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Thanks for the info. Hmmm doesn't sound so bad, I'm already super careful and meticulous. The only thing it seems I would have to do is perhaps get some more tools like a saw and dremel, and I guess a mask just in case.

Honestly, I always wear a mask working with resin in my garage.

Not just because of the resin dust, mostly because I have really bad allergies and pollen ramps them up like crazy

First...awesome avatar pic, where is it from? Now a slight correction, that, to me is huuuuge.

Kanluwen wrote:
Basically: resin is more fragile, but holds detail better than metal/plastic.

I am sorry, but resin being fragile is true, but it does not hold better detail then plastic or metal. Plastic you can get a better amount of detail with then resin. The only problem with it is the cost. If you spend the money to have the molds properly tooled up, and in some cases polished, you can have a mold that will turn out a far superior product then anything even FW puts out. It all just boils down to the cost, and if a company wants to spend the money on it.

Lunchb0x wrote:

First...awesome avatar pic, where is it from? Now a slight correction, that, to me is huuuuge.

From the "Black Sepulchre" book for the Dark Heresy RPG.

Kanluwen wrote:
Basically: resin is more fragile, but holds detail better than metal/plastic.

I am sorry, but resin being fragile is true, but it does not hold better detail then plastic or metal. Plastic you can get a better amount of detail with then resin. The only problem with it is the cost. If you spend the money to have the molds properly tooled up, and in some cases polished, you can have a mold that will turn out a far superior product then anything even FW puts out. It all just boils down to the cost, and if a company wants to spend the money on it.

We'll have to agree to disagree here, because I've seen resin stuff that blows away the detail you'll see on plastic or metal.

Unless of course by "metal" you're counting photoetched pieces.

Didn't this whole resin idea start on April 1st?

Before that, actually.

And there's been rumblings of a 'major change' for awhile, not least of which is the fact that they cut back on metal models in terms of how they're done. You get a 'splash release' where they'll be in shops, and then after awhile you'll see them no longer regularly stocked.

considering some the things being "discontinued" are metal models released this current month I am going to just say this rumor is ridiculous without any support.

I do not even believe many items on the discontinued list to be factual. Some are believable as possible soon to be upgraded models.

I also sincerely doubt GW is moving to resin. Resin molds for some reason are more prone to warping and casting defects than plastic or metal. It is easier [cheaper] to get higher detailed resin molds but given that they get used up faster in the end you are not saving money.

Resin also is not as friendly a product to work with as plastic or metal. Much of GWs target market is below the age of 18 and products have to conform to child safety laws. They would have to change the minimum age range of all the models being released as resin to I believe 14+ from 12+, which also requires a larger insurance policy the company must have to license such products to protect themselves financially from legal action should such arise.

I am not saying its bollocks, just I sincerely doubt the validity of this rumor.

Let's start a new rumor that will make everyone think happy thoughts.. how about something like.. "this big announcement in may is to announce the fantasy flight games is taking over the entire specialist range!" or "Battlefoam is taking over production of all official GW carrying cases" or better yet "Squats are back, and now they're pissed!"

dauthiatull wrote:injection molded plastics are cheap and easy and you can just toss scrap, bad casts and recycled plastic back in the pot and recast. so my guess is plastic

This. Plastic mold design with 3D scanning and CNC equipment today is extremely flexible, cheap and fast. Not to mention the fast turnaround on an insert mold where you don't have to cut large quantities of steel, just the mold cavities themselves is an even faster solution. In this case the entire mold isn't created, only a relatively small portion of the mold. For a single sprue character, probably a 8" x 6" x 3" piece of steel for the core and the cavity of the mold...if that. The mold itself is a modular base that contains all of the springs, ejector plates, cooling channels, etc. There's some time in changing the insert and the ejector plates outs for different spues, but it's minimal when you're looking at running production on a particular tool for a day to a week. The cost as someone else mentioned is the finish of the mold tool itself, how much time is spent polishing the mold.

Other advantages to plastics are the ability to mold relative families of parts. The cost of the plastic is fairly insignificant compared to the IP and development cost. For instance, if you're releasing a new Space Marine Codex you could cut a tool (mold) with multiple characters in the die. Run production and cut the sprues for individual packaging. If you don't sell as many of a character in that family mold, there's not a lot lost. The material can be reground, or the tool itself could have a blank insert placed in the tool for the next production run.

It would also make sense to cut a sprue for a character with multiple configurations of weapons, arms, etc. and provide the customer with more options. Most likely the number one reason people are fond of the current plastic sprues. A character today of poured metal is a solid chunk of pewter with little in the way of configuration options.

