Re: [DSII] Genre

Nyrath the nearly wise <nyrath@clark.net> 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.
    It's actually based on the set up costs. Lead or pewter metal
moulding
requires less work to start up than plastic moulding.
    Plastic moulding requires a steel mould to made and this takes a lot
of
work and time to make, so making the set up costs very high. On the
other
hand, the mould lasts for a very long time, so that the per item cost
over a
long run will be low.
    Metal moulding only requires a mould that is easy to make, so making
the
start up costs low. In most cases of figure moulding, the mould is
destroyed
to remove the moulded items. Each batch of metal miniatures requires a
new
mould which is easily made from a master miniature. Hobby books show how
to
mould miniatures using the sand casting method. I sure Jon Tuffley can
explain more about metal casting, if he wants to.
    Miniatures being usually low volume items, metal moulding is the way
to
go for most companies. If you're making and selling a lot of miniatures
like
GW, plastic moulding is the key to making a lot of money.
    Hope that helps!

Andrew Martin
Who has debugged software
controlling plastic moulding machinery,
in the era before PLCs.
Shared email: Al.Bri@xtra.co.nz ICQ: 26227169
Blind See-Saw, DSII, DSII FAQ, GZG-L email FAQ, FUDGE, UY, MSH & WBG:
    http://members.xoom.com/AndrewMartin/