Garage kit

However, kits can be produced depicting a wide range of subjects, from characters in horror, science fiction, fantasy films, television and comic books to nudes, pin-up girls and original works of art, as well as upgrade and conversion kits for existing models and airsoft guns.

The parts are glued together using cyanoacrylate (Super Glue) or an epoxy cement and the completed figure is painted.

generally command higher prices due to the greater amounts of material required to produce them.

Japanese garage kits are usually cast as separate parts which are packed with instructions and sometimes photographs of the final product.

They were poured into flexible molds which could produce rigid reproductions of new figures which were then sculpted more accurately and with more detail than the old plastic model kits.

They were usually produced in limited numbers and sold primarily by mail order and at toy and hobby conventions.

By the 1990s, model kits were produced in the US and the UK, as well as in Japan, and distributed through hobby and comic stores.

Hobby and comic stores and their distributors began either carrying fewer garage kits or closing down, along with their producers.

It is more complex than resin casting, but less expensive and less sophisticated than the injection molding used for most plastic products.

The relatively low initial investment and ease of resin casting means that it's also easy to create recast copies of existing original kits.

This can be done for personal use, such as modification of an existing kit, but unlicensed recast copies are sometimes sold unlawfully.

These licensing agreements are typically negotiated between an event organizer (Wonder Festival, Character Hobby, Figure Mania, etc.)