Material Preference for Character Models

[Lord Dan]

Please take a moment to answer the question, above.

[quietus1986]

non aslong as the details are oke and al I don't care. only thing is detail and but I have a preference for plastic and finecast ( less paint chipping )

[de Selby]

Polls for the poll god!

I voted plastic because the current range of plastics have the character and quality of the metals and the convertibility of... well.... plastic.
In principle the resins could take more detail but they also hold more defects.

[Asensur]

Both plastic and resin are easy to manipulate (metal was a pain in the ***)

However, plastic is cheaper, and resin has more detail.

My decision depends on the character. Simple and common characters made of plastic (hero wizards, leaders), and more complex characters made of resin (SCs, witch hunters, characters with lots of bits).

[tmarichards]

In a perfect world, I'd go with plastic- it's durable, light and easier to assemble and keep together before going into conversion attempts.

More reasonably though, I'd always go with Finecast- as much as people seem to have had catastrophic encounters with it, I've never had any serious problems with it.

[Drakcore Bloodtear]

For character I'd defiantly choose Finecast, all my Finecast purchases have been fine and great to paint and build, however the plastic character kits (although very nice and handy) don't have enough detail for my liking.

[pointyteeth]

I voted for Finecast on the perfect world basis. I haven't used it yet, but casting failure rates aside it is supposed to be a better material. Plastic would be my second choice and metal is my last choice (hate painting metal)

[Morkash]

I voted for metal, mainly for one reason: weight. While sometimes a serious downside I like my characters to be more heavy than the regiments around them. That said, I'd also play a full metal army. (My O&G are roughly 50/50 metal and plastic) The extra weight gives the feeling of quality even if there is no objective qualitative difference to FC and plastic.

Second choice would be plastic, because in my opinion the plastic characters were one of GW's few sensible decisions in the last years.

Of Finecast, I'm just not a fan. I have good and mediocre casts (well, only a handful minis anyways) and seen all varieties from near perfect to miscasted, but the material itself doesn't fill a gap for me which isn't already filled by plastic or metal.

[Texhnolyze]

Plastic is by far the best material imo

[dickiewaters]

I voted for metal, mainly for one reason: weight. While sometimes a serious downside I like my characters to be more heavy than the regiments around them. That said, I'd also play a full metal army. (My O&G are roughly 50/50 metal and plastic) The extra weight gives the feeling of quality even if there is no objective qualitative difference to FC and plastic.

Second choice would be plastic, because in my opinion the plastic characters were one of GW's few sensible decisions in the last years.

Of Finecast, I'm just not a fan. I have good and mediocre casts (well, only a handful minis anyways) and seen all varieties from near perfect to miscasted, but the material itself doesn't fill a gap for me which isn't already filled by plastic or metal.

Took the words right out of my mouth

[loveless]

Plastic, then metal, then Finecast for me.

Finecast and metal would swap places if Finecast were reliable.

[Bloodknight]

Metal, Finecast, Plastic.

I don't like plastic much for characters because it can't depict detail as well as the soft-mold mediums (no undercuts; as an example you can compare the old metal chaos terminators with the current plastic ones. The plastic models are much less crisp and the sides of the models carry no detail at all, especially the legs). Resin is great for detail and for huge models that are difficult to assemble in metal, but I like the heft of metal models a lot.

[Darnok]

What GW does with their current plastic characters is absolutely astonishing. At that level my preference would be: plastic, then metal, then finecast. Until GW can sort out their issues with their new production method, I don't want to buy finecast models.

[Graxy]

If everything was identical in price, definately I'd go with plastic. It's easy to work with, doesn't snap at a slight breeze, easy to repair/replace, VERY customizable, lighter (than metal), whilst still maintaining a good level of detail. The only downside really is that it has more obvious mould lines and has to be taken of the sprue (meaning more cleaning).

Next up it would be metal. For me at least, when I have a metal model painted and on the table, It give me more of a sense of achievement than anything else. Yes, it's heavier and it chips, but I prefer the heavier weight and if stored properly, chipping isn't too much of a problem. As well as this, it still holds a fair amount of detail and very rarely do you get a mould line that stares you in the face.

Finecast, in m opinion, was a terrible idea, or at least it's excecution was terrible. Prior to it, I had heard no complaints about metal (other than chipping), and now look at how many complains you hear A DAY about missing parts or air bubbles. In all honesty I can barely even tell that there's more detail on the models.


In reality though, metal is my preferance. Really the prices for plastic characters is getting outrageous. £18 for 2 models (in most cases, 1 of which I won't even be using) is ridiculous especially when there are many perfectly good metal models out there that can be used. For reasons I've already said, and cost, I do not like finecast at all, and am unbelievably dissapointed that O&G (my primary army) and dark elves (the army i've just started) are being made into finecast, which also basically confirms that many models that need updates (e.g. wolf chariots and pump wagons) aren't getting one for a while.

[shelfunit.]

Voted plastic, but it was a close call with metal. Wouldn't touch FC with a very long stick.

[Scaryscarymushroom]

I'd actually say that it depends on the pose.

I love a good solid 1-2 piece metal figure with a sense of sturdiness. Take Ursarkar Creed for instance.

For big things like the Morathi, Azhag, or for something like this wood elf with a really precarious stance, I'd prefer plastic to metal.

Notice that I didn't even mention finecast.

[underscore]

I voted plastic. Partly because it's easy to mod, easy to assemble, easy to transport and easy to look after (things intrinsic to the material, if you will) but also because of the amount of gubbins and options you get with the packs (which is the way GW tend to approach plastic kits).

[ftayl5]

Plastic is easy to work with, and there are some excellent plastic glues that melt pieces together meaning you almost never have to pin. Doesn't chip, lightweight and most of all easy to model.
Metal chips, weighs a lot, chips, often has more flash and mould lines which are harder to remove as they are metal. And it chips.
I have minimal experience with finecast but out of the 3 finecast models I own, all originally had several air bubbles in armour, cheeks, legs etc etc. These are particularly worrisome on a character model where details like this must be fixed. On the other hand it is much easier to work with than metal, but the quality of the cast in my experience has been lacking.

So for me: Plastic is the way to go. Metal and finecast are both inferior in my opinion.

[Jericho]

Finecast is good to work with... when you get a clean cast. As with pewter minis, I simply inspect the mini through the front of the pack before buying it. With boxes, just open it in the shop so you can know you're going home with a proper mini. That being said, there have been times where I wanted to buy a model but went home without one because all the packs on the wall looked like too much work to fix.

Forgeworld resin would probably be atop my preference list, followed by the most recent level of plastic minis, followed by pewter. Finecast is anywhere in between depending on the particular model and whether it has any long parts like spear or staff... those are usually in terrible shape due to warping.

I should note as well, Forgeworld has been using more spin casts in the style of Finecast lately. They seem a bit better than Finecast in terms of quality control, but they still have their problems at times. My latest batch of minis from them was all virtually perfect.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

The casting should be fine (as is pretty much always plastic and metal) and the detailing should be good. Since GW have proven as of lately that they're capable of doing as fine miniatures in plastic as they are in metal or Finecast, I'm all for plastic characters. Of course, metal ones aren't to be sniffed at.