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Having been into warhammer since 03' or so, I came into the hobby being used to metal models. To me they conveyed the importance of a unit, as they were somehow more substantial and important feeling than the bulk of your army's troops.

I like the reusability of them. You can strip and repaint a metal model almost infinitely. Plastics and resins don't do so well, at least in my experience.

I feel like I'm getting what I paid for with a metal model.

Metals are less likely to break, and won't warp over time like resins can.

I've just been feeling rather nostalgic for them lately, I suppose. I've put together 3 entirely pewter (with the exception of vehicles) armies this year. One eldar, one inquisition, and one chaos nurgle marine force. It really bums me out that we've seen the last of the metal models from GW.

Do any of you prefer metals these days?

You mean do i prefer Failcast? The answer is no. Metal models are way better and sit better in tough spots on the table! I don't find that metal has much less "sharp" detail. Metal all the way.

Plastic is the simplest for me to work with. Finecast is tolerable but I try to keep it to a minimum on a given model. Metal is a huge pain in the ass to model with. It's unnecessarily heavy and nearly impossible to modify with simple tools, though I once had good results using a Dremel tool.

I like the weight though, so I just superglue metal washers and similar things to the underside of the bases of my models. Helps them stand up on uneven surfaces and inclines.

I do like metal, wouldn't say I vastly prefer it.

But I've still got some old Tallarn and Valhallen figures that are in great shape. They've been carried all over the place, dropped, had things dropped on them... They've definitely endured better than plastic ones. And I like the heft that they have, and for some reason I feel more confident painting metal than plastic or resin.

They each have their issues, but the metal models I own require a lot less hassle to prepare. For example, I have a metal Pedro Kantor and a "Fine"cast Commander Dante.

My Pedro had a lot of little metal chunks that needed to be picked off, but otherwise he was flawless. The big issue I ran into with him was getting his back banner attached. It kept falling off no matter how well it was glued. It even ended up ruining some of the detail on his backpack. I pinned it together and now it is solid and perfect. He is a bit heavy on his basing material, but otherwise very good.

My Commander Dante was riddled with little triangular pieces of resin jutting out from multiple areas. Every time I though I got them all, I would find another one. His axe was also very warped. I put him in warm water to fix it, but despite that the axe snapped off right above his hand. I was able to pin it back together, but it still irritates me. I haven't finished painting him yet. I will say that the resin does make it easier to attach him to a base(Dante only has one foot touching the base), and I am betting he will have a pretty solid hold when he is finally done. If he were metal, I would be afraid of him falling off the base all the time. And since he has such a small footprint(ha!) he would be hard to do something to aid in him staying attached, such as pinning.

So that is my two cents.

EDIT: Forgot to talk about plastic. Plastic is great for troops, and contrary to what you said, there are ways to strip it fairly effortlessly (soak it in denatured alcohol, it does not harm the plastic and strips the paint right off). Plastic is infinitely easier to deal with than any other material. It holds it shape like metal, but can be altered and modeled with without much effort like resin. Best of both worlds. And there have been some pretty good advances in how plastic is molded that it can actually be pretty detailed. Look at the new Sternguard, Tacticals (both the C:SM and BA), Devs, and Assault Marines. The old plastic kits for these(except Sternguard since they didn't have plastics) looked pretty awful. They lacked detail and looked a bit like they were made of Play-Doh. The new kits are very crisp.

Metal is preferable for super detailed minis (I hate resin), but for troops I prefer plastic.

I prefer metal, but for some minis from DarkSword a so I would rather take plastic.

I strongly dislike metal models, it's difficult to change the pose in some cases impossible. They can, depending on the pose be really awkward to paint. I grew up with metal, music and models and have no desire to see either back on my radar!

Metal over Finecast so bad that I go to Ebay for the metal versions of models that went over to Finecast. I pay less than the exorbitant GW finecast prices, and the models are magnitudes sturdier than that fossilized shaving cream.

