Phillius | 31 Aug 2015 2:03 p.m. PST |
Hi I am about to start assembling and painting some plastic Romans. I am currently painting plastic ACW. A friend recently mentioned that he was not interested in plastics because of their brittle nature, and the rumours of broken weapons. I have detected a couple of broken muskets in the ACW figures I am currently painting. What is the experience to date of those people painting and using plastic figures? Are they too brittle? Do they break easily? TIA Phil |
MajorB | 31 Aug 2015 2:08 p.m. PST |
Hard plastic or soft plastic? |
Extra Crispy | 31 Aug 2015 2:54 p.m. PST |
My hard plastic Lord of the Rings figures are relatively brittle. All my breakages have been with the plastics. The metals are still 100% intact. With these long weapons (spears, pikes etc.) are especially fragile. I've also had to fix most of the horses because they connect to the base by such small tabs that they break off. |
MajorB | 31 Aug 2015 3:01 p.m. PST |
With these long weapons (spears, pikes etc.) are especially fragile. Well, that's not very surprising. Long weapons in hard plastic are indeed fragile. You just have to be a bit more careful with them, or replace them with wire. Don't think that will be a problem with Romans though, unless there are any poses waving a pilum about. I've also had to fix most of the horses because they connect to the base by such small tabs that they break off. That is a manufacturer dependant problem. Other manufacturers (e.g. Perry) have the bases integral with the horses. |
Phillius | 31 Aug 2015 5:49 p.m. PST |
I was referring to hard plastic figures. But the bendy muskets of soft plastic figures is another problem entirely! |
Ran The Cid | 31 Aug 2015 8:15 p.m. PST |
I've had zero problems with plastics from Wargames Factory and Fire Forge. My metal figures on the other hand have lost a zillion spears, swords and banner poles. |
WillieB | 01 Sep 2015 6:19 a.m. PST |
Mixed sentiments. For some reason the Gripping Beast plastics seem stronger than anything else. Fire Forge and Agema come a close second. The only (Napoleonic) Victrix figures I ever assembled never got to the painting table because almost half of the muskets were already broken.And I do consider myself as being rather careful. A friend of mine however tells me that the Victrix Ancients are a lot better. |
Riddcowler58 | 02 Sep 2015 7:28 a.m. PST |
I've been painting up Victrix Greeks lately and not had any problems at all. However, a friend of mine bought some of their Napoleonics second hand and painted and moaned considerably about the bayonets braking. When I saw him packing them away after a game we had I was surprised a single bayonet remained! Maybe I'm just a more sensitive guy(lol!) but being careful when handling your figures, plastic or metal, is something I take for granted but some are much more 'carefree'. |
Zargon | 02 Sep 2015 9:24 a.m. PST |
I think differing manufactures and sculpting is to blame, I've done most of the manufactures and agree to quality of actual plastic and robustness of the sculpting. Victrix Napoleonic are questionable and I'm surprised with the Perrys new AWI weapons are very slim and fragile looking (painting them up now and being very careful) found the Warlord Games ECW plastics good the WW2 weapons spruce has slim fragile looking weapons too, Wargames Factory are not bad either. On the other hand some metal stuff is as fragile too some of the Warlord games stuff as well as Eurekas weapons are prone to breaking my worst is the bayonets on some of the Redoubt ranges. So its all about how the manufacturers produce their products. I for one don't mind weapons and other sticking out bits being a tad robust in girth with strong attachment points (not ridiculous like those fantasy or Scifi weapons from you know who :) I'm for plastics but manufactures have to give a decent robustness to the product. Cheers happy building and painting all your plastics with I hope not too many breakages. |
Dexter Ward | 04 Sep 2015 4:36 a.m. PST |
When I think of the number of bent and broken bits my metal figures have suffered over the years, plastics are certainly no worse. They are also easier to repair – plastic cement makes a very strong bond. Tell your friend to man up! |
Asteroid X | 07 Sep 2015 2:04 p.m. PST |
Also tell your friend to use common sense and be careful with the figures. Like Riddcowler58 stated, it was due to his friend's lack of care. Also, do not let anyone else "manhandle" your figures. They are yours, no one should be touching them without your express permission. |