Anyone else miss metal models? Any chance we'll see them again?

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**A Town Called Malus**

Iron_Captain wrote:
metal is almost impossible to use for conversions and kitbashing.

What? No it isn't. It just requires a thin saw, maybe some paperclips or wire for pinning and some files. More time consuming but not impossible.

For Fantasy I have a converted Malus Darkblade made of parts of the OOP official Malus model (in metal), the Dreadlord on Cold One model (also in metal) and some light greenstuff work.

**chromedog**

Metal forever.

GW stopped producing metal models. I stopped playing their games.

Lots of other games with metals though.

**Lobokai**

plastic, everything.

**NoiseMarine with Tinnitus**

I loved the metal minis. Albeit metal is not as detailed as todays plastic and even finecrap but I think it is more of a nostalgia thing for me, started in the eighties and I still remember my commissar on a jet bike!

Will we see a return to metal? Never!

**Filch**

pumpinchimp wrote:
sing your life wrote:
The plastic itself for 1 single clampack in the material probably cost about 18 pence, yet they think the reasonable price is £17.99 [ten fething thousand percent mark-up in price FYU]... it just doesn't work out at all.

You aren't just paying for the materials.

The artist who creates the original sculpt needs paid.
The CAD designer who converted the sculpt into a model with multiple parts needs paid.
The machine that actually makes the sprue needs bought.
- Also, plastic isn't like metal, you can't melt it down and remould it, if the moulding is imperfect you have to just bin it, that cost needs factored in.
The artist who designed the packing needs paid
The packaging materials need bought
The machine that puts the sprue in the packaging needs bought.
The lorry that transfers the models from the factory to the warehouse needs paid for.
The lorry that trnsfers the models from the warehouse to the stores needs paid for.
The sales staff need paid
The rules writers need paid
The accountants need paid
The warehouse staff need paid
The shop staff need paid.
The cleaners need paid.
etc.

Before you moan about pricing, remember that all of those costs need factored in for GW to turn a profit on a model. Every single company's goal is to turn a profit, they don't want to just recoup their costs.

Also, this is a niche hobby, the model runs are probably pretty small so all those costs need spread across a relatively small number of sale units. You are also paying for their IP (which is GW's most valuable asset).

It sucks but the reality of it is that you are paying for all of that whenever you buy a model.

I hear this explanation all the time. What about other competing companies being able to make models cheaper, detailed and write much better rules?

Flames of war, Warmachines, Mantics, Infinity?

I dont think the writers deserve a single penny especially the Eldar dex for broken imba scat bikes and 300pt WK.
The salesperson would often do not know much about wh40k and is only there to push the new model kits and meet quota. Now some have become more knowledge able but are now 1 man stores.
The warehouse? I often hear they are out of stock often.
The artist do deserve pay but how much. The new artists deserve good pay, not the silly looking models from 20-30 years ago. Those models look like children made it.

The Computer Aided Design guy has the computer to do his job. I am not sure how difficult it is.

Oh and you forgot the hidden cost the Lawyers fees! GW spends so much more money on defending thier IP than they do on making models and rules. This is where most of the cost of a model comes from.

**techsoldaten**

It's more like investors need to see a dividend annually. All the other costs only add up to so much.

GW would be a much different company if it was privately owned.

I miss metal. Clear acrylic varishes have come a long way and chipping is much less of an issue than it was in the day. The biggest reason I miss it is that modelling took more effort, you had to put more thought into your work and it lead to better products.

**JamesY**

The only thing I miss about metal is the variety it gave, loads of different lords/captains/librarians etc. When the day comes that gw drops resin entirely and every character has a single plastic sprue, with little to no variety in build options, it will be a sad day. However, I'd much rather have to convert plastic for variety in characters than lug a metal army around. I hated the obligatory regluing arms back on before a game that went alongside metal, always at least one snapped off part.

**PrehistoricUFO**

I do, quite a lot. Any time I have to buy a model online or through trades, I always search/inquire about metals first. I just like assembling them, pinning them, feeling their weight after assembly, painting them.

Metals forever!

**TheSilo**

I certainly enjoy my metal assassins, Schaeffer's Last Chancers, Tallarns, Mordians, etc. But metal models are much harder to glue, roughly 10% of my 40k time was spent just assembling the old damned Dark Eldar talos, which won't even stay on its stand because it's too heavy and tips over. My leman russ demolisher also tips forward if you bump it at all.

Then there's transportation, probably not too bad for most armies, but lugging around 60 pewter Imperial Guardsmen is awful. I've pulled every metal lasgunner out of my boxes so that I don't have to carry them around.

Plastics are better.

**AegisGrimm**

I have specifically gone to Ebay and the Toronto bitz guy at GenCon to buy all my Eldar aspects in metal, save for the Dire Avengers. All of them are a thousand times sturdier than in Finecast, and about a third the price.

Plastic is great, but if I have to choose between Finecast and metal, the choice is obvious for me.

**Grimmor**

Metal was ok, except the Metal Hive Tyrant, that thing pissed me off. Personally i prefer plastic and there has only been one resin model from GW that i actually like more than its plastic version, and that is Flamers of Tzeentch. Three parts? Yes please.

**angelofvengeance**

Metal is a ball ache. ALWAYS ALWAYS ends up with an arm snapping off lol.

**Melissia**

Also to make it more clear, no, I do not miss metal.

Goddamned GW not releasing plastic Sisters yet, I mean for the Emperor's sake...

**toasteroven**

angelofvengeance wrote:
Metal is a ball ache. ALWAYS ALWAYS ends up with an arm snapping off lol.

Oh man... My poor steel legion dudes.

Maybe I was just being nostalgic.

**evildrspock**

I always prefer plastic kits first, then metal and then the finecasts. Finecast has well ... people know.

**JohnHwangDD**

GW and others will never go back to metal - plastic is cheaper to produce and now looks completely acceptable.

OTOH, I own several 100s of metal infantry (Eldar, IG, Sisters, etc.) and am very happy with that. The undercuts possible with rubber molds allow for some truly amazing natural sculpts. The physical weight is also a benefit on the tabletop.

I also own a fair amount of plastic, and the new stuff is quite good - the crispness and precision is amazing. It looks good for anything mass-produced (e.g. tanks, Space Marines). It doesn't chip as much as metal, so that's a nice thing.

**Wolf_in_Human_Shape**

Plastic, by a wide margin.

For models that used to be metal but are now (or were recently) produced in finecast, I'll take metal every time.

I do wish eBay sellers would stop deluding themselves into thinking every metal mini is some sort of collector's item that is somehow worth a king's ransom.

**Swastakowey**

Metal has to be my favourite material for models after Resin. The amount of detail those materials can hold is stunning.

I think plastic is fine too, but plastic often looks chunky when it comes to details(not always but often). If I could have it my way, I would use plastic for weapons (since weapons are often very thin and plastic seems to make thin weapons well... but not fine details somehow) then metal/resin for the base model.

Ultimately all have pros and cons.