"Durability of hard plastics" Topic

I've been reluctant to get into hard plastics for a couple of reasons. Mostly it's the amount of assembly needed on the ranges that I want. But the results look great, so it's tempting.

Another concern is durability. But they've been out awhile now. So people should have them, assembled, painted, and being used in games. How well are they holding up? Do parts stick together with use in games or is there a lot of gluing that hand and weapon back onto the figure?

I am finding them actually more durable than metal figures.

I have a lot of 28mm plastics from Perry, Conquest, Gripping Beast, Fireforge and Warlord. These are all surprisingly tough. Some of the older Wargames Factory items have weak parts such as bayonets, swords and spears.

Swords and spears are often tougher in plastic than in metal. If you drop a plastic figure, it usually bounces without any damage. If you drop a metal figure the glued on parts such as brass spears often come off. Metal figures also chip, bend and dent more easily than plastics.

When the correct glue is used styrene to styrene does not come apart at the joint. It may break at any thin part where metal might bend (lances for example). Styrene to metal using super glue seams to be much the same as metal to metal. The amount of damage in a game seams to be little difference whether metal or plastic but different in location and just as easy (or difficult) to repaired.

I've been very pleased with my Perry plastics.

x42

I bought Airfix boxes back in the mid sixties. After 15 or 20 years they do get quite brittle. Painting them doe's not seem to help. It's not exposeure to air, but some sort of chemical breakdown over time. I still have some of the first year confederate infantry from 1964, that is a darker shade, and they are extremely delicate.

"Swords and spears are often tougher in plastic than in metal. If you drop a plastic figure, it usually bounces without any damage. If you drop a metal figure the glued on parts such as brass spears often come off. Metal figures also chip, bend and dent more easily than plastics."

One of the appealing things about the plastics is that I would hope to get away from the *bent musket* syndrome. I replace spears and pikes with steel or brass rod which holds up fine, but for things like muskets, or pila for that matter, you really need something cast.

I have some metal figs where the weapon is cast as part of the hand and then you glue the hand to the arm. Never holds up.

I have GW plastics from the early 90s. They are not brittle at all and hold the plastic well. Painting them does not change this one way or the other. Exposure to the air doesn't seem to make a difference. There is no chemical breakdown over time. I don't know when I bought my first GW plastics but I believe it was when I was in high school or junior high. They are still fine.

Technically*, one of the worst ageing effects on plastics is UV, so painting them (provided the paint doesn't do its own damage) _does (in theory) protect them. Bending them and subjecting them to extremes of (and extreme variations of) temperature will also age the material.

I have hundreds of painted Airfix from the 70s and not a hint of deterioration (some unpainted still hang around in junk boxes however and do seem to have toughened up). I also have some hard plastic 1:35 stuff of a similar age and the material seems not to have aged at all (painted or unpainted).

I have to say that I did acquire some classic 1960s metal figures recently and one or two were badly pitted by oxidization (the dreaded 'lead rot' which I have hardly ever seen) … but again, these were unpainted figures.

However, it should be food for thought to a recent tmp poster who supposed that in years to come plastics would slowly return to gloop whereas his expensive metals would last for ever.

I'm no fan of hard plastics, but re durability and actual technical 'ageing', I really don't see any evidence of risk or worry re painted collections. I also don't damage my figures much (despite, by the comments I see on these boards, using them more frequently than a lot of pundits).

Nevertheless, provided you use the right materials, painting should help preserve your figures as well as enhance their visual appeal.

Phil
*FWIW my 'day job' used to be in the rubbers and plastics industry where we routinely subjected all kinds of synthetics to accelerated ageing tests in order to predict service life for industry. Most of what degrades the materials happens outdoors, so most wargames collections (being 'indoors') are more or less immune, I'd argue.

durable..and versatile see
TMP link

"I have GW plastics from the early 90s"

Yeah, I've still got plastic beakie marines from the early days of 40k; apart from a sergeant's head which came off in a move (I have no idea how) they're still all like the day I painted 'em.

I bought Airfix boxes back in the mid sixties. After 15 or 20 years they do get quite brittle.

I have Airfix figures from that period as well. None of mine have gone brittle.

I have GW plastics from the early 90s. They are not brittle at all

GW plastics are made from hard plastic. It's the soft plastic ones like Airfix that some people find go brittle.

Plastic monster kits from GW are way better than their metal brethren

Pro tip, do not drop metal greater daemons. Nothing good comes of it!

" It's the soft plastic ones like Airfix that some people find go brittle."

It seems to be related to storage conditions. I recently acquired some old Airfix commando figures which had been living in very poor conditons in a box in an outhouse, and half of them just fell apart with plastic rot. OTOH my original Airfix figs from the early 1970s are still as good as the day I painted them, but they have only ever lived inside houses.

I do have some hard plastic figures from the mid 1970s (20mm, marching Germans, no idea of maker) and all the rifle barrels have snapped off, so maybe they are a bit brittle.

I'll have to look at my new PSC plastic figures in 40 years time and see how they are holding up.

I feel fairly safe with my metal and hard plastic figures holding up over time… but I don't expect the GW Crapcast, Reaper Bones, or those computer printed things to fair quite as well.

My 1986 beaky Space Marines are fine and dandy. It's their paintjob that has aged…..

Hard plastic figures seem to be holding out. Most older hard plastic kits seem to be holding out after many years.

The soft plastic is another matter. My Hat Republican Romans have become extremely brittle and bits will snap off easily.

Are all hard plastics the same? Is there perhaps some formulaic differences that could change the aging time?

Sure the model builder hobby has addresses this issue? What do they think about those really old plastic kits?

My Hard pastics sci fi matchbox 25mm from early seventies have just vaporisied… If i Touch them they tumple in small Parts…. Horror!!!

Pro tip, do not drop metal greater daemons. Nothing good comes of it!

Too true. I had a Bloodthirster decide to fly down the basement stairs once upon a time. Not a pretty sight.

Lead rot or plastic becoming brittle… All much the same. Poor quality materials are the greatest threat that plague any industry. I don't own anything made in China that hasn't broken at least once already; metal or plastic. Doesn't matter if we all last just a bit longer than they do. A legacy to our progeny they will never be.

PVC ages and becomes glass like and very brittle. It is soft due to plasticisers and over the years these evapourate. This was used on a lot of prepainted toys in the past – (e.g. Britains animals). I collected the complete set of Britains zoo animals but some of the older ones from the 1960s simply shatter.

Soft polyethylene (= Airfix 1/72 and 1/32 soldiers) also hardens but mostly due to aging in sunlight. Hence the comments that the painted ones are Ok. I have unpainted airfix 1/32 from my childhood that are still OK.

Hard Polystyrene does not appear to age. I have Heroquest and Space Crusades thinks that are still like new.

White metal figures also appears to be unaffected by age if stored properly. I have Ral Partha figures from 1980 which look like new.

Regards
Mick