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Hi All,
Been painting and modelling 40k for years now, but its never occured to me that I might be damaging my health doing it. What are the GW metal models now made of? Is it pewter or lead? Is there any need for some sort of mask to keep the dust out of my poor lungs or are the filings to heavy to be inhaled? While I'm on the subject, what about the plastic guys aswell?

Thanks in advance.

They use a lead-free white metal alloy. I'm not sure what the plastic is. It is unlikely that the materials they use are toxic, but inhaling filings of foreign materials of any kind can have negative health consequences. So you should still try not to breathe too deeply

wash your hands after a modelling session to be extra-safe.

Well, they don't use lead anymore, but antimony and bismuth are still not considered "safe" - but they are both better than cadmium.

Wash your hands and don't put them in your mouth - which shouldn't even be a thought in your heads you numpties.

Better get on with these Immortals then

chromedog wrote:Well, they don't use lead anymore, but antimony and bismuth are still not considered "safe" - but they are both better than cadmium.

Wash your hands and don't put them in your mouth - which shouldn't even be a thought in your heads you numpties.

From Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bismuth )

Scientific literature concurs with the idea that bismuth and its compounds are less toxic than lead or its other periodic table neighbours (antimony, polonium)[26] and that it is not bioaccumulative. Its biological half-life for whole-body retention is 5 days but it can remain in the kidney for years in patients treated with bismuth compounds.[27] In the industry, it is considered as one of the least toxic heavy metals.

Bismuth isn't *that* dangerous.....I mean, it's the main ingredient in Pepto-Bismal.

That being said, don't breathe any sort of metal filing. Most of them don't break down well in our bodies, and so cause an envelope of (basically, I'm no medic) scar tissue around it, which leads to cancerous growths. So, all in all, not likely to kill you, but I still wouldn't recommend it.

The most dangerous thing to me is that I tend to scrape harder with the hobby knife on mold lines, and it can slip and cut fingers.

Don't breathe in any sort of particulate matter. Don't eat the metal. Don't drink your painting water.

The amount of handling you'd do on a raw model during the process of painting means that even if it was lead (and some manufacturers use lead alloys still) it isn't going to kill you.

If you cut up some really old models for converting purposes you might find lead. They are darker gray and soft so the detail will probably be worn down. Plastic models aren't much of a problem but don't breathe the dust if you're dremelling away on resin parts!

Nice

I know some guys who cast lead items for a living.
They are blood tested monthly - and they have all come up with Negligible readings after 10-15 years doing this.

Follow the precautions and you'll be fine.
Don't follow them, and the Darwin Awards have a spot ready for you.