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Hey all,

I have a load of metal miniatures that I am looking to paint up. However I've only ever played tabletop games with plastic minis.

I am worried about how easily these metal minis might chip whilst using for gaming, despite a gloss and matte varnish.

So before I put a load of effort in painting these, I was wondering if people could relay their experience to me? Is paint chipping inevitable when playing with metal minis? Are there are other preventative measures I could take whilst painting?

Thanks

Metal miniatures are more fragile than plastic, in that, if they fall from the table, they're gonna dent, causing the paint to chip.

But gamers have been playing with metal miniatures for *decades* before plastic was more common.

Best way to handle miniatures is to hold them by the base.

I love metal. Lovely material and they give your miniatures heft which they don't have with plastics. I want my shelves to buckle under the weight of armies!

Treat them with respect. They're delicate and fragile. Don't scoop up models like some do with plastics (still makes me cringe). Also, pin things! The first things that often pop off are poor joins, so pin narrow joints and weight bearing parts. Different sized brass rods are invaluable.

Finally, converting a metal model will get oodles of respect. That's no easy task to do

I like the feel of metal models - especially for things that Dreadnoughts that seem so much more substantial that way.

It's also find to catch people by surprise when you pass them a mini and it weighs 10 times what they expected.

There are different sorts of metal minis. Depending on the age of your minis, they might be made of lead, pewter or a "white metal" lead alloy or a later harder lead-free formulation. (For GW pre-1993 is lead, post 1997 is lead-free, and in between could be either.)

You do need to be a bit more careful around lead minis - I like to give them a very thorough coat of primer before painting them, and I wouldn't suggest using a dremel to grind bits down. (Also, keep them away from pets and children).

I put a matte varnish on all of my minis. I've had a few issues with the metal ones. Dropping them or frequent handling can rub paint off over time. Hold them by the bases, as mentioned above.

During normal handling, the only difference will be that the metal miniature feels heavier. Once the primer's on, the rest of the paint doesn't know what the miniature's made of.

Battlemats are your friend. When a miniature falls off a building you'll be much happier to have them fall onto spongy mat rather than wood or plastic.

IME, with careful handling and a good coat of varnish, the biggest enemy of metal minis is other metal minis. In that them bumping into each other is far more likely to cause chips than nearly anything else (in terms of what they're going to be regularly exposed to under normal conditions.)

Therefore a transport/storage solution that keeps them neatly separated and a little care when placing them on the tabletop and handling them are the main areas to consider. My 9 man Guild Ball team (the main all metal thing I use regularly at the moment) are only half varnished as there's things I plan to go back to on the others before I seal them, and even they are doing fine under this treatment.

Also, pinning is essential. My main memory of using metal is arms breaking off in transit, so playing with a fully assembled army was rare, and superglue was taken to every game.

Really, the biggest point where paint runs into problems is when people just lump a whole pile of minis into a container or something to transport them. It's that hard metal on metal contact as they're jostled around that takes paint off, and the biggest difference from plastics.

It depends on how hard you handle the item and how well you prepare the model.

I do feel that metal models require more preparation and care, but I also love the feel of them and much prefer them to resins. I don't feel that comparing them to plastic is fair as plastic is it's own tier.

I have two metal hellcannons for my WoC and I pinned everything I could with them. Once I was done painting them I put two coats of gloss varnish and one coat of dullcote on them. This is standard for me across all materials, I would rather overdo it once at the beginning and then never have to worry about them again. Anyway I was playing a game with them once and one of them was on the edge of the table and some moron with a freaking backpack on came blundering through the gaming tables and ended up knocking off one of my hellcannons onto the hardwood floor. End result? A bent spike and a corner of the base broke off. THE MODEL WAS OTHERWISE UNBLEMISHED.

It's all about the preparation.

 JamesY wrote:
Also, pinning is essential. My main memory of using metal is arms breaking off in transit, so playing with a fully assembled army was rare, and superglue was taken to every game.

I second this, I lub metal mini's but pinning has always been a thing and given some companies sculpts metal like its plastic (PP and Steamforged I'm grumping at you) with tiny contact areas on thin limbs to add challenge to hobbying itsxa skill you need to develop

Metal will chip...occasionally. Every year or two you may have a sit down and patch up a dozen minis etc. Don't drop them and don't scoop them into buckets or boxes (something you can do with plastics). I find metals vastly preferable due to the undercut/sharper detail...without the flimsiness or crumbling of resin.

Metal miniatures also strip down incredibly easy when you wish to re-paint them 10-15-20 years from now.

I prefer metal models to any other material. In 20 years if you want to strip them and repaint them you can. I doubt a lot of current day large plastic kits will stand the test of time in that way. I know I'm in the minority in that I don't mind pinning and find prepping metal models way less messy than having plastic dust from cleaning mold lines flying everywhere. Just make sure you clean them well with simple green or something similar before priming and varnish them. I use 2 coats of glosscote and 2 coats of dullcote, maybe a bit overboard but it works.

Plastic > Metal any day of the week for me. Whether that means painting, assembly, packaging for travel or shipping. If you want something heavy lift weights .

I've gamed with metal minis for a long time. I've found that they're no more prone to damage than other minis, just prone to different damage. I've got some entire sci-fi armies and Kings of War foot units made entirely of vintage metal minis. Here's a unit of mixed vintage chaos warriors facing off against Vintage Ral Partha Dwarves. Heavy Metal baby!



Durring actual play there's not much difference in durability. When falling off a table however, there is.

-Drop plastic or resin and you'll break off small parts.
-Drop metal and you'll chip the paint and bend small parts.

All minis types have some upkeep requirements, they're just different.

