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Does anyone like the way paint looks on plastic models more than the looks on metal models? Or is it just me?

I hate metal models, simply because they don't feel as nice to paint. People bleat about them having ''more detail'' but that's just crap. In this day and age, plastic and metal look exactly the same.I'd rather work with a material that is cheaper, opens up more modelling possibilities and doesn't chip when I transport it.

Just you.

Painted well, can't tell the difference.

Neither models (metal or plastic) will chip if primed properly first and varnished properly.

It also isn't cheaper to make the plastic pieces (once you factor in the price of a steel trap injection mold.) - which is why GW only do it for High volume sale items (like SM).

I've not noticed any real difference in how the paint looks on resin, plastic or metal models. All of mine are primed the same (with a matt-white auto primer), and are all weighted to about the same, too.

Aside from the fact that Airfix went bust last year, and GW bought all their production equipment?

Dude, plastic is cheaper.

There's no excuse for metal in this day and age.
The Baneblade was cast (I believe) in the aquired Airfix equipment, and it's hyper-detailed.

My metal models all chip eventually, probably down to the fact that I don't do all that 'wire brush/soapy water/toothbrush" stuff.

The Chaos Termy lord is £12 for tonnes and tonnes of plastic gubbinz with lots of options and it's all in plastic.
Huron Blackheart is £10 for the (metal) model, with little scope for conversion and a stupid thumb that you're expected not to lose...

Roll on more plastics! Can't wait for the new SM stuff, plus I am pining for some more plastic Aspect warriors. Dire Avengers were awesome, now please make some Howling Banshees!

I prefer the metal models. Their often scaled better and the detail is still higher. By scaled I mean the sizes of heads and hands etc.

The plastics are really coming along these days in detail and are far easier to model n convert of course.

Plastics are still more expensive to produce due to the cost of the molds being so high as already stated. So metals are gunna be around for limited appeal models for the foreseeable future.

Anti-Mag wrote:I hate metal models, simply because they don't feel as nice to paint. People bleat about them having ''more detail'' but that's just crap. In this day and age, plastic and metal look exactly the same.

Do you really, really think so? Because I don't. Honestly, find a plastic model of exactly the same quality as a metal one. The New Dwarf thunderers do not even begin to compare with the old metal ones. Compare the levels of detail on the old metal Paul Muller ghouls as opposed to the new plastic ones.

Airfix didn't go bust. This is the myth. Airfix haven't been a standalone company for years.
Humbrol bought Airfix lock stock and Barrel years ago. Humbrol also didn't spend anyything maintaining the (british) Airfix and allowed it to become a liability, which then reflected negatively on them. When Humbrol fell, All that was theirs went with it.

I doubt the Baneblade was made with the Airfix equipment as I'm pretty certain they didn't have the required steel trap dies for it. They may have acquired the injection gear and other manufacturing infrastructure, but the new dies for the BB still had to be fabricated.

If (Airfix) they had (had the steel trap dies already), then GWs legal dogs would slapped a C&D on them so quickly, your neighbour's head would spin, or an arrangement similar to the deal that GW used to have with their former model making partner would have been made.

The only reason Airfix is back in production again, is because Hornby now own ALL of Humbrol (and its ancillaries). You may have heard of this company. They make model trains (some of which sell for prices FW can only dream of charging) - and going back further, were the people who brought us "Meccano". Hornby did this to put the british company back in the hands of the British, and away from the incompetent french former owners.

Like you said, your metals chip eventually because you don't prep and/or seal properly. This is not a fault of the medium, but of the modeller. IF I screw up the paint job on a metal model, I can just dump it in (commonly available) brake fluid and not have to worry about the model dissolving into goo.

If plastic is cheaper, why did the price of Wraithlords and Warwalkers go UP by 25% when the plastics came out?

As nice as the new ones are, they actually require MORE pinning to stay in one piece than the metal ever did. Not that I'm compaining. When they came out, noobs were flogging their old stuff for as little as they could get, which meant people like me could get a metal one, with all weapon options, for a third of the price of a nw plastic one. Not that I'll use my 7 WLs outside of an apoc game...

Aquila wrote:

Anti-Mag wrote:I hate metal models, simply because they don't feel as nice to paint. People bleat about them having ''more detail'' but that's just crap. In this day and age, plastic and metal look exactly the same.

