Re: How a minature should look

>First let me say, I don't own any minatures, and have never enjoyed
>painting them. I have had fun playing with them, but think it's a
>waste of effort to spend so much time/money on them. I'm quite happy
>with FT as a strategy/tactical game, using some type of
>markers/counters, or maybe even PBEM with gif maps ala FTMAP.
>
>Having said that. I have built a few model aircraft models in the
>past. Why don't minature makers build slightly larger, precision
>plastic models, rather than dull lead minitures that lack definition.
>I suspect some of this is that historically using lead in molds was
>the only real option, but surely this is not true now?
>
>I think I've been pretty fair here. Please be rational in your
>responses, or email me privately so as to avoid adding to the trafic
>on the list.
>
>david..
>
>-- 
>Binary Bar - Australia's first free access internet bar/cafe/gallery.
>243 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia. 5pm - 1am
>http://www.binary.net.au

David - several other list members have already answered you, I know,
and
probably more are doing so as I type this, but I thought I'd give you
the
manufacturer's point of view on this. 
As has already been said, it is mainly a matter of cost. To produce the
moulds for just ONE plastic injection-moulded kit would cost several
times
more than our entire range of miniatures has cost to date! Added to the
manufacturing machinery (tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of
pounds/dollars) required for injection moulding, it is simply not
something
that even a moderately-sized wargame company can contemplate. Sure,
Games
Workshop make some plastic figures (albeit nearly as expensive as their
metal ones in some cases!), but their turnover is HUGE compared to all
the
rest of the miniature manufacturers in the hobby put together - and even
they can only afford to do a few troop types in plastic, the ones they
know
they're going to sell by the hundreds of thousands.

Do you think players would rather have a choice of 100+ different ship
models in metal from a given manufacturer, or just one single kit in
plastic...?
("OK, I'm going to bring along my fleet of StarBlaster Battlecruisers
for
Saturday's game, so why don't you bring your fleet of
...err...StarBlaster
Battlecruisers.... oh, and Jim's just painted up a force
of....StarBlaster
Battlecruisers...... hmmmm...)

[Sorry, a bit of light sarcasm there, but you get my drift...?	;)]

Another valid point is detail - look at any of the injection-moulded
figures available, and you will find that most have far LESS detail and
fineness of casting than a good metal miniature. Metal figures are cast
in
rubber moulds, which allow a certain degree of undercuts and complex
shapes
in the casting; injection moulding tools are in steel, so the castings
must
of necessity be much simpler in shape to enable mould release (examine
any
plastic kit part - lots of detail on the front face (if it is a good
kit),
but very little on the sides or anywhere else - if there was, it quite
simply would never come out of the mould!!).
As to your comment of "dull lead minitures [sic] that lack definition",
have you actually taken a look at what is available from the wargame
figures industry these days? I think you might be (pleasantly)
surprised....

Finally, many (most?) miniatures gamers do, I think, prefer the "feel"
of a
well-made metal miniature over a plastic one, the latter tending to have
toy-like connotations under some circumstances. Yes, there is a
traditional
aspect there as well, but is there a problem in that?

If you prefer not to use miniatures at all, that is fine - the games
work
just the same with counters; but don't forget that an awful lot of
gamers
get a lot of fun out of collecting and painting minis, and this (to
them,
anyway) is as much a part of the hobby as actually playing the games, if
not more! (I know I've got a twenty-five-year-plus collection of metal
figures, most of which will never even get painted, let alone gamed with
-
but collecting them was a lot of the fun!!) 

Jon (GZG)