Resin V White metal.

[housecarl]

After reading a few comments about peoples preference of materials. I was just wondering, like you do. Who prefers which medium and why?
I prefer resin because it cleans up easier, cheaper to post and I find it holds paint much better.
Thanks,
Carl.

 

[sam b]

Resin for me mate , its much more crisp , the lines n fold are better the only thing I dislike is the dust when cleaning
Sam

 

[gothicgeek]

Resin every time!

Just much easier to work with and light enough to make bigger figures practical

Mark

 

[yellowcat]

White metal for me. Resin is Ok but not for tiny parts and the dust is bad for your health.

 

[JasonB]

Resin, resin and resin
Much crisper and more finely cast details. Easier to clean up. Usually (in my experience) less clean up. Lighter. To me, even the best of the white metal figs looks a bit....lacking compared to a good resin fig. I think I have 2 white metal figs in total, and one is the Andrea Maximus figure, one of my favorite characters of all time. The other, oh, I don't know, 200 or more are resin. As far as dust goes, I do armor and aircraft resin conversions that have a thousand times the dust that I get from cleaning up a figure, so no problem there.
Resin

 

[FigureLover]

I have to say resin, I really dont know why companies do white metal kits (I wouldn't have a clue about production costs) as I think resin casts better and has better detail, in the right hands of course. Conversions are easier too in my opinion.
Have to agree with the posting weight as well, especially when I have to get things ordered from USA or UK to here in Australia. resin is lighter.
Ben

 

[JasonB]

Its always been my impression that the primary reason behind using white metal is that if the casting is flawed, the piece can just be melted and re-poured, saving the material. I would think modern resin casting methods would nullify this somewhat. I also think that the price of resin to white metal has to be a wash, if not cheaper for resin, and that hot metal would wear the molds out faster. Maybe someone that has cast parts using both could weigh in.

 

[marius'mules]

Just a thought; perhaps the manufactures still cast in metal because they believe they are catering to a certain niche of painters who like metal for the retro nostalgic reasons--harking back to the old days long before resin. There really is no feasible reason why they still cast in metal, that I can think of.

Personally myself I prefer resin; crisper detail, little to no clean up-(with most kits), resin has better paint adhesion, and weighs less---I have painted a few 120mm figures casted in metal, and they were real wrist breakers.

 

[redhorse]

I like both resin and metal and have quite a number of kits in both. For me, it's more the subject and/or sculpt than the material. Modern castings in either seem to be quite good to me at least. I do personally kind of like the heft of metal though.

I used to cast WWI resin aircraft kits and 1/72 scale figures to go with them in resin. If I was lucky, I could get around 50 pieces out of a mold before it was shot. Frequently it was fewer. Initial startup is cheaper for resin though as RTV rubber is used and you can pressure cast in a modified paint pot. I spent maybe $500 - 700 or so on equipment to de-air the molds and pressure cast the parts in the mid 90s.

I've been looking into pewter casting for the last year of so from what I can tell, metal really needs to be spin-cast to get a good casting and for new equipment, you're looking at around $10,000 for a decent setup plus shipping. The advantages are that you're not spending a large amount of time re-making molds as you get more castings (hundreds of spins) out of a heat vulcanized mold and you can cast much faster than pressure or vacuum casting resin especially if you get a couple spincasters going at the same time. Also, there isn't as much waste, and even though pewter is pushing USD $20/lb these days and much more expensive than resin, you are right, you can just re-melt. I threw away around 1/3 of my resin castings plus a lot of excess in the sprues and just simple wastage.

I'm getting very tempted to buy a drop casting kit just to play around with metal and see how it would compare to resin for short runs.

 

[grenadier]

I like White metal best. I equate it with good traditional quality and I like the heft of it.
I'm very paranoid about resin dust, in fact I have been put off buying a beautifull figure because of it.

 

[housecarl]

Thanks for the replies chaps, some valid points for both materials.
Carl.

 

[Gellso]

Resin all the way.