As for pinning and general assembly, sometimes it's necessary, but I've gotten just as good results with 2-part epoxy as long as the joint area is adequate. If the joints are medium-small then pinning is a good idea. If the joints are very small (too small to pin) then use some rubberized superglue (Gorilla "Impact Tough" or BSI Instaflex) and pray.

Metal isn't just a figure choice.

It's a lifestyle.

Besides, once you learn how to convert metals, doing it to any other type (plastic/resin) is just soooooo much easier.

People who only ever experience plastic figures never know the "Joy" that is learning to deal with metal miniatures. I wouldn't trade it for the world.

The huffing fumes (Seriously, DON'T do this. Wear a respirator.) while smelting ingots down to cast my own figures. The burned fingers trying to extract still-too-hot models from their moulds, the too-fragile casts because you didn't warm the moulds up first and they hardened too quickly.

Stripping is easier, too. Don't have to worry about whether acetone will dissolve the figure (it won't) and have to use a more enviro-dolphin-friendly-non-toxic-to-rainbows paint removal solvent instead.

As a Battletech player, I probably have literally a couple hundred pounds of metal miniatures.

Everything said here is true, plus the bonus of leaving your minis in a hot car on accident will just damage the paint, not melt the miniature itself!

If there is a metal version of the mini, I will get the metal over the plastic/resin.

For an everyday trooper plastic is fine, but there are certain centerpiece minis that just HAVE to be metal. Something about the weight gives them more presence.

Make sure you're using a decent primer. Army Painter's primers are kinda wimpy even if the color selection is good, and I've had a load of metal minis chip when using it, even after multiple coats of gloss and matte varnish. Next time I use their primers, it's going to be over some Krylon spray primer to make sure they don't chip.

Comparatively, my Valhallan army is all metal and I just used black primer for everybody, and they almost never chip. Metal models will chip more than plastics, but if you take decent care of them they'll be fine.

Always liked the metal miniatures myself. Probably because I was gaming in the late eighties and all figures were metal until the early Space Marine, Imperial Guard, Squat and Ork boxes came out.

Cheers,

CB

My main game is Infinity, which uses exclusively metal miniatures. Despite lugging them to and from the game store regularly to play games, on tables that are DIY with rough sandy textured surfaces, I've had very few paint chips. Those I have had were from when I carelessly dropped a miniature.

Double or triple layers of varnish are the way to go. Personally I do a brush on gloss or satin layer, and when dry, I do a matt layer. That's been enough protection so far.

However, I do have good transport for them, as they're moved about in battlefoam bags, using trays with slots that are angled (I use the Tyranid Hormagaunt and Temragant trays which are V shaped) that let me wedge the base in the angled part while the rest of the model has some wiggle room before touching the foam. Personally I've found this has prevented chipping, breaking due to moving in the tray or catching when removing from the tray and wearing the varnish/paint off due to excessive contact with the foam.

Basically, transport your models well in a way that works for you, and give them some good layers of varnish for protection, and treat them well on the table and you won't have to deal with chipped paint.

Khador players with metal jacks have the intimidation factor, and if their snacks are threatened can put said heavy jack in a sock and take someone out with it SOCKJACK!!

I played metal GK for a while. They chip easier, but a decent varnish and a good case go a long way toward keeping them good. I think my Inquisitor Coteaz is finally a little chipped after 5 years or so of him being painted. Obviously, dropping them is a big no-no, but stuff happens.

Can't stand metal. The 1st gen Slann on his palanquin gave me fits. So much repainting... Conversions on metal are really tough too. I still have nightmares of trying to convert East Asian Space Marines with metal Mishima parts.

Metal is what has kept me out of Infinity all these years.

Warmahordes finally started making plastics so I'm going through somewhat of a Warmahorde craze now.

Love metal minis. Have metal figures in multiple scales from 1:600, 6mm, 15mm (including vehicles), 28+mm. Never had any real issues except when dropped, and frankly I'm pretty careful so that has rarely happened.

Do any of you have a preference between painting metal or plastic minis?

I guess once the model is primed it doesn't really matter, but to my eye the metal GW figures I have seem to have less detail/recesses than the plastic kits.

Having not painted metal properly before, I have a feeling they will be harder because of this

I prefer painting metal. Probably because I've done it for longer.

But it will also come down to the primer you use. A good one makes painting metal as easy as painting plastic.

A bad one will mean not even painting plastic will be easy.

Mordian2016 wrote:
Do any of you have a preference between painting metal or plastic minis?

I guess once the model is primed it doesn't really matter, but to my eye the metal GW figures I have seem to have less detail/recesses than the plastic kits.

Having not painted metal properly before, I have a feeling they will be harder because of this

Exact opposite in my experience. A good example is the faces between the older metal scouts and the new plastic ones. Next to me right now, I have a squad of metal Banshees and plastic Dire Avengers, and the Banshees have much more recessed detail. I find the metal Dark Angels shoulder pads I bought as bits back in the day are more pronounced than the Chapter symbols on the Dark Vengeance Dark Angels too.

Once primed, I don't really have a preference. I do prefer assembling plastic (easier glue to work with, and I've got too many grey hairs from trying to pin huge metal dragon wings and the like). When GW first started moving to plastic, wanting to have a full plastic army was a goal of a lot of people for practicality and because not needing to varnish so much opened a few new options in painting. Now it seems to be the default.

Metal is fine, if you're not a ham-fisted muppet.

Don't multi-pick models (one in hand at a time).

Don't drop 'em, clink 'em, or knock 'em over (especially true on sanded gaming surfaces).

In short, handle with a modicum of care (which you should do with ANY model, especially other peoples) and it's fine.

I regularly play games with my kids, all of whom know how to handle metal models without wrecking them.