"HaT new 28mm hard plastics" Topic

Didn't know HaT was getting into this market, but good for them!

hat.com/current28.html

Well now……look at that.

If this wasn't January I would have sworn it was an April's fools joke.

But it isn't …

More plastics …

Oh dear …

[gruesomely insane cackling]

Blimey. Hooray. Wow.

Meh. It looks like they're just scaling up the 1/72 plastics to 28mm scale. Maybe it will be different "in the flesh," but nothing that gets me excited…

Damon.

Just need to stick on shields and weapons.

This might tempt me

I like em! Not much assembly required, they are light and durable, and they will (hopefully) be cheap.

Win!

I think the photos are test shots – end product should be a little better.

Well I wondered how long before one of the big 1:72 companys pitched in.

But those masters look crap compared to what we have seen from WG/Perry/Victrix so far.

I think we expect a bit more than just scaled up 1:72 figures. Even if they sell them at 1:72 prices not sure I would go for them.

I want my plastics (a lot) cheaper than metal but I also want the sculpting to be on a par with metals and I dont think these are.

Just wait until Zvezda or Caesar join in.

Garand & BravoX,

I agree with you. These look like lousy soft plastic figs only a different type of plastic. I would hope for better poses than their usual flat poses. The El Cid figs have chain mail and as we all know you can't have mail along the mold lines so what they become down the road remains to be seen.

My first ever visit to a soft-plastic site, what do the red bars siginify (i.e. the El Cid all show a "5" and the two Napoleonics an "8", presumably out of "10"), progress towards release? TIA…

Yea, progress towards release …
HAT tend do it for all their figures.
In the past HAT seemed to take about 12 months to go from something appearing on the page to shipping a finished product.

>>>Yea, progress towards release …<<<

Thanks…

I think the turn-around time on these figures will probably be much faster, since they already have the masters for the 1/72 line…

Frankly, I'd be more excited if these were in 1/72. Or 15mm. THAT would be awesome…

Damon.

I would expect that HAT will do more if these sell well. Because of the nature of the 1/72 plastic figure business. The masters are made larger than the final figure about 3" and then panagraphed down to size when making the mold. Since they have alot of masters done all they need to do is make molds. Just the expensive part

I'll try at least one box of the Spanish light troops. Battles like Najera and Aljubarrota require lots of dregs, and these could be grand in that role.

Garand – they are already in 1/72; that's where they came from. Check the 1/72 part of the site.

For my part, I'll be grabbing them. There has been talk over the last couple of years as this being a 'golden era' for minis, but it looks like these plastics are about to make it more a platinum era.

Its about time! Some of mates wrote to them years back saying why don't you make hard plastic 28mm for wargamers, and they came back saying they didn't think there was much of market and they only made figures for hobbyists! True story.

Yikes, 28mm plastic hits a new low. Those are some of the worst 28mm sculpts I've seen in a very long time…even the WF compusculpt stuff looks better. I'm sure they'll be lauded widely though, as they're likely to be…..cheap.

Greetings:
These are not scale ups of the 1/72 scale figures. These El Cid 28mm master figures are completely different from the 1/72 figure masters. The masters are made a larger size for detail and then scaled down.
Pax.

I like the 1/72 almoravids. I will certainly be buying some of these to bulk out my 28mm almoravids.

Do we know how much they will cost Hat indu?

I was just saying 'single piece-soft-plastic 28mm will never happen – but I will buy them if it does… and then this happens.

Pat

Just wait until Zvezda or Caesar join in.

Zvezda has already released a pile of 28mm multi-part hard plastic fantasy kits, some of which seem to make passable medievals. But notice that they truely are multi-part.

These 28mm HäT figures seem like they would not require much assembly work, but that also limits poseability (no separate arms, heads etc.). They also seem to be more anatomically correctly proportioned than a lot of other 28mm stuff out there – likely to be a put-off for all those who like exaggerated proportions.

Griefbringer

Sane Max:
The price of the 28mm figures is estimated to be in the range of USD13-15 for 32 figures.
Pax.