 

[pinsel]

hello
well i say the advantage is on white metall that an bent sword can be bent easly back in position and the metal can be polished for depicting armours.but if you have an greek or roman with white metall spear you know that the slightest tad will bent it.and if an white metall figure is accidently droppe normaly its good bye while because parts are flattened and crushed through to weight on impact,an lighter resin still can be repaired.yes such things can happen think on kids and the notourious house wife with the feather duster,or simply the cat which balances over your side board ect..
even if white metal can be polished to look like steel i prefere RESINS,because there are paints like humbrol metal cote which can be polished and look very good to depict steels.so this look equaly well.and if you polish white metall you must be very carefull remove the seam lines.
resins are LIGHTER good if you have glass trays in your cabinets.you can mount it more easy on an base,normaly no pining is needed..you have not flattened noses ect when you topple it,its sharper in defintion.its easier to clean up.
so i do not understand why major companies still hold on to white metals.
the ideal combination for me is combine both where the work best.
body in resins and scabbarded sword and rifles in whitemetals.
but in general RESINS IN ALL ASPECTS for the main parts of an figure.i have some white metall riders like Andrea knight its an thing with 1,1 kg.....weight.
cheers

 

[kagemusha]

Very definitely resin for all the reasons given previously. I would also say that 'bent' pieces are easy to rectify with the application of carefully applied heat.

 

[AJLaFleche]

Resin dust from cured resin is inert. The internet glurges that it is carcinogenic are based on warnings about large amounts of fumes from resin and/or hardeners before they are mixed or the fumes during the curing process. The dust, as any tiny particulate matter can be an irritant. The amount of clean up requiredwith a modern figure, including removing pour plugs is miniscule (well, except for Verlinden figures!) and can be virtually eliminatred with wet sanding. A tmost, a dust mask might be in order.

In general, resin seems a more reasonable material. Weight and its effect on the figure itself are the big issues. I've had several high quality mounted figures collapse because the horse had even one leg raised...forget about a rearing horse! Single figures on one leg have also collapsed and many ankles and fetlocks just aren't thick enough to accomodate a rod.

 

[BobLff257]

This is quite topical for me as a manufacturer that has recently brought out the 75mm Scots Fusilier. The decision to bring out the kit in white metal was primary ease of casting. My casting equipment is quite primitive as compared to the partial injection systems now being used and trying to pour resin into very small mold orrifices would result in a high fail rate. I also think there is credence that when buying smaller scale figures in metal you feel that you are getting something for your money. I was told that serious collectors would only consider small scales in metal, dunno about that. I may well produce a modified flag in resin in the near future as an ascessory to the metal kit. Also agree that resin produces sharper detail and a more pleasing to the eye casting. My usual format is large easilly cast parts in resin, small fiddly breakable bits metal. Preference when building kits, resin as long as the breakable fine parts are metal.

Rob

 

[T50]

A white metal figure command higher price
than a resin figure in same scale, right???

 

[pinsel]

well the prices
one gets from minuteman models resin busts for 35 bucks and those are excellent-while one can buy some form other makers for 69-80 bucks as well......
so it like i guess not an factor of the base material resin
when i think that the alexandros white metalls cost 70 bucks i do not think that the used material makes the price.
i may corrected if iam wrong.

 

[megroot]

For me I prefer the Metal. With the castings today it is easyer and not so time consuming then the "big" mouldblocks on the resin.
And the thinny details sculpted on the resinfigure are easy to crack or lost by a file or sandpaper. I've done that several times.
For the larger figures > 75 mm i like the resin more because the weight.

All in all: White Metal.

Marc

 

[carl reid]

For me, I prefer resin over metal, with small parts in metal for strength. The crispness of a resin casting is certainly a plus factor, together with the ease of assembly, makes it a win, win for me!!

As far as the costing of pieces are concerned it is always a difficult subject to approach. Because there are so many variable factors involved. Sculpting, painting,moulds, casting (resin or metal) packaging, photographs. All are taken into account when costing, or they should be!

But because of the economic landscape, materials are increasing in price constantly.
Casting alloys have increased a huge amount in the last 5 years, from £8 per kg to £20+ in some cases, dependent on alloy and volumes. This will impact on the prices of figures, as you would expect. But it's not a simple equation. You need to take into account the mould life, numbers per spin where metal are concerned etc.
Where resin is concerned it's a different process, so the equation is different, RTV mould life, cure time and waste, i.e casting sprues etc.

In my experience I haven't ever heard a collector say they won't buy my products because they are resin, but I have heard collectors say they won't buy a piece because it's exclusively metal!
But if I'm honest, I think it's all about the quality of the product thats available these
days!

So thats a small insight into the costs of manufactureing figures.

Carl