Resin Figures quality.

[Kisifer]

Hello to all the fellow PF members and happy thanksgiving.

I was planning to buy for Christmas a couple of large scale american civil war figures, but unfortunatelly metal wise there is a very limited market. In resin though there are some great figures in 90mm-100mm and 120mm and i'm tempted to buy those. The thing is that i have never worked a resin figure so i'm asking you opinion. I mainly saw Verlinden and Michael Roberts figures that i liked. So if any of you have purchaced a figure of that series, please share your feedback and experience.
Thanks a lot in advance.


Xenofon

 

[Patrick Kirk]

Xenofon,
I have purchased both Verlinden and Michael Roberts figgers and will tell you that you will be hard pressed, IMHO, to find any better! I think that you will be very pleased that with your purchase from either one of them. Both have exceptional customer service, and althought I have never found a missing or broken part in a MR figger, Verlinden has sent a replacement part immediately.
I know that both Verlinden and MR have impeccable standards in casting and quality, I don't think you will be disappointed in the least.

All the best

Patrick

 

[Kirks1]

Hey Kisifer,

I agree with Patrick....excellent casting. The only complaint that I have about MR figures is that they have little more than a slit for the eyes. I have purchased a few MR figures and it seems to be tha norm. Other than that, no problems at all.

Sean

 

[KeithP]

Yeah. The MR are just fine. At lease the one Naval Brigade figure that I am almost done with. Excellent detail. No issues with the eyes. The only minor issue was a tight fit of the head to the torso. Easily fixed.

Keith

 

[Guy]

I have bought and painted both Michael Roberts and Verlinden since the companies first started and have always found them to be of excelent quality with great service if a problem arose.

I was at first intimidated by the reisin kits but found that I could use the same primer and paints as I do on metal.

 

[Old Pete]

Hi Xenofon,
My favorite period is the American Civil War and I have all MR,s figures and in my opinion they are superb I,ve been buying them since I first saw them at the first World Expo and have,nt been disapointed yet the next one is always better than the last,if I were you I would get the 146th New York it,s as they say in Scotland a cracker. The verlinden figures are also very good but to me not in the quite the same class
George

 

[Kisifer]

Thanks a lot for the feedback guys, i really appreciated it seems i will get a few MR figures from military miniatures warehouse (i like PayPal payments). Thanks again.

 

[Anders Heintz]

If you get a Verlinden kit be aware that the kit will come in like 20 pices, you have to put everything together, which to me is a huge draw back! Never figured out why they insist on cutting the figures at the torso when you can cast the whole thing at once!

 

[amherbert]

Originally posted by Anders Heintz@Nov 30 2004, 04:21 PM
...Never figured out why they insist on cutting the figures at the torso when you can cast the whole thing at once!

I think it's so they can use the same legs, feet, or torsos for multiple releases. That's true of their 54mm WW2 figures. Warriors has done the same thing. Same with Royal Models. That's why there are separate feet for many figures. Makes it easier to convert them too.

I bet it keeps the molds simpler, and if one part wears out, you can redo that part of the mold without having to redo the whole thing. I'm sure it's all related to economies of scale.

Andy

 

[Evan August]

I have a collection of resin figures in progress, and I find that they are great. Very nice in terms of detail and casting. You will be impressed. Just remember one important thing about working with resin: always wear a mask when cutting or sanding. The dust goes everywhere, and from what I understand, you don't want to inhale that stuff. I use an X-acto saw for cutting pieces from the blocks. I have yet to purchase an MR figure, but I hear they are quite nice. As for Verlinden, I have some of their 1/35 WW2 figures, and they can vary from being quite nice to being like one I have who happens to be rather poorly casted. He's missing half his foot! Not sure if this is a problem in the larger scale kits though.

 

[Patrick Kirk]

Evan,
Conact Verlinden directly...I am certain that they will see that you get a higher quality figure and replace the one that is deformed, so to speak. If you let it go, then the manufactor doesn't know that there is a problem and also, what they don't know, they can't fix...

All the best

Patrick

 

[Patrick Kirk]

Originally posted by Kirks1@Nov 30 2004, 09:08 AM
The only complaint that I have about MR figures is that they have little more than a slit for the eyes. I have purchased a few MR figures and it seems to be tha norm.

Sean,
Do you think that is a casting or sculpting issue?
Everyone of the figgers that I have of MRs have excellent cast and sculpted eyes...The best ones I have seen are the Trooper, 15th Regiment Dragoons, Dismounted Service 1809 and the Sous-Lieutenant, 20th Dragoons, Egypt 1800 as well as the Private, 20th Maine or 54th Massachusetts. All have exceptional face work...

All the best

Patrick

 

[Pete_H]

Brother Patrick,
It's definitely not a sculpting issue re: eyes. I think the whole "slit syndrome" is more of a scale issue if anything else. Another thing to consider is the fact that, when outdoors, things may tend to be brighter thus causing us to squint a bit. IMHO, this looks a lot more natural (like Horan's figures) than some wide-bright-eyed guy indoors.
I also agree that Michael Roberts and Verlinden are amongst the best cast figures out there today. I would also like to add United Empire and Alpha Image to the list. In particular, I like the cool variety of Alpha Image figures, particularly their - you guessed it - World War II figures. Some come as 2-figure sets that make for some really neat mini-vignettes (the Soviet officer surrendering to the German NCO comes to mind). Another one that I'm sure you, of all people, would enjoy is their 120mm LRRP Ranger - lots of cool tiger-stripe to paint

Cheers!

 

[jasonballamy]

As I have a liking for larger figures and busts, 95% of what I paint is resin. Haven't done a Verlinden for some time as I'm not so keen on the sculpting/poses of the recent releases. Working on a couple of UEM 120mm figures at the moment which are superbly cast and you can't go far wrong with sculpting by Alan Ball & Mike Blank.

Here are some of my figures

http://photobucket.com/albums/v156/jasonba...Models/?start=0

Jason

 

[KeithP]

VL busts are good quality for the $. I have done 3 Napoleonic busts and they were almost flawless casting. Detail on the sculpt was pretty darn nice too, IMHO.

I like the look of alot of UEM busts, too.

Keith