Do you really, really think so? Because I don't. Honestly, find a plastic model of exactly the same quality as a metal one. The New Dwarf thunderers do not even begin to compare with the old metal ones. Compare the levels of detail on the old metal Paul Muller ghouls as opposed to the new plastic ones.

Models ranges wax and wane in terms of quality. For example, look at striking scorpions for a rollercoaster ride.

I actually prefer the plastic ghouls. I can see some difference in the detail, but I think detail is only an issue when painting skill is factored in. Also, I wouldn't want a unit of ghouls to be as limited, in terms of pose, as the metal ones were.

Nobody can deny the potential of plastic. So many metal models are being upstaged by their subsequent plastic counterparts. Metal Possessed anyone? They looked dire, and compared to the plastic they're laughable. Carnifex? Hive Tyrant? Come on man. Let the stigma about metal being superior lie.

The new DE Corsairs are IMHO, far superior to the older metal ones, both in detail and overall quality.

However the new Cold Ones are both equally as detailed in plastic and metal(taking into account the metal ones have more stuff on them since they are character mounts). I have a feeling this is an argument thread that could last years and years as everyone is going to have their preferences.
Personally I love all the new plastics, the ease of convertability(I think I just made that up) is enough to make anyone who's had to cut a metal figure in half jump for joy.

I do however miss the substance of the metal ones...
at least with the old Bjorn the Fell-Handed you could stave off carjackers with a well place throw!

chromedog wrote:If plastic is cheaper, why did the price of Wraithlords and Warwalkers go UP by 25% when the plastics came out?

Because gamers with 7 WraithLords are a rarity.
Most gamers won't buy more than they'll field in an army (3).
This means that GW won't get as much back per model as they need to at the old prices.

It's why troop units are generally the cheapest boxed sets in the game (comparatively speaking). They sell them by the pantload (It's a unit of measure... but I don't think you want to know what it's measured IN. LOL).

Eric

The reason I dont like painting metal models is I just think the paint looks glossy.

And I would imagine plastic models would be cheaper in this day and age just because it has got to be much easier to cast. Case in point some gamers make their own models right? well how often do you see gamers make metal models?

Agreed. Anyone sweating in their own tin mine? Thought not.

FunkMaster wrote:The reason I dont like painting metal models is I just think the paint looks glossy.

And I would imagine plastic models would be cheaper in this day and age just because it has got to be much easier to cast. Case in point some gamers make their own models right? well how often do you see gamers make metal models?

They make them out of resin guys...

Vast difference. Plastic is not cheaper then metal. It's been discussed before by the guys with business knowledge.

FunkMaster wrote:The reason I dont like painting metal models is I just think the paint looks glossy.

And I would imagine plastic models would be cheaper in this day and age just because it has got to be much easier to cast. Case in point some gamers make their own models right? well how often do you see gamers make metal models?

Actually, I see it fairly often.

Metal casting requires only a heat resistant silicon rubber mold, a quantity of metal, a crucible setup and a centrifuge. Any joe can do this in a backyard.

Resin csting requires a similar rubber (still a silicon RTV, but it doesn't have to be heat resistant. You can also use the heat resistant stuff), a two part resin, mixing gear (an optional pressure pot or vibration table). Also can be done by any joe in their backyard or their garage, hence the term "garage kit" for many resin models.

Plastic molding (or to be more precise, injection molded styrene molding) isn't easier to cast. You can't just melt down sprue and pour it into a mold. It requires a lot more hardware and infrastructure, and can't be done by any average joe in the backyard - unless that Joe has the financial backing of William H Gates III.

JediRaptor wrote:The new DE Corsairs are IMHO, far superior to the older metal ones, both in detail and overall quality.

However the new Cold Ones are both equally as detailed in plastic and metal(taking into account the metal ones have more stuff on them since they are character mounts). I have a feeling this is an argument thread that could last years and years as everyone is going to have their preferences.
Personally I love all the new plastics, the ease of convertability(I think I just made that up) is enough to make anyone who's had to cut a metal figure in half jump for joy.

I do however miss the substance of the metal ones...
at least with the old Bjorn the Fell-Handed you could stave off carjackers with a well place throw!

The metal dreads were really bloody heavy, weren't they?
I've got an old-fashioned lead-alloy boar from the eighties... it's way skinnier than the plastic ones, and the metal is soft and rubbishy...

I think the metal models have been getting better in line with the plastics - the last big lot of metal marine models was when I began to notice that there were much less mold lines and flash, and the whole head/body/plastic scale was finally in line with itself. New Eldar kits too.

