So when it comes to Resin, Plastic and Metal terrain... don't try making it at home.
Cutting, Welding, Molding, etc with metal is a dangerous procedure you need expensive proper equipment & training for. If you're not a professional don't even think about it. If you are a professional you don't need tips from my blog.
Plastic is less dangerous but a whole lot more difficult & expensive.
Resin is also expensive, but I can see some reasonable exceptions. Hirst Arts makes some rubber molds that are good for use with resin making kits. These are small parts that could also just be made with Plaster. Resin doesn't break as easily as plaster does when it is thinned out because it is more flexible. If you start casting plaster you can learn a little bit about it, but in general leave Resin casting to the professionals.
The Miniature Building Authority makes pre-painted Resin buildings that can be played with immediately. I've only recently found their store and haven't seen any of their product yet in person. Armorcast makes a variety of materials from Resin and Metal and I can strongly recommend their products that I've tried so far.
As you can see in the video though their resin and metal products almost always come unpainted. This is a plus or a minus depending on how you want to see it. A lot of quick parts like you might buy at a toy store are very poorly painted and you can do just as well even if you're half-blind painting your own. You also have the opportunity to paint them the way you want them to look.
So what would you do with them if you were to buy one from a place like Armorcast? Well you'd want to paint it so it isn't one solid color without detail.
(Optional Step) If you're going to paint it in high detail I recommend you clean it first. Small impurities and oils are attracted to resin and can easily be cleaned off with a little dish soap and an old toothbrush to get into those nooks and crannies. Let it dry for 24 hours. Now this is the critical part is to not handle it with your bare hands as you'll get those oils you just cleaned off back onto it. Handle it with plastic gloves and prime it and don't touch it with bare hands until you have a coat of paint on it. Skin oils will stick to a good paint primer as well so remember to only handle parts that have a coat of paint on it. For an ever better practice try not handle it at all until it has its finishing coat on it.
As a general rule of thumb I don't use my high pigment paints for miniatures on my terrain pieces. It is simply a waste of expensive paint for something that doesn't show the detail. If you're working on a large terrain piece with moderate detail then use some cheap craft store paints. My preferred brands for terrain are Americana and Folk Art because they have a good pigment count for the cost. When I'm doing high detail on exquisite terrain pieces like Armorcast I'll go ahead and hit it with my minis paints to make those fine details really noticable and crisp.
This is a good video showing of a painted Armorcast trench set.
Some of you are very daunted by anything that needs painting because you don't feel you can paint. But I've seen people legally blind who can paint well with a couple simple techniques. Any kid can learn how to put paint on a brush and stroke it across a surface. The only two techniques you need to make that look awesome are wet brushing and dry brushing. Wet brushing is simply using a clean, but extra wet brush with your paint to allow it run to or pool in recesses naturally. You can use a dry brush or carefully use a corner of paper towel to clean up excess moisture. Getting some good practice at just those two techniques is enough to make any painting project look awesome.
Same as with your miniatures resin (Not Foam!) painted Terrain is best protected with a finishing coat of Matte or Gloss. These can be sprayed or brushed on depending on your preference. If you're not a fan of a lot Object Source Lighting (OSL) or Non-Metal Metal (NMM) then you'll want to use a low glow Matte or High Gloss to get the proper amount of shine and reflectance on your terrain. High Gloss really gives crystal and some metals that proper gleam they should have. Just bear in mind that gloss does not photograph well at all. So the more gloss it has will make it photograph worse even if it looks that much more awesome on your tabletop. So do you want it to look better in photos or on the playing table?
Below is Armorcast's showcase of painted terrain pieces which may hopefully help to inspire you.
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