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[Axebreaker]

Well folks I\'ve tried several different manufacturers in the effort to like plastic figures(economic reasons of course) and sadly it hasn\'t worked for me with the result I\'ve either sold or traded all of them away and don\'t think I\'ll buy more.

Why you ask.

1. They always look like a plastic figure in that either some position or design of a part always gives it away.
2. They weight of plastic figures I don\'t like.
3. It \"feels\" wrong in the hand.
4. Plastics feel like I\'m painting and playing with a toy figure and not a miniature model. Yes I know it\'s all toys, but you can understand my meaning.
5. I hate cleaning and assembly of plastics!! :cursing:

The only exception I think is some of the plastic vehicle kits with a metal weighted bottom are fine as resin can be toxic to work with and metal far too heavy in this case.

Buying and painting only metal figures is fine with me as I\'m not the worlds fastest painter so I don\'t need to horde figures or buy in huge chunks so expense isn\'t too bad as it takes me awhile to finish an army spreading the cost over time.( not that I don\'t have a large lead mountain of course! :rolleyes: ) Transportation isn\'t a problem either as I have both a car and a games room.

I\'m a lead head and will remain so and I can say this not out of snobbery as I did give plastics a fair try, but from experience I\'ve had.

How has the plastic vs metal experience gone for you?

Christopher

[Schrumpfkopf]

Plastic somehow takes imaginative value away from a miniature.

Obviously Plastic is advantageous, especially in the field of Napoleonics.
But I really try and stay metal and even tend to prefer inferior metal casts
to superior plastic casts. (They have so much more character!?)
Resin however doesn\'t turn me off as much as hard-plastic does.
Weird.

My whole idea resembles the basics of stamp-collecting in ways.

[Draconarius]

(economic reasons of course)

I mainly collect scales where there are no plastics (except for one or two ranges). However I can comprehend your reasons and I agree especially on the vehicles.
One main problem of the plastics I ecountered was that they are quite tempting cause you get a lot nice figures for a small price, but when you have the box, you must cut the parts from the sprues, clean them from excess materials, assemble them and paint them.

[Hanno Barka]

It totally depends on the miniatures in question. If I like the figure i don\'t care if plastic or lead. Sure lead \"feels better\" in the hand but in the end it\'s the optics i care for. Of course Plastic looks diferent than metal - the materials have different characteristics and what can be casted and what not isn\'the same thing. But imo different doesn\'t mean better or inferior - it\'s just that - different. A good sculptor knows the characteristics of his cast and therefore will concentrate on it\'s strenghts and won\'t try to tinker around with it\'s weaknesses.
So if the mini looks good will be more dependent on how good the scculptor is and what he can achieve within the boundaries the material sets him.
There are plastic ranges I like (the Perrys\' ACW or the Fireforge knight\'s templar and their seargents) and some i don\'t like (Warlord\'s British Commandos) and some in between (Warlord\'s Wehrmacht or the Vikings from Gripping Beast) and teh same goes with tin. Generally most of my armies are not made of a single range so even if they contain plastics they will contain lead too...
What I hate on plastics is the assembling process - most figures have sooo many parts and as I play few skirmishes but collect mostly mass armies variety in poses is of little benefit to me. The number of poses that make sense are limited in a big unit - especially if it\'s drilled (I don\'t want my Napoleonic bataillons looke like a bunch of undrilled irregulars) - on the other hand it\'s great for irregulars - 3 or 4 poses are sufficiant for that though  too usually imo, as you can bring a great deal of variety into the unit with the help of your paintjob - well de gustibus non est dispudandum so the ancient Romans said. Leadfigures are assembled so much quicker as they contain only a few parts if more than one.

So as a conclusion - I use both - metals and plastcis whatever suits my needs better in the actual project.

[Axebreaker]

Ooops thanks guys I did forget to add I also hate the cleaning and assembly of plastics and duly added! :wacko1:
Christopher

[opa wuttke]

Recently I´ve made use of some plastic-soldierin 1/72 scale but only for gaming  . If the plastic is not that soft and well molded and there are reasonable poses in the box I do not have any remorse to buy them. For example I bought Caesar miniatures, Waterloo1815 or some old matchbox or esci (with all the re-releases from other manufacturers) for various themes and I´m happy with them. Also I´ve got a few plastics in 28mm but I connot make friend with plastic in my \"favorite scale\". Same reasons for me as axebreaker mentioned .
Perhaps I am just antediluvian...

