Re: [DSII] Genre

At 6:51 PM -0800 2/22/99, Nyrath the nearly wise wrote:
>Michael Llaneza wrote:
>>
>> IMHO the best thing GW ever did
>> was the plastic Epic-scale infantry. Plastic is expensive to set up a
>> production run for, but dirt cheap over a long production run.
>
>	I was always curious about that.
>	An uninformed layman would think that metal miniatures
>	would be more expensive to produce than plastic ones.
>
>	I guess plastic is less forgiving a medium to work with.

The catch with metal miniatures is that the initial molds are cheaper
than with plastics, but each run through the mold a) uses more costly
materials and b) degrades the mold slightly. Over a huge production run
the more expensive molds for plastics last longer and can be used with
cheaper materials.

Plastic also has some troubles with the detail level you can get on
them. Most particularly with the level of texturing you can do. Compare
GW's metal figs with the plastics. Very few of the plastics have
anything like the spiky bits the metal ones do.

Then again, I still miss the original Mk. 6 plastic Space Marines.
Possibly the best value GW ever produced. Must be why they don't make
those anymore...

Michael Carter Llaneza
Veteran, Bermuda Triangle Expeditionary Force, 1991-1950
Devolution is very real to me.

Whenever I hear the "Odd Couple" theme, I get this image of Dennis
Rodman borrowing Marge Schott's toothbrush.