I think they are pretty good sculpts..Looking forward to the Nappy figs…

Well I wish they would release some of there other in progress stuff, the German halftrack has been at 8 on there scale for 18 months or more.

Thanks Pax. You WILL be using the new, squidgy and easily paintable plastic for these I hope?

Pat

Sane Max:
The 28mm figures are made in hard plastic.
Pax.

"I would expect that HAT will do more if these sell well. Because of the nature of the 1/72 plastic figure business. The masters are made larger than the final figure about 3" and then panagraphed down to size when making the mold. Since they have alot of masters done all they need to do is make molds. Just the expensive part"

If it is a case of simply resizing masters I'd love to see Italeri resize some of their napoleonic 1/72's. I was shocked at how good they were when I opened the box. That said it'll probably never happen and I suppose with Perry and Victrix's napoleonics it doesn't really matter. Can't wait to see Hat's 28mm napoleonics, though. Hopefully they'll have improved on these by the time they do them.

The old, white shiney plastic that you need to nail paint to? or Brittle easily-snapped plastic like GW or WG and WF use? cross me off your sales list.

Use the new plastic you used for your Sumerians, Assyrians etc – I will buy them THEN.

Pat

That all looks very interesting, I'll buy some when they come out, then we will see…

Hmmmm….I've been wanting to do an El Cid WAB army for a while, but I've been but I'm trying to reign in my miniatures spending budget. This may be a nice way to do the army without breaking the bank….

I wonder if that would be enough to convince me to rebuild/refurbish my 25mm Spanish. It might just.

So I'm really curious what happened?

For years the choice was metal or soft plastic, then resin comes along and shortly after BAM! everybodies making hardplastic!?!?!?!?!?!

I'm grateful; however, I'm now afraid to buy anything in metal.

Donald~

I look forward to pictures before I pass judgment.

Umm…… follow the link above, there are pics of the masters and test sprues on the site already.

they look good – but OMG the feet are tiny …

i'll ait for the feed=back before buying them. but if it helps fill out some hord armies or can get me into something ina fairly inexpensive way – then great. I can always upgrade once I have some basic units to field.

Crikey!
That's a bolt from the blue, I was thinking of two WAB armies for Medieval Spain using the hat 1/72 / 20mm figure and now these appear…
mmm,

decisions, decisions!

We live, as they say "in interesting times".

Hmm. Have to reserve until the actual sprues have pics.

I really don't think they're simple scale-ups either. Compare the pictures of the 1:72 masters to the pictures of the 28mm masters. Certainly there are a few repeat poses, but many are different. And really, what does it matter?

Sane Max, what's the deal with this plastic you refer to? My first models were GW plastics, so that's what I'm used to and don't find brittle, but I'm always open to better things. What's this squidgy stuff like?

I would buy a box simply to try them out.

However, I know nothing about the company (even after looking at the website).

Where are Hat based?

Can you buy them on-line?

HäT is based in the US, and there are plenty of retailers (also online ones) stocking them. Even two of the B&M hobby stores in my little city stock them.

Griefbringer

Lots of online model shops in europe sell them. Might be cheaper to get them sent to switzerland from one of those when they come out. Here's one in Britain:

link

Good news, I will no doubt buy the Napoloenics first.
Hat indu, can you tell me why the 1/72 vehicles have stopped being released? There has been no change for ages and I am waiting for the Hanomag. I need 6 boxes of those for a start…

There will be more 1/72 vehicles this year. Hanomag is scheduled to be released this year (no estimated date yet).

On the near future release list, there also seems to be a surprise appearance of 1/72 M4A2 Sherman – I don't recall even seeing it mentioned earlier on, but now it already has a complete test sprue shown.

Griefbringer

Thank-you Adam for the link

Larger pics of the masters are now posted so you can better see the style of the sculpting:

link

and

link

Of course, should one think that the models are not sufficiently lively looking, experienced modellers should not have troubles in converting them into zombies.

Lot easier to do than with the metal alternatives, and to my knowledge there are no dedicated ranges of Moorish zombies available out there.

Griefbringer