"Weight & Quality" Topic

Writing in Battlegames magazine, Henry Hyde once bemoaned "…this pathetic notion that somehow weight = quality…" with regard to metal versus plastic models. "If it's heft you want," he wrote, "stick some lead fishing weights or old washers inside!"

Do you still prefer heavy metal models to lighter weight plastic models?

I prefer plastics.

Light plastic will do me fine. If they are light and I drop them they tend to bounce. If they are weighed down artificially, then they will probably snap (F=MA, and all that).

What is the problem that some people have that they equate heft with value?

Bizarre

John T

Have to agree with the editorial. Just because it is heavy does not mean it is better. In Tamiya's 1/48 line of models (which some wargamers use), many of the first issues had die-cast metal hulls, mainly because the collector's market has the same idea of heft = quality. But from a modeling perspective, the cast metal hulls had inferior details and simplified construction…if they did injection-molded plastic hulls they could have incorporated more detail. But instead we got "heft."

Damon.

I've never preferred metal over plastic. Lighter stuff is easier to carry.

I definitely prefer plastic, much to the disgust of my club. I am the resident heretic.
Now wait till they see the fleet of 1/600 paper Age of Sail models I am building from War Artisan. Great stuff!

Weight does not equate to quality for me. However I prefer metal simply because I don't have to assemble my figures.

I came into the hobby with a background of model airplanes/tanks and papercraft buildings. Metal, and even resin, are heavy and lack many customization options.

Metal is usually easier to deal with (cleanup, de-flashing etc) but the notion that one is better because of the heft is pretty silly.

The only consideration for weight I have is this …

I prefer metal as I find until just recently the plastic sculpts did not match up.

John Treadaway wrote:

What is the problem that some people have that they equate heft with value?

Who asked this joker wrote:

Metal is usually easier to deal with (cleanup, de-flashing etc) but the notion that one is better because of the heft is pretty silly.

I don't think they are better but the ones with heft feel nicer

I prefer metal but it has nothing to do with the weight.
But there is something awesome about moving a metal 25mm elephant on the table.
Metal always gets a +2 in melee.

I don't think they are better but the ones with heft feel nicer

Now that I could see. But there is still the whole transportation weight as mentioned above. As I get older, I much prefer moving plastic.

I don't see it as a matter of choice. Some figures are plastic, some are metal but the real matter of choice is if the figure is any good.

I recently acquired some very nice 28mm plastic Napoleonic figures. While they look very nice they do not satisfy because or weight, or rather, the lack thereof. I shall not be seeking more.

All my figures are on steel bases. It gives the plastics a reasonable amount of heft, to my taste.

The older I get, the lighter I prefer my figures.

I don't care what it's made of or what it weighs. I care about its stability, although the base should address that concern adequately. I care about whether primer will adhere to it properly.

I once bought a plastic toy AFV that I thought I could use for 25mm gaming. It was a cheap and simple thing from a dollar store or maybe a drug store. Whatever paint I sprayed on it turned out glossy. Flat white primer from the hardware store: turned out glossy. Flat white primer for hard plastic modes: turned out glossy. Flat white primer from Citadel: glossy. Flat black primers: glossy. Flat camouflage olive from the hardware store: glossy. That's when I gave up on using that particular item.

I prefer metal. But not based on weight. The only plastics I now would base my armies on are victrix ancients

If I have a choice, plastic. Less weight to carry.

As long as they don't flip over easy, It's not a big deal.

The 1/72 scale figures tend to need either a broad card base or basing on a penny and then they're fine.

I like Metal figures but have nothing against plastic ones.

I dislike plastic figures.

I prefer metal figures.

Metal is certainly better for bashing someone over the head when they act like a putz in a game.

Honestly, I prefer plastic for detail these days, but find that most of my plastics are much more brittle than my metal figures. Metal tends to bend before it breaks, where if you accidentally bump a plastic figure, it's far easier to snap a piece off. That's really the only downside for me.

It's plain to see from the replies so far that it's been a good thing to have the option of plastics.

The heft of metal is just something I'm used to, so it 'feels' right to me.

One thing I find weird to handle are units that have plastic rank and file and metal command…perhaps it's just me.

I prefer metal but for me it is primarily about the fragility of weapons and details on Plastic or Resin models.

Although, I do like more heft to my figures (and I have filled bases with lead weights and or used heavy washers where I could.

Color me plastic, it is the future my boy.

If you feel the need for heft add weight to the base, the detail is in general so far superior in plastic and the proportions are also correct not stumpy. I have seen some newer plastic being brittle but 1:72 that I have had for decades and played hundreds of battles and stored for long times while mobilized, they bounce where metal would bend or break.

A quick wash and prime then paint and seal, which you have to do with metal also and they are virtual tanks. They can stand up to children as well as adults.

All that being said I do enjoy metal as well but not worth the price for me.

I must admit that I haven't ever really worried about it. My 1/72 plastic figures are on mdf bases and, being Napoleonic for the most part are on multi bases, so they don't fall over. Maybe for skirmish games there would be something to that argument but GW have been selling plastic space marines etc for donkeys years and people seem to cope.

Perhaps heft is shorthand for metal snobbery. But if so, it goes over my head. I find people don't really accept 1/72 anyway, so heft is the least of my worries. But then again, i do have several thousand, so why would I care?

I like both. I use lots of 1/72 plastic figures for Napoleonic and ACW and I use 28mm metal for FIW, SYW and Franco Prussian War.

I don't really have any interest in 28mm plastic due to all of the assembly required. If they could make 28mm plastic figures that did not require assembly I would definitely buy some.