"Best "Big Plastic" figures?" Topic

Conte figures in 54mm are the best without moving into collector quality.

I do AWI in plastic 54s. Armies in Plastic probably has the softest detail but en masse are quite acceptable. They are also the cheapest when buying multiple boxes. However make sure you understand that sometimes with AiP the only difference in boxes is different color plastic. Example is the AWI where pretty much all the figures from Continentals to Brits to French are the same. A Call to Arms has nice clean detail and several boxes in the Zulu range. You can check out toysoldierco.com Toy Soldier Co. for a wide range.

Me personally, if picking up another period, I might look at Armies in Plastic WWI and Russian Civil War ranges

Your Majesty, beware of one thing in AWI. Cavalry will be a serious problem. ALL the AIP AWI cavalry kits are wearing tricorns. If I were doing SYW, I'd be thrilled. None of the other plastics people even pretend to make AWI cavalry, so it's convert or go to ATKM in metals. ATKM will sell you kits from which any AWI cavalry regiment can be made, but they sell plastic horses without bases which are to be cemented to metal bases. I bought enough that I can do it if I have to, but the project went right to the bottom of the priority list in the hope that someone--anyone--would at least sell me a one-piece horse, if not a one-piece rider.

No luck yet.

Without knowing a time period, Hat Industries makes some nice figs, as does Expeditionary Force. Armies in Plastic is good for a lot of figures on the cheap, but they are more toy soldiers than high quality figures. They do make a pretty decent colonial Sudan range. Steve Weston makes nice figures for the Old West.

Zvezda is 1/72.

Hat is 15 or 20 dollars a box for 16 infantry. They are a kind of soft rubbery plastic.

Robert Piepenbrink, did you know that ATKM now has one piece horses for the AWI? link
You can also order them from Toy Soldiers of San Diego. 12 horses for $23.50 USD

Airfix made a 1/32 set of US Army 7th Cavalry of the mid-1870s (specifically June 25-26, 1876) that were very clean and easy to paint. I have my set in a storage bin somewhere.

Most of my 54mm stuff is AiP. Nice clean figures, easy to paint and cheap. There are a bazillion 54mm plastic manufacturers out there though, esp for ACW.

AIP figures are nice and as said, easy to paint. However, they are 60mm, ie taller and a bit beefier than the others mentioned. ACTA figures on th eother hand are around 51mm, and slimmer, very nice but noticable.

A call to arms have lovely AWI figures. Their Maryland militia set is nice. The only British set I have seen are British grenadiers so you might be stuck looking at Armies in Plastic.

Paragon-Scenics have fantastic miniatures and scenery. Toy Soldiers of San Diego and Classic Toy Soldiers are two personal favorites. The folks who own and operate these three businesses are all great people with whom to deal.

Italeri made 1/32 Gladiators. I use AIP AWI and Colonials. I have some ACTA, BMC, Accurate and Imex AWI. My colonials are for Span-Am and the Northwest frontier.

If you stick with AIP, Tony is having a clearance sale. Buy direct from him. It's :
armiesinplastic.com
As it is he's having a camel sale right now.

AIP are toy soldiers. The plastic is very slick and not conducive to accepting paint very well. You will have to coat them in some sort of primer, before applying color. You will also need to seal them with an acrylic sealer, if you plan to handle them repeatedly.

Figures from Accurate, Conte, TSSD, and others are military miniatures in plastic. There is a huge difference. If you're looking for better quality figures go here:

hobbybunker.com

They carry everything, have a free shipping over $100 USD USD (I think, check for yourself) promo and are a pleasure to deal with. Check the sales and specials pages. Been around a long time.

You can see examples of my Western plastic here.
None of these is AIP. They are TSSD, Austin, Paragon and others.

TMP link

If you coat the AiP figures in undiluted PVA they take paint fine.

I flesh mine out with stuff from Call to Arms and Italieri.

These are all big figures, you'll need a lot of paint (one of my pals does the basic colours in household emulsion!).

Hi, the Accurate figs are nice. AIP will work fine. BMC are really filler and tend to be chunkier. However, you can get them fairly cheap and they make artillery that is way cheaper than anyone else.