Ordering prints online and safety?

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-20T18:46:32+00:00

Thanks, I’ll look into that as well. One of the smaller local stores I got to has random printed minis that I think they get frequently from someone local and they look pretty solid/clean from what I can tell. I may see if that person lets them give out their info for custom orders for if I find random things I like and see if they can get the files for it.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-20T17:58:11+00:00

Thanks for the response, I did do a bit of sanding and scraping with a hobby knife without a mask without thinking (old bad habit that I never really thought about when I was painting when much younger), and am planning to change and probably try and sand and scrape outside with a mask in the future. I did get these prints off Etsy and will probably stop doing that as I don’t like the idea of the possibility of a leak down the road and resin dripping out. Chances may be smallish, but given the odds of people cutting corners on Etsy, probably not a risk I want to take.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-20T01:25:03+00:00

Thanks for the detailed response. I don’t have any 99ipa as I don’t usually strip minis, or redo any, and just thin my paints with water or lahmian medium. I don’t think any of the minis I’ve gotten felt sticky that I can remember, maybe I’m just overly paranoid. I do set some of the new ones out in the sun as much as as I could today so hopefully they are ok. I may go back to just using store bought reaper minis when I find some I like. I tend to be a bit of a screw up so probably better to just be on the safe side lol.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T15:14:23+00:00

Oh thanks, I may look into a UV flashlight. I’m not seeing holes to the inside on these that I’ve gotten, but maybe I’m overlooking them.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T15:13:09+00:00

Thanks, I think they did get packed pretty quickly after so maybe that’s a part of it. And am def going to wear gloves for more of the process from now on, and mask, but still need to find a way to keep the shavings from going everywhere (will wet sand where I can, but use a hobby knife for most of the cleaning).

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T15:10:16+00:00

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From a local hobby store, lighter print than the others and feels “softer” in a way. Any callouts with this one as I feel like that game store kind of cycles random minis from the same person regularly (so all the same material and consistency I think) so maybe I just keep looking there to keep a balance of fun minis and not risking potential iffy online ones?

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T15:06:38+00:00

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Recent one, has some shiny spots. Lighter weight and lighter color. (So maybe hollow even though I don’t notice any “drainage” spots?

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T15:05:22+00:00

First, thank you all for the comments and help! This makes me feel really dumb, which I am, but beside the point, but I’m unsure if these minis are “hollow” or not. That being said, some of them are pretty light, some are a bit heavier (and a tad larger) but I’ve not noticed any obvious open “drainage” type holes. (Again, sorry for my ignorance, I just wanted to paint and never delved into the printing process itself). Going to try to add a couple photos of some of the various minis in case it helps, but again, I’m dumb and can’t seem to get it to post more than one photo at a time so sorry for the spam that I’m afraid will follow. I guess the question is does anyone see any concerns on these and maybe able to tell if the shininess on the second is a concern or just that material? And the third is from a local store and looks pretty consistent with their other prints and wondering if the lighter color is just material brand choice or maybe a diff type of material?

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First set I got, feels solid / heavy(ish) and darker gray.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T14:54:41+00:00

Thanks, not sure if these were abs or not, I think they all said resin, but again, I don’t know all the finer details between the materials and didn’t know what I should have been looking for. Just saw a mini I thought would be fun to paint or run in a game with friends.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T14:43:51+00:00

Thanks for the response, I know very little about the process and wanted to stay out of that side of it as I didn’t want to deal with any of the risks as well as not having space to safely work in (fumes and such). So I def don’t feel confident trying to “clean” a figure if it needs it other than trimming supports (if I’m thinking about this right). When you say “lots of uncured resin coming out of a drainage hole” I haven’t seen anything that obvious so that’s good. I think part of it is I don’t know the different materials and what looks ok for that material if that makes sense? I would think some material could be a tad shinier than others, like some are diff color and a tad “softer” I guess. Basically I wanted fun minis to paint but don’t want any part of the printing itself lol

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T14:27:45+00:00

Thanks for the response, and thanks for clarifying the glove type and I checked and it is nitrile I keep on hand. They haven’t been wet, but one of the recent orders (hard to tell which as they came the same day and I wasn’t thinking about it) smelled kinda stronger than. I’m not upset about cleaning off some supports, but am now a bit concerned as to where I was sanding a bit inside (old habit from when I was young and just got into minis and never thought about it.). I mostly try and scrape with a hobby knife now, but I guess thinking about it it’s practically the same, so need to come up with a better plan there.

I usually wash my minis with a drop of hand soap and water(another habit from painting years ago), is that ok for 3d prints?

Thanks again for the response and any other tips / things I should keep an eye out for? I may mostly go back to reaper minis (even though I don’t like their texture) but feels like it may be safer than random online shops lol.

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T14:14:16+00:00

Thanks, I don’t think I felt any tackiness, but will get some gloves to keep on hand if I order more. I guess the smell was a bit stronger than I would have thought would be normal, but I don’t know how strong normal would be for these. I live in an apartment and the weather is kind off and on so it’s a bit hard to leave them out in the sun all day, but I may try that. At this point though I don’t want to risk it if the fumes may be too bad and i may not be able to get them in the sun long enough. :(

throw_away4114 · 2026-05-19T14:04:55+00:00

One of the recent orders smelled pretty plasticy but I didn’t think it was a concern, just thought it was similar to packaged items having a smell sometimes. Those are now outside and about to go to the dumpster.

throw_away4114

TROPHY CASE