30+ years ago...

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ElderMind

New member
...I loved painting D&D miniatures. I ran across a couple of boxes of figures I had done, and remembered how much I loved painting them. They're being stripped now (great threads on Simple Green... ;) ) and some Vallejo paint is on the way. I'm blown away by how far the field has advanced. A wash for shadows and some dry brush highlights used to be the pinnacle of painting... I've got a lot of techniques to learn and catching up to do!

Question: Which companies make 25 or 28mm metal miniatures (preferably with metal bases). I've spent a week or so looking on the net, but it's not really clear whether some are resin, or what the scale is. Help and recommendations on the quality casters are definitely appreciated!
 
Wyrmypops

Wyrmypops

New member
I suspect you might enjoy the Dark Sword miniatures. Many are based on the artwork of folk that did the D&D art. They're metal, have their bases either incorporated onto the feet or have pits for the feet to be glued to, and aren't "heroic" scale (which basically means oversize hands/feet/heads/weapons).
 
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ElderMind

New member
Thanks for the reply. I actually went a little overboard on their site already... I found them, reaper and iron wind. I'm horribly confused with avatars of war, hasslefree, valiant, and some others.

There are a lot of cool minis that remind me of the "good" Ral Partha's and Citadels of the 80's.
 
Zab

Zab

Almost Perftec! Aw, crap.
Reaper has their minis molded directly on the base a la the old D&D style and Freebooter has some with metal inserts for plastic bases.
 
Bloodhowl

Bloodhowl

New member
Avatars of War are metal minis (unless you get a regiment box set then they are plastic) with plastic slotted bases.
 
yxalitis

yxalitis

New member
I started painting 30 years ago too, I have the second mini I ever painted, a Citadel Broo with a chainmail balaclava. I refuse to strip and repaint him!
But, onto you question:
Why is the metal so important?
I sort of reacted against resin too, mainly because I didn't think it could capture the details as well as metal, but also it seemed more "toy like"

But now most of my minis are resin, and I vastly prefer working with them!

They are lighter, not a biggie for 25mm (literally) models, but certainly start to make a difference by the time you complete a Heresy Dragon!

Resin is vastly easier to work with, whether you're just cleaning, basing and painting, or doing some modification work.

Resin minis are easier to assemble, the ability to create sockets and pins that exactly align is not possible with metal as it shrinks during manufacture. Most good resin manufacturers have excellent designs for making the whole assembly process simple, despite large and complex minis.

Not so sure about Reapers bones range, as I have not bought one yet, they do seem far more "plasticy" than resin, which is very stiff.

So give them a go, I suggest browsing the Mierce website for some damn fine products.
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
yxalitis said:
...
But, onto you[r] question:
Why is the metal so important?...
Click to expand...
Because you cannot throw resin minis in a vat of paint stripper to start over.
Other than that, the resin minis should be much cheaper: cheaper materials, less shipping, etc. but they tend to be the same price or more.

I asked years ago why they were not making minis from styrene like plastic model cars, tanks & planes. Closest I ever got to an answer was:
Amount produced and cost of initial mold.
Lead can be cast from vulcanized silicon rubber molds than can be cast in-house while plastic minis have to have metal molds.

P.S. 37 years ago for me.
 
E

ElderMind

New member
yxalitis said:
I started painting 30 years ago too, I have the second mini I ever painted, a Citadel Broo with a chainmail balaclava. I refuse to strip and repaint him!
Click to expand...

The first mini I painted (a Grenadier troll) is coated in Testor's bright green gloss enamel, slopped on with one of the crappy Testors brushes. Wal Mart was the only place to get paint then. A lot of the oldest ones had already been stripped (with gasoline, lol) to get rid of the gloss enamel and repainted with combinations of flat enamel, acrylic and oil. I like the sculptures, and want to paint them again to at least the standard I was capable of when I "grew up" and left that stuff behind.

yxalitis said:
But, onto you question:
Why is the metal so important?
I sort of reacted against resin too, mainly because I didn't think it could capture the details as well as metal, but also it seemed more "toy like"
Click to expand...

Aesthetics and nostalgia.

yxalitis said:
Not so sure about Reapers bones range, as I have not bought one yet, they do seem far more "plasticy" than resin, which is very stiff.

So give them a go, I suggest browsing the Mierce website for some damn fine products.
Click to expand...

I hadn't seen Mierce. Some good looking minis there. Thanks!
 
yxalitis

yxalitis

New member
airhead said:
Because you cannot throw resin minis in a vat of paint stripper to start over.
Click to expand...
...not paint stripper, but plenty of ways to remove paint from Resin.
airhead said:
Other than that, the resin minis should be much cheaper: cheaper materials, less shipping, etc. but they tend to be the same price or more.
Click to expand...

Why should it be cheaper? Resin isn't used because it's cheaper, but because it's easier to mold
airhead said:
I asked years ago why they were not making minis from styrene like plastic model cars, tanks & planes. Closest I ever got to an answer was:
Amount produced and cost of initial mold.
Click to expand...

You've never bought a GW kit???

airhead said:
Lead can be cast from vulcanized silicon rubber molds than can be cast in-house while plastic minis have to have metal molds.
Click to expand...

Which is important why?

This article was about sourcing minis to apint, not about making them yourself.
 
airhead

airhead

Coffin Dodger / Keymaster
yxalitis said:
Why should it be cheaper? Resin isn't used because it's cheaper, but because it's easier to mold.
cheaper materials, less shipping, etc.

You've never bought a GW kit???
Nope. I play RP tabletop games (ever hear of D&D?)
I have bought some Reaper Warlords - fun game but lack of players around here.

[Metal molds for plastic]
Which is important why?
Because they cannot be produced in-house by most companies

This article was about sourcing minis to apint, not about making them yourself.
I wasn't talking about making them myself
Click to expand...

I remember mass-producing armies for the LotR series in the 70's. Each of us had a paint jar (Testors, Pactra, Humbrol) all oil based enamels. As a mini came by, you would pick out an item to paint (pants, shield, cloak, etc.), then pass it along. If a mini had more details than we had painters, we'd open another jar of paint and send the mini around again.

I've still got some elf swordsmen and halflings done that way.

I remember a troll painted with Testors green enamel as well (I think he's still in the game box.)
 
ten ball

ten ball

New member
28 years for me. 1986 heroquest, hours and hours played and hours and hours trying to paint the blasted things lol
 
Dragonsreach

Dragonsreach

Super Moderator
In my teens I started, so that's 40+ years ago. Humbrol enamels, oils none of these new fangled Acrylics and figures which were LEAD.
 
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ElderMind

New member
Guys, I love hearing the stories... but could you also add some input as to which minis I should be looking for?

Here's a Grenadier mini from 1981 I just found in a box. I was 12 or 13 when I painted it.

Dwarf_zps8842b462.jpg
 
R

Revfan

New member
Curious how you made out... your 12 year old self painted much better than my 12 year old self!

I recently took it up again as well... Now I just hunt down old school sculpts and any Gold Boxes I can get my hands on.

Love the new Otherworld stuff too!
 
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