fishing. $13 (aus) later I had a cool torch!
So how does it work?
I wanted to see how much texture the liquid would pick up so located a golf ball (in the kids sports gear) and got underway! I was going to use a release agent of some kind (like talc or a spray release) but decided to try without to make sure I got contact clean to get the shapes from the surface.
The UV resin poured really easily but was also very thick – much like wood glue that’s slightly started to dry. Once in the light of the room it immediately started to go off and that only made the flow of the liquid slower on the ball.
Once under the UV torch things got interesting. Faint trails of white smoke came off in the early exposure but quickly cleared – I would probably suggest using it outside or at least well ventilated because the smell isn’t pleasant. The resin itself went off in under 30 seconds and was touch dry and had hardened in about a minute.
I used a scalpel to pry the resin off the golf ball which came off fairly easily – and with no visible damage to the new resin. The outside of the resin is smooth (if a little uneven due to the pour and the way it dried) but the inside kept the texture of the golf ball really well.
I’m super excited to see what effects I can get from different textures and how this can be used outside of water style effects on bases. Stay tuned!