I don't see why they would bother with resin or metal at this point. The technology is available to design and manufacture high quality minuratures from plastic. I haven't seen a case of a metal to plastic where the plastic wasn't far superior to the metal equivalent. The Space Marine Dreadnought is a perfect example. If my two metal Dreads weren't painted, I would scrap them or sell them to one of the metal model fanatics here. Fact is, the plastic version of the Dreadnought is cleaner, no mismatched components that require heavy manipulation where parts come together. The sprue provided every variant that I could configure the dreadnought in. And finally, plastic is extremely easy to drill for magnets allowing me to magnetize my weapon variants. If you handed me the Metal Dreadnought an said it was old stock and I could have it for free, or offered to sell me the plastic one at retail price, I would hand you my credit card.

I would be very suprised to see a company like Games Workshop stick with low volume production methods such as rubber molds and resin / metal.

Happy 100'th thread!

But On-Topic, sweet lord that's a lot of stuff.

Well, at least I don't have to be a masochist and buy those damn broadsides.

Necros wrote:"this big announcement in may is to announce the fantasy flight games is taking over the entire specialist range!"

Wouldn't that be nice...

blaktoof wrote:considering some the things being "discontinued" are metal models released this current month I am going to just say this rumor is ridiculous without any support.

I do not even believe many items on the discontinued list to be factual. Some are believable as possible soon to be upgraded models.

I also sincerely doubt GW is moving to resin. Resin molds for some reason are more prone to warping and casting defects than plastic or metal. It is easier [cheaper] to get higher detailed resin molds but given that they get used up faster in the end you are not saving money.

Resin also is not as friendly a product to work with as plastic or metal. Much of GWs target market is below the age of 18 and products have to conform to child safety laws. They would have to change the minimum age range of all the models being released as resin to I believe 14+ from 12+, which also requires a larger insurance policy the company must have to license such products to protect themselves financially from legal action should such arise.

I am not saying its bollocks, just I sincerely doubt the validity of this rumor.

"I'm not saying it's BS...but I think it's BS"

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Necros wrote:"this big announcement in may is to announce the fantasy flight games is taking over the entire specialist range!"

Wouldn't that be nice...

Haven't they said that FFG has the rights to pretty much all of GW's Specialist Games range?

Necros wrote:Let's start a new rumor that will make everyone think happy thoughts.. how about something like.. "this big announcement in may is to announce the fantasy flight games is taking over the entire specialist range!" or "Battlefoam is taking over production of all official GW carrying cases" or better yet "Squats are back, and now they're pissed!"

Then it would FINALLY BE an awsome game with peoples thats do give a %?&@¢ about their customer base! I would support this 200%.

Didn't GW do this 3 or 4 years ago and all they did was change the codes on most of the product, repackage some of it and raise the price?

Bah was gonna buy Calgar and his honour gaurd but If he is being made into resin im not complaining you could kill somewhone with that metal kit.

they are prolly just changing product codes like canute said, they have done this exact thing before.

I'm following this "resin rumor" since some time now and i simply can't imagine that a company that still want to stay in business would turn to resin with all the safety concern that would arise!
Don't forget that a huge % a players (50% or eve more maybe!) are week-end warrior under 15 yo or so! I can't see why a serious company with "staying in business" as one of their main objective would throw itself in with resin and the garantied issues.

The problem is not only about the moms and dads concerns but with adult also! Like thousands i don't have a "garage" or a "backyard shed" as a hobby hideout... i'm working in my office wich is also my wife's office so i don't feel comfortable with having resin dust all over the place. Plus i'm not sure i would enjoy some sunday morning painting with a dust mask on for 2-3 hours!

If GW is serious about business they will simply turn their production 100% to plastic!

Kanluwen wrote:

H.B.M.C. wrote:

Necros wrote:"this big announcement in may is to announce the fantasy flight games is taking over the entire specialist range!"

Wouldn't that be nice...

Haven't they said that FFG has the rights to pretty much all of GW's Specialist Games range?

Not exactly. IIRC, they have license for any RPGs or boardgames, but not anything involving miniatures. Something along those lines anyway.

Lord_Tyrant wrote:I'm following this "resin rumor" since some time now and i simply can't imagine that a company that still want to stay in business would turn to resin with all the safety concern that would arise!
Don't forget that a huge % a players (50% or eve more maybe!) are week-end warrior under 15 yo or so! I can't see why a serious company with "staying in business" as one of their main objective would throw itself in with resin and the guaranteed issues.

