"Looking for someone to make plastic or resin figures [USA]" Topic

Obviously I didn't word this correctly in my first post (since no one has replied to it yet):
TMP link

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We have a few games in the pipeline that we would like to ship with inexpensive 28mm figures. We've explored the cost of metal figures and have not ruled them out, but we would like to price the figures in plastic or resin.

We will provide 1-4 master figures and want someone to:
- make the molds
- produce the figures
- ship them to us for packaging

In the short term, we might only want 500 of each.
In the long-term, we might want 2,000+ of each.

Since we're talking about such short runs (and, hopefully, large lead times), a small or home company would be fine with us.

If you're interested, please send me a PM or contact me at mmitchell [AT] hawgleg [dot] com

Please put the word GUTSHOT in the subject line, or our aggressive spam filter will delete your e-mail!

I think that for such a limited quantity, you're going to want to go with lead. A plastic injection mold will run upwards of $5,000-10,000. Resin figures (unless they're all wearing dusters) are going to snap off at the ankles.

Wyatt

You can't snap the fortress figs off at the ankle, and they are spin cast 2 part resin. People keep thinking resin is brittle. Only some formulations are.

The drawback of spincasting resin is that you get the same labor costs into it you do with metal and the material savings aren't that great since you don't get to throw the sprues back for remelt like you can with metal. So, if you're looking for cost savings over white metal there really isn't much there to be had. Resin tends to be less economical for smaller pieces and more economical for larger pieces. It's actually cheaper to do 15mm figures in white metal. 25mm figures are a wash and you can realize substantial savings on 54mm. This is due to the ratio of the material in the sprue to the part is greater with smaller parts. Also, the nature of resin is that smaller pieces take longer to cure than larger ones. Just the opposite of metal needing to cool longer with large pieces. On the up side it does emulate the injected plastic in feel and color if that's what you're looking for.

Resin doesn't need to be brittle. I've got some resins that cure to something close to jello in consistency and has tremendous tear strength. The brittle resins tend to be loaded polyesters. They're made that way to try and get a good surface cure. Basically the silicone molds inhibit the cure of polyesters so they have to be "kicked" and loaded with inert fillers in an attempt to get a non-sticky surface. The solution is to use polyurethane but you get shorter mold life.

I'll defer to Crusoe on the resin issue, then. I'd only seen the French figures, not any by Fortress.

Now they just need to find someone who's willing to spincast resin. Fortress maybe?

Wyatt

"I'd only seen the French figures, not any by Fortress."

Send my your address and I'll get you a sample.

Wyatt: Even my cursory search of the Web has gotten me quotes much lower than those you cited. I suspect the main costs you're discussing include the aluminium molds. For short run, you don't have to go with an expensive metal mold.

We have not ruled out metal (we've already speced out the costs on it and it's not bad), but I would like to discuss plastics with anyone who is actually doing it, or has done it in the past.

FF: I'm somewhat familiar with resin, and would be willing to discuss it, but it's really the third option (or may be used for other components than the figures).

Right now I'm on a fact-finding mission -- nothing is decided or will be decided in the next week.

"Resin doesn't need to be brittle."

I agree, in fact one of my selling points at a show a few years back was when I threw a handfull of resin buildings against a cement wall and challenged anyone to find any damage. Not even the chimenys were hurt. The quality does come with a price, it's not cheap. Another good note is that there is no oily residue and I prime and paint right out of the moulds. It all depends which one you use.

lol Battle Scenics- that reminds me of when I was trying to tell my brother that resin figures were too brittle- I was used to the stuff from the 90s and 10 years has made all the difference. I threw a 'resin' (actually to be exact the ones I use are called liquid plastics now) mini and it bounced around like crazy… and wasnt harmed in the least. Shut me up good lol.

Near as I have seen you may want to try a different forum mmitchell- 54mm scale producers are the only ones I have seen that do small runs of plastic/resin mixes and make their costs back. I know I have my eye out for anyone offering the plastic injection as well. Barzo does small runs of his stuff where as AIP outsourced to China for example- between the two you should be able to find some happy medium you would think but so far I have not found them…

As an aside I saw your post about the injection machine and would also add that if anyone did have that service I know I'd also look at hiring them for certain projects.

"Barzo does small runs of his stuff where "

I make the Barzso resin figures.

:o really? in that case I'd recommend mmitchel contact you as the Barzso stuff has some of the finest detail I've seen- well done! Do you have prices for those services on hand as there are always projects where I know I'd rather contract out (going to check your site now)

If that's true, that resin offers no advantage over metal at ~25mm due to labor, sprue, etc, then why are resin figs on the Fortress Figs website costed at 10 for $10, and the equivalent metals are 2 for $6?

Are you really eatting all those costs, and selling for a loss then?

10 resin zombies for $10:
link

2 Metal zombies for $6:
link

I'm interested, mainly because I have some projects I'd like to do, but the prices of metals would make them prohibitive.