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Plastic, although I must admit there's a sense of satisfaction from drilling, pinning and assembling a metal model.

My super-ability to knock any model onto the floor when its on the table means that resin is a big no for me.

Despite all their other evils, GW's plastic kits are By Far my favorite kits of any game or company.

Eumerin wrote:Privateer Press's plastic is different. I'm not sure what it's made out of, though.

PP's plastic is an ABS plastic - Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (So it's a Styrene, but not a polystyrene. Essentially it's a cousin to polystyrene rather than a brother.). Polystyrene cement will not touch the stuff (it's generally only a 1% toluene solution and ABS requires more aggressive solvents; a higher percentage of Toluene or Acetone and MEK usually. The adhesive plumbers use for the BLACK (black is ABS, grey is PVC) piping is this sort.) and superglue is generally used.

GW and pretty much ALL plastic model kit makers use Polystyrene for their plastic kits.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:I thought GW's plastic cement had some sort of acrylic melting, acrylic glue melding thingamabob.

Nope. Just a 1% solution of Toluene to soften/melt the generally thin polystyrene sheeting. At least that's what my Tamiya liquid and Revell contact both have listed.

For miniatures: I prefer metal.
For mid sized models (vehicles) polystyrene or resin (resin only from certain companies and GW/FW isn't one of them). There, one vote for resin.
Larger kits: Polystyrene.

Resin is just another modelling medium. It requires similar skills to plastics modelling to detail, and some skills from metal figure modelling. It requires different adhesives to plastic, but can use the same ones as metals. Made well, resin can be a good product. Mediocre to bad resin kits are what give the medium a bad name. Unfortunately, the mediocre to bad casts outnumber the good ones.

Seems like resin should combine the best qualities of metal and plastic but doesn't seem to be working out that way.

Da Boss wrote:I don't much like resin except that it's not as heavy and liable to break at contact points, but it's so soft and I think it's harder to paint.

I've personally never had any issues painting my resin vehicles from Battlefront.

I largely prefer polystyrene simply because the cement is so much easier to use than superglue for the metals...

Resin.

Plastic all the way

Dont care as long as its from Brazil or Australia.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Seems like resin should combine the best qualities of metal and plastic but doesn't seem to be working out that way.

It CAN, but apparently not when GW is doing it. There are several small resin casters out there who proved that it CAN be done (FW isn't one of them, though).

For best results, resin needs pressure casting - Home and garage casters get away with paint sprayer pots and their airbrush compressor, proving it isn't THAT much more expensive to do, but you are looking at a couple of hundred dollars, which would be quite a large amount of resin and silicone rubber otherwise.

chromedog wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Seems like resin should combine the best qualities of metal and plastic but doesn't seem to be working out that way.

It CAN, but apparently not when GW is doing it. There are several small resin casters out there who proved that it CAN be done (FW isn't one of them, though).

For best results, resin needs pressure casting - Home and garage casters get away with paint sprayer pots and their airbrush compressor, proving it isn't THAT much more expensive to do, but you are looking at a couple of hundred dollars, which would be quite a large amount of resin and silicone rubber otherwise.

Are FW and GW resin creating methods different?

Plastic for everything except individual models, then metal. Haven't had a lot of experience with resin though, just 1 FW kit I helped out with.

I voted for plastic. It is easier to work with and is ideal for kit bashing/conversions (which I am a big fan of). In a perfect world, the majority of kits would be in plastic with only kits that have finite details (that do not show up very well in plastic) being casted in metal/resin.

I also think the monstrous creature kits deserve a special mention here. I am of the opinion that large monstrous creature metal kits are never a good idea. These kits in my opinion should always be resin/plastic/hybrid.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:Are FW and GW resin creating methods different?

Unknown, but it's expected that it's a different kind of resin. Early rumors were that it used the same molds, but the sprue frames seen so far indicate this is probably not true.

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Are FW and GW resin creating methods different?

Yes. In the press release they said it's a new type of resin. Slightly flexible IIRC, whereas forgeworld's is more brittle/rigid.

Resin won't get as many votes simply because most people aren't familiar with it. It's gaining popularity with newer companies that are looking to enter the market with a lower initial cost. So unless you buy miniatures from those smaller companies you probably haven't bought any yet. There's also a wider variety in the quality. Forgeworld's resin was horrible in their early years, and their parts were often warped beyond use. They've changed their resin, possibly their processes as well, and the quality has improved by a lot. The wide range of resins and quality make me cautious about purchasing resin minis, but that's based on bad personal experiences. When done right, resin can be superior to metal and plastic.

I voted plastic because of the great conversion possibilities, but I love buying a unique metal miniature that doesn't need conversion, just paint.

Mastiff wrote:

KamikazeCanuck wrote:
Are FW and GW resin creating methods different?

Yes. In the press release they said it's a new type of resin. Slightly flexible IIRC, whereas forgeworld's is more brittle/rigid.

Resin won't get as many votes simply because most people aren't familiar with it. It's gaining popularity with newer companies that are looking to enter the market with a lower initial cost. So unless you buy miniatures from those smaller companies you probably haven't bought any yet. There's also a wider variety in the quality. Forgeworld's resin was horrible in their early years, and their parts were often warped beyond use. They've changed their resin, possibly their processes as well, and the quality has improved by a lot. The wide range of resins and quality make me cautious about purchasing resin minis, but that's based on bad personal experiences. When done right, resin can be superior to metal and plastic.

I voted plastic because of the great conversion possibilities, but I love buying a unique metal miniature that doesn't need conversion, just paint.

Interesting. Bendy is better than brittle in books. There's an adage regarding trees about that.

I didn't vote b/c I'm torn between metal and plastic.

I really like the convertability of plastic and the fact that plastic kits (like GW's) tend to come with lots of bits that ficilitate further conversions. Converting is m favorite part of the wargaming hobby.

However, I really like the heft of metal models. I also like the variation in sculpts that metal models offered. Plastic multipose sculpts tend -by necessity- to be limited to poses that look good when joints are rotated. Metal models can achieve much more realistic poses and body positions with more accurate rendering of the accompanying muscle/flesh movement.

I've got a few resin models, but I'm not impressed with it's weight, seemingly inherent flaws, suceptibility to heat warpage, and comparative fragility and cost.

I prefer plastic, mostly for the ease of building and converting, but the light weight is nice too.

Resin is ok, but doesnt work as easy as plastic. Also more warping, pitting, etc. I find it to be better for larger models than small infantry type stuff.

Metal...when I started gaming metal was the rule. Some companies were offering plastic bits along with metal kits, but it was mainly metal. Overall I like metal least of all. Its heavy and difficult to convert.

Edit: funny note...I just ordered a handful of Rusted heroes fantasy minis, which are metal. Had to do it. I wanted knights on foot, and all GW offered me was mounted knights.

In my hand - metal
In my transport case - plastic

A Black Ram wrote:Pewter.

Yes. Pewter.