"Only Plastic?" Topic

Do you avoid purchasing anything other than plastic minis?

The opposite. I avoid plastic.

I'm kind of an equal opportunity miniatures buyer.

If I like it and I can afford it, I buy it. The only thing I really dislike is Citadel Finecast.

I am with Winston, I avoid plastics like the plague.

Chris

As to 28mm:

Plastics first, metal where I have to fill in gaps.

Hopefully eventually everything will be multi-part plastic.

As to 15mm:

I'm trying to move away from these but may still collect them for the really big battles. I'm fine with metal though.

I use both.

Resin, plastic, metal, whatever it takes. I have mostly plastics because they affordable and many look good!

If some manufacturer produced 10mm hard plastic Napoleonics, I'd buy them. They don't, so I buy metal.

I use mostly smaller scales so there isn't a viable plastic option. I tried 28mm plastics for the few skirmish sized games I do and hated putting them together. I like the 'heft' of a metal figure and the cost saving isn't worth all the extra effort.

Material doesn't matter, quality of casting and range does. I buy the most suitable for the period NI'm playing.

Plastic, easier to paint than metal or resin, easier to assemble, including large models where you don't end up trying to pin a huge metal wing on a surface area that is physically too small to hold it in place even with magic.

And it saves seeing your shelves start to bulge in an unnerving way.

Yes metal has a quality and appeal all of its own, but from a practical point of view, I'm very happy with plastics overall.

Another vote for "I buy the minis I like. Material is not a discriminating factor."

I've seen awesome minis in plastic (various) and metal (various). I've seen crappy minis in plastic and metal. I've bought awesome and crappy minis that I want. I've skipped awesome and crappy minis that I want and can't afford.

Of course not. Hard to get plastics 10mm and under.

But I suspect you're missing an important division between hard and soft plastic users. Buying a Perry kit isn't much like buying an Italeri one, or a bag of BMP.

I usually don't start a period in 28mm these days if I can't get most of it in plastic.

No, I buy what I want and like.

Plastic first (hard not flexible), metal for specialty figures, resin never (don't like working with it)

Any media available! Plastic, metal, resin, 3D. Look for best value, and some items are available only in certain media. 1/72 scale for WW2, AWI, ACW, Korean War, Vietnam, & Modern. 25-28mm for Fantasy – Star Wars, Lotr, D&D, Ancients. Really impressed with the 3D printed items coming out.

I am old school…metals for me. I do own some plastic but I hate broken bayonets…and rifles….not for me.

I used to think plastic was fantastic, now I only buy a few select plastic kits.
My forces are between 80-100% metal.

I hate assembling miniatures and filling in all the gaps , so I avoid plastic.

I like both.

Give me 15mm plastics I buy em'

All things being equal, I prefer metal. However, I buy what looks good and what is available

Don't much care. Not a big fan of resin, but a mini is a mini.

I prefer plastic, but will use metals if that is all thats avaliable

I buy a model based on the model not the material it's made of. Unless is something like the very brittle, fragile, not gamer friendly resin Forge World used and even some of the material from Shapeways …

As with several others, I buy what I consider to be the best figures for my purpose, and don't get too concerned about plastic or metal.

I am seeing more nice sculpts (V&V Miniatures, for example) in resin. I haven't taken the plunge due to delivery times from Ukraine/Russia, and conflicting reports about the durability of resin.

Never bought a metal figure, and never plan to.

You know, I've got a couple of metal 28mm units right now I really think of as fillers, to be replaced when the right plastic kit comes out. I like the heft of metal and the absence of assembly, but for gun crews and small units of cavalry or skirmisher infantry, there is much to be said for the equipment and pose options of the 28mm kits, and the resulting variety of figures in the unit.

No.

No, I buy what I like.

Mostly metal, except for 1/72 WW2, I have lots of resin and plastic in that scale/period.

I buy what I need for the army.

That said, I like an army to be all one or the other if at all possible.

All metal fantasy and WWII (Black Tree Design).
All plastic Age of Sigmar and 40k.

Lots of paper fold-up or top-down counter armies as well.

I thought once I had my 2d printer I would be churning out plastic armies like crazy. But seems I have ended up using it more for RPG characters and accessory items (weapons, bases, etc.)

I avoid any plastic that requires assembly except 15mm tanks/vehicles. Not enough time to get all my painting done never mind assembly.

I much prefer single piece metal figs. No construction required. That's an extra step I don't need.

Don't like plastic. Won't buy it.

No.

First choice is metal for figures. I do have some plastic vehicles for 10mm and 20mm WW2, but infantry are all metal. Only plastic figures I own are 28mm for ECW and somebody else put them together and painted them. As soon as I can get metal replacements painted, they'll go back on Ebay, as I am fed up of sticking bits back on. I started gaming with Airfix flexible plastic figures and got fed up of flaking paint, so never been a great fan of plastic figures.

Plastic as much as possible; avoid resin altogether – metal maybe to fill gaps.

I prefer metal for reasons stated heft, posing, strength, painting etc. As for economics I paint to slow to make plastics a reason to switch so I pretty much paint whatever I want. However I do use plastics sometimes if it fits to what I'm doing.

Christopher

No.
Prefer lead over plastic though if I have a choice.

I'm fine with any material although my resin miniatures are proving more fragile over time.

As far as assembling and painting, plastic is certainly more flexible for conversions etc.

Metal is the most durable.

robert piepenbrink wrote: But I suspect you're missing an important division between hard and soft plastic users. Buying a Perry kit isn't much like buying an Italeri one, or a bag of BMP.

I don't understand. Are the Perry plastics softish? Or did you mean the softish infantry from Italeri?

A bag of BMP? Don't get that one.

I like hard plastic but I hate the thin gun barrels. Rifles or MGs to easy to break

Which ever has the least number of part. I want to play games not build models

Usually metal, but I don't avoid plastic if the figures make sense for the project. I don't let the composition of a miniature range determine whether or not I'm interested in a project.

dragon6, you walked right past my point. Those hard plastic kits from Perry, Victrix and others are time-consuming to assemble, but they're compatible with 28mm metal and they can be painted with the same techniques. Airfix, Italeri, Hat and such have no assembly troubles and are much cheaper, but they pretty well stand apart from metals and require different procedures in painting. BMSomething--BMC?--is the same in 54mm. I suspect a number of wargamers are happy with one and not the other.

"Plastics" is not one thing.

All plastic vehicles
Figures bulk plastic and gaps filled with metal.

A strange question indeed.

If I only bought plastic models I wouldnt be able to enjoy all the metal/resin models available.

Likewise If I only bought metal then I wouldnt be able to enjoy all the plastic/resin figures available.

And so on. Reducing the amount of enjoyment available by abitrarily excluding a particular medium for model making would be nothing but counter productive…

I'm an old-fashioned metal figure man. I tried plastics and am not impressed. I only buy them if nothing good is available in metal.