The thing is that some armies have to buy just metal models, and that's a pain. Putting together a unit of Stormvermin is expensive, and I never got the metal Plague monks for that very reason. The release of the plastic ones got me back into that army, actually.

FunkMaster wrote:The reason I dont like painting metal models is I just think the paint looks glossy.

This statement makes absolutely ZERO sense to me. How could paint look "glossier" on a metal model over a plastic one unless you're both painting on an unprimed model and you're painting a SUPER thin layer?

Metal model, plastic model, even resin model. Once you prime it correctly, you are no longer putting paint on the model, but on the primer. If I took a metal model and did an EXACT cast of it in plastic and resin then primed them all black, you could not tell which was which just by eyeballing. Just because the material under the primer is metal, it doesn't change the properties of the paint on TOP of the primer.

Also, metal models can and do still chip despite being primed, painted, and sealed correctly. You also need to practice proper storage and transportation.



Ghidorah

chromedog wrote:

FunkMaster wrote:The reason I dont like painting metal models is I just think the paint looks glossy.

And I would imagine plastic models would be cheaper in this day and age just because it has got to be much easier to cast. Case in point some gamers make their own models right? well how often do you see gamers make metal models?

Actually, I see it fairly often.

Metal casting requires only a heat resistant silicon rubber mold, a quantity of metal, a crucible setup and a centrifuge. Any joe can do this in a backyard.

Resin csting requires a similar rubber (still a silicon RTV, but it doesn't have to be heat resistant. You can also use the heat resistant stuff), a two part resin, mixing gear (an optional pressure pot or vibration table). Also can be done by any joe in their backyard or their garage, hence the term "garage kit" for many resin models.

Plastic molding (or to be more precise, injection molded styrene molding) isn't easier to cast. You can't just melt down sprue and pour it into a mold. It requires a lot more hardware and infrastructure, and can't be done by any average joe in the backyard - unless that Joe has the financial backing of William H Gates III.

Yes I am very aware of that but my point there was I have seen many more people making their own plastic models than I have see people making metal models

Ghidorah wrote:

FunkMaster wrote:The reason I dont like painting metal models is I just think the paint looks glossy.

This statement makes absolutely ZERO sense to me. How could paint look "glossier" on a metal model over a plastic one unless you're both painting on an unprimed model and you're painting a SUPER thin layer?

Go look at metal models and plastic models primed and unprimed you may see what I mean by glossy

I must say, I prefer working with metal models - both for converting and modelling, though plastic has come a long way recently.

The poses available on plastic kits can sometimes be a bit inaccurate. I know this is partly due to how good you are at building, but I always find that the more solid poses of metal models look much more realistic...

FunkMaster wrote:Go look at metal models and plastic models primed and unprimed you may see what I mean by glossy

With about $20k in miniatures in my basement as we speak, I have seen both metal and plastic minis primed. No difference. Maybe it's your lighting.



Ghidorah

I will find some good examples and post them

ArbitorIan wrote:I must say, I prefer working with metal models - both for converting and modelling, though plastic has come a long way recently.

The poses available on plastic kits can sometimes be a bit inaccurate. I know this is partly due to how good you are at building, but I always find that the more solid poses of metal models look much more realistic...

I will say there is on aspect I love about metal and that is when you build plastic models and you put glue on it and decide to either put it on then decide to take it off or if you get some glue on the plastic and leave it for a little while and wipe it off or something the glue erodes the plastic away which never happens on metal.

Told y'all this would go on forever

Yup, seems that there's too camps for this.

Those who were around pre-plastic, and those that came later.

Those that 'grew up' with metal models, already know all the tricks about them and those who only know the plastics (IMHO) generally lack the patience tol earn the tricks.

I just stay clear of metal with certain exceptions i.e. my Demon Prince.

I much prefer the plastic kits over the metal because they come with so many more bitz, and are much easier to convert and model. I also like that they're lighter, so I can nickle the underside of the base giving them a much lower center of gravity and thus much more stable sitting.

I hate cleaning the flash on metal models. It's alot tougher compared to plastic.

Aduro wrote:I much prefer the plastic kits over the metal because they come with so many more bitz, and are much easier to convert and model. I also like that they're lighter, so I can nickle the underside of the base giving them a much lower center of gravity and thus much more stable sitting.

I'm sure everyone here knows where I stand in this discussion but I never thought of that, it's just all the more reason to love plastic

*EDIT* Double post