Plastic all the way for me.

Smaller metal models like infantry size are clumsy on unlevel terrain. Thin parts on metal models are brittle. At least with GW, metal models (when they sold them) didn't come with lots of extra bits, and in many cases, no extra bits. Metal models are much more of a PITA to convert/kitbash than plastic.

But when compared to resin, I'll take metal every time. I don't even care for the forgeworld resin, let alone failcast.

I prefer metal models. I will still go on ebay and hunt for the metal version if there was one for my IG and SM.

I might be slightly biased also as my primary army is 100% metal, Sisters of Battle

Obviously Metal >>>>> Finecrap. But that's not a great achievement, since virtually anything beats Finecrap as a product.

I'm a fan of metal models, perhaps because I got introduced to the hobby in the very early 00s when metal models, in my opinion, reached an unprecedented quality level (Rackham, some of the GW ranges of the time too, etc) while plastic models still had quite a goofy feeling attached to them.

It's been almost 15 years and plastic models have improved massively, but I still prefer metal with the single exception of large models and big units.

I'm not a big fan of resin, although I do already own some very nice resin kits.

If I want a character that I know I will not modify, metal is fine.
However, if I want it for a conversion or use it as a base for a conversion, I prefer plastic or any kind of resin, even Finecast, because let's be honest, the quality is okay nowadays.
Overall, I prefer bulding plastic models.

If given the choice, metal is always the preferred material. Metal is durable, tolerant of temperature extremes, it has intrinsic value, and since wargaming is a tactile hobby, it has a reassuring heft I don't dislike plastic and resin, I just find more value in metal.

I like plastic, but metal is preferable to failcast.

One thing I love about metal is how easy it is to strip paint.

In terms of ease to work with:

Plastic > Resin > Metal > Finecast

Plastic for me, metal is too clunky.

I like them sparingly, it's nice for your HQ to weigh a pound and a half, but beyond that, not for line troops

Metal all the way.

I went to great lengths to have 9 metal Oblitorators and if I could I would have my spawn and land raiders in metal as well.

I have many old metal models and to be honest I'm going to be buried with them.

What if they had Super Heavy Walkers and Tanks in pewter?

 Filch wrote:
What if they had Super Heavy Walkers and Tanks in pewter?

They do.

Look up pewter Thunderhawk

 Filch wrote:
What if they had Super Heavy Walkers and Tanks in pewter?

Maybe people would stop with the knight spam if they had to carry a 100lbs of models just to play the list.

 Filch wrote:
What if they had Super Heavy Walkers and Tanks in pewter?

BTD and the others used to do all metal WW2 tanks back about 15 years ago, they are still only sale but nobody buys them now resin and plastic versions are widely avalible.

 Konrax wrote:

 Filch wrote:
What if they had Super Heavy Walkers and Tanks in pewter?

Maybe people would stop with the knight spam if they had to carry a 100lbs of models just to play the list.

Love it! Now I have an excuse. "Sorry man, I only play against metal Knights."

I love my metal minis.I like the weight of them the surface texture (or lack of), the colour.

Its probably nostalgia as all the mini s i collected early on in my hobby life were metal.

I like plastic too and resin. But I have a real soft spot for pewter and white metal.

Nobody puts a plastic dreadnought in a sock to administer a beating.

...Just sayin'

Metal. I like the weight. In fact I glue a pound of nuts in each of my rhinos to make them more weighty.

 Brennonjw wrote:
I like them sparingly, it's nice for your HQ to weigh a pound and a half, but beyond that, not for line troops

But what about Sisters of Battle? Our line troops are metal. So are our HQ, and elites, and fast attack, and heavy support

I've had terrible luck trying to assemble metal models. Usually ends badly, Plastic for me 100%

For unique models, metal. But for troops and things to convert, plastic (although that still depends, got a vostroyan army but that was more in the unique category for me). The detail you can get on metal is also quite good, e.g. infinity