And "don't forget" that a huge percentage of the models being supposedly converted to resin are going to be single piece models that, with clever casting, can be done in such a way as to not require filing or sanding(where the 'safety concerns' arise).

The problem is not only about the moms and dads concerns but with adult also! Like thousands i don't have a "garage" or a "backyard shed" as a hobby hideout... i'm working in my office which is also my wife's office so i don't feel comfortable with having resin dust all over the place. Plus i'm not sure i would enjoy some sunday morning painting with a dust mask on for 2-3 hours!

This alone tells me you have no clue what the "safety concerns" of resin are.
You don't need to wear a dust mask just for handling resin models. You don't see FW passing out dust masks at their booth when people are just walking by, do you?
You also don't need to 'go into a garage or a backyard shed' to prep a resin model. Wetting the model and file down and working it in a big bowl filled with water will also serve the same purpose as a dust mask or ventilated workspace.

If GW is serious about business they will simply turn their production 100% to plastic!

Plastic's a choking hazard. And heaven forbid a child use a lighter to try to battle damage his model!

See? I can play the overreacting, ill-informed masses too!

I gladly accept resin minis, if it makes my hive tyrant not weigh a ton then I am happy. And for all those flying the "toxic chemical" flag, I hope you realise, that the spray primers, and sealers, have toxic vapours, and IF you use that terrible excuse for an airbrush GW sells with the canned air that they sell, a young person risks inhaling the same fumes because the hose does not seal. The fumes from said aerosol products can cause instant death.

Kanluwen wrote:
And heaven forbid a child use a lighter to try to battle damage his model!

Or use one in lieu of glue(seriously, I knew someone who does this).

if GW would do resin,would this mean GW at FW prices?

if so that would suck:(

or is this resin going to be like privater press plastic resin mix?

Platuan4th wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:
And heaven forbid a child use a lighter to try to battle damage his model!

Or use one in lieu of glue(seriously, I knew someone who does this).

I...what?

I cannot fathom why anyone would do this.

31rls31 wrote:or is this resin going to be like privater press plastic resin mix?

Likely this one. Privateer has proven it works, and GW contrary to popular belief does watch what the other companies are doing.

btemple0 wrote:I gladly accept resin minis, if it makes my hive tyrant not weigh a ton then I am happy. And for all those flying the "toxic chemical" flag, I hope you realise, that the spray primers, and sealers, have toxic vapours, and IF you use that terrible excuse for an airbrush GW sells with the canned air that they sell, a young person risks inhaling the same fumes because the hose does not seal. The fumes from said aerosol products can cause instant death.

Good job I'm an Eternal Warrior......

The cynic inside me is yelling his head off.

So, metal prices are going up, eh? Stockists buy these metal minis at 30+% discount and often give us a good discount, too. By making these minis Direct Only (cutting out discounters in the process), GW effectively give themselves an almost 50% pay rise on metal minis (30% being almost half the 70% they were getting). Smells like a stealth price increase to me. Why would they need to spend a cent changing to resin with that kind of increase in sales margin?

canute wrote:Didn't GW do this 3 or 4 years ago and all they did was change the codes on most of the product, repackage some of it and raise the price?

Sorry guys, but I feel this may be the correct answer. There is no way they would discontinue a list that big in one go, a change to resin would have to be a phased activity, GW has far too many customers to make a massive change like that.

As for Direct Only, I can see that happening, since the evil accountants moved in GW has gone from money-grabbing scheme to money-grabbing scheme and this would just be another one...

Ketara you are simily stated a god among ants for your statement on page two. I bow before your greatness.

If the move to resin proves to be the case, then I care not one jot as long as...

1. The quality remains or improves.
2. The price remains or improves.
3. The ranges are then reopened to the FLGS/Indy stockists.

Lunchb0x wrote:I am sorry, but resin being fragile is true, but it does not hold better detail then plastic or metal. Plastic you can get a better amount of detail with then resin. The only problem with it is the cost. If you spend the money to have the molds properly tooled up, and in some cases polished, you can have a mold that will turn out a far superior product then anything even FW puts out. It all just boils down to the cost, and if a company wants to spend the money on it.

The quality of many resin kits is just mindblowing, you can't achieve the same level of intricate detail with plastic or the undercut. Many of the best resin figures are in military ranges and they are a world apart from plastic kits. Plastic is very good but when you buy good resin you get a product that can't be equalled.