[Neidhart]

For me the things about plastic I hate most are the assembly and cleaning. I have quite a large number of plastic miniatures as I use Conquest Knights and Gripping Beasts Saxons and Vikings in my Dark Age army. I also have Wargames Factory miniatures but will replace them in the future. Those Perry European Mercenaries for the 15th century are nice looking, maybe I give them a try sometime.

I had some Warlord Games TYW troops but cleaning was so horrible that I never started to assemble more than a few miniatures.

Plastic miniatures I like are cast in one piece, may be two. I started a Bavarian Napoleonics Army with HĂ„T28mm plastics, because I feel they are good looking, but I will mount them on heavy steel movementtrays. In addition I got some 1/72 Italeri Gladiators which are far better looking everything available in 28mm.

[DonVoss]

Also ich benutz beides, Metall und Plastik.
Beide Materialien haben für mich Vor- und Nachteile. Für mich überwiegen allerdings die Vorteile des Plastik auf Battallionsebene und daher werde ich größere Armeen nur noch in Plastik angehen (bis auf die Sondertruppen).

Es wurden ja schon oft die ganzen Pros und Contras aufgezählt, allerdings möchte ich zu Bedenken geben, dass durch die Plastikschwemme, das Hobby sicher mehr Zulauf bekommen hat. Es ist eben einfacher mal in eine Epoche reinzuschnuppern, wenn man mit ner Box ein kleine Truppe, inkl. Offizier, passender Fahne und kleinem Bemalguide bekommt.
Dem Hobby tut das Plastik daher mMn gut: wir werden mehr.

Für mich bedeutet Plastik auch, gerade das Aufwendige, einfach auch eine Chance zu mehr Kreativität.
Try to build these of metal...



... :thumbsup:

Cheers,
DV

[Garfield667]

Hmmm... well, I couldn\'t agree with you less, pal!

I love plastics. For pretty much the same reasons you hate them.

-Much easier to assemble (no drills and pins for everything) nothing bends and breaks all the time

-Much easier to clean up. Flash on metal miniatures is such a pain in the arse, takes longer to remove than to build 5 plastic figures...

-Much cheaper.

-Easier to convert. Much much more imaginative.

-Feels like a miniature model, similar to a kit, not like some childrens toy (slight pun intended )

-Doesnt bend and break multibases because of the weight. And boxes. And shelfs. And my back carrying it.

-Takes paint much better and doesnt flake so easily.

-Pretty good availability. I dont have to order from some remote 1-man oversea company to get some miniatures I want...

-Detail is not as good as character models, but many plastic manufacturers have beaten the metal rank and files long ago. Except if you compare good metal vs. bad plastics.

So, each to his own. I\'m very happy theres this gold rush in plastic historicals. Sorry it didn\'t work out for you!

Cheers,

Garf

[hallostephan]

I understand You very good. But-for me, Im looking for Plastics, If I need A lot of Minis And know, that I have to transport them-later!

[Schrumpfkopf]

If I need A lot of Minis And know, that I have to transport them-later!

Das ist halt das ganzgrosse Manko von Metall. Man bricht sich wirklich den Buckel ab 500 +

[lameth]

Garfield spricht mir aus dem Herzen, ich bin da voll seiner Meinung. Mittlerweile ist aus Plastik so viel möglich, und z.B. Perry Plastik schlägt die meisten historischen Zinn-Hersteller in Sachen Detail und GuĂźqualität. Fernre sind bei  Plastikminis dynamischere psen möglich, eben auf Grund er vielen Teile. Viele historische Zinnfiguren sind sehr statisch.

[Davout]

Nachdem ich den größten Mist und genauso hervorragende Figuren in jeglichem gängigen Material gesehen habe, kann ich keinem den eindeutigen Vorzug gegen. Es hängt einfach von den konkreten Figuren ab. Beim Plastik sind die Unterschiede des Materials ziemlich extrem, das geht von Radiergummi bis Hartplastik, so dass man das nicht so gut mit Metalfiguren vergleichen kann. Gewicht und feeling sind mir total Latte, solange die Figuren gut und richtig gemacht sind.

GrĂĽĂźe

Davout

[Schrumpfkopf]

Perry Plastik schlägt die meisten historischen Zinn-Hersteller in Sachen Detail und Gußqualität.

Perry Plastik schlaegt auch und vorallendingen Perry Metall um Laengen. ;--)

[Conan]

Habe auch Plastik probiert,
Aber auch mich nervt das gefummel um die minis ĂĽberhaupt soweit zu bekommen,
Dass man sie bemalen kann...