What Are Little Men Made Of? (a review of common miniature materials)

Gaming miniatures are available in a variety of materials, and each has its positives and negatives.  There are times when you have no choice as to what material you end up with, because you may only be able to find a particular mini from one manufacturer, and in one kind of material.  Let’s look at how these different materials stack up.

LEAD (lead-based alloys)

The original metal used for gaming minis, some still swear by it.  The big advantage of lead is that it is easy to cast.  Lead melts at a low temperature, and sets quickly when cooled to room temperature.  These qualities mean that not much is required to cast.  A sculptor could make some simple molds and start producing lead minis in his or her garage.  This is why there are small outfits still working to produce small batches of minis, often of specialized subjects.

But lead, which has traditionally been cheap, has risen in price, making it harder for small operators to work cheaply.  But an even more pernicious problem is with its toxicity, both the reality and the public perception.  Many producers went away from lead to accommodate local laws or to avoid concerns over toxic exposure to children.

As a modeling material, lead leaves a lot to be desired.  It is extremely soft, and bends easily.  That means that swords, spears and other protrusions on a mini will frequently become bent out of shape, requiring you to bend them back.  Butit is also brittle, so that frequent bending may cause it to break.  Most old gamers have more than one old lead mini missing a sword or other feature.

Repairing lead minis is also quite difficult.  The metal deforms, so simply pinning back in place will leave an uneven appearance.  The soft lead is bad for filing and sanding, and pegs and holes for multipart figures can become bent and hard to fit together.

All minis will be dropped, knocked over or experience other table wear.  Lead minis do not weather these pitfalls well at all.  When a painted lead mini takes a hit, it often leaves a dent, chipping the paint and obscuring detail.  Anyone with a collection of painted lead minis likely has a few with grey, flattened noses from falling on their faces.

These fellows have seen better days.

All in all, there is a reason that companies that have the choice do not work in lead anymore.

PEWTER

Lead free pewter is the industry standard for gaming miniatures today.  It is a much harder metal, and holds details well because of this.  It resists deforming and chipping when subjected to abuse, and can be easily filed and drilled for pinning, although it can be difficult to cut, as clippers will deform the metal, requiring the use of saws, which dull quickly on the hard metal.

For many gamers and modelers, pewter is the only acceptable material.  Many wargamers in particular simply can’t abide to use minis without the heft of real metal.  For durability and versatility, pewter is tough to beat.

Pewter minis from a variety of sources and genres.

It is not as easy to cast in as softer, lead-based alloys, but still requires less equipment than plastic minis.  However pewter is pricier than lead alloys, and that price is steadily increasing, leading many manufacturers to look towards alternatives.

PLASTIC (Polystyrene)

This is the type of plastic that model cars and airplanes are made from.  The majority of minis that come on polystyrene are in the form of multipart kits.  Parts for the minis are molded onto sprues (those plastic frames that you have to clip the parts off of,) and are then assembled how you prefer, giving a greater degree of individualization.

Some assembly required

Polystyrene accepts wonderful levels of detail, and does not dent or chip easily.  The material is certainly the best for conversion work, as it drills smoothly, sands, shaves and carves easily, and if glued together with polystyrene solvent, bonds remarkably strong.  It is also far cheaper to make per miniature than either pewter or lead.

However, polystyrene is brittle, and will break if subjected to force.  There is also a practical limit on how narrow or thin a mini can be made.  Not only do small parts tend to develop molding errors such as flashing (the thin sheets of extra plastic that cling to the min, leftover from the molding process,) but such small parts become fragile timebombs, just waiting for the slightest nudge to snap off.

In addition, such minis are not simple to make.  Working with polystyrene involves precision injection molds, something to which most garage startups do not have access.  Because of the high startup price of this equipment, traditionally only the largest companies have been able to produce polystyrene minis.

This situation is changing somewhat, as a few newer companies are investing in plastics and producing their own multi-part kits.  Some will even offer to take your old sprues from their or other manufacturers to recycle, offering a discount in exchange.

Polystyrene is a great material to work with for converters or beginning modeleres alike, as long as you can find a producer who offers the particular kind of mini you need.

PLASTIC (Polyvinyl chloride)

PVC comes in a wide variety of textures and qualities, and for many gamers, it is anathema, the forbidden plastic that dare not sully their tables.  But PVC has some traits that other materials can’t match.

One is that they are available in many colors, worked into the plastic itself.  This includes clear plastics, allowing for all kinds of funky effects.  The kinds of PVC that are used in miniatures such as Heroclix, and WotC’s Star Wars and D&D minis is soft and pliable, often quite rubbery in feel.

Heroclix, D&D Minis, and Star Wars Miniatures, all using funky transparent effects, with a Bones dragon in back

That pliancy makes them quite resilient, as minis will bend rather than break when subjected to force.  Because of this, minis can be made with very narrow features, such as swords, skinny arms, and whatnot.  Such pieces will not break or snap off, so the sculptors can make more fragile appearing minis.

But that same quality can make them hard to work with.  The rubbery types of PVC are difficult to shave or trim mold lines off of.  Drilling for pinning can also be somewhat troublesome, especially on minis with very skinny limbs. 

In addition, those swords and other accouterments will tend to droop, or become permanently bent in shipping.  Most sites will say that simply heating the pieces in hot water and then rebending them and setting them in cold water will reverse this, but your mileage may vary.

But these are far and away the cheapest minis available.  Even if you are paying retail, you will get more for your money with PVC.  Normally, those savings are offset by blind, random packaging, but Reaper Miniatures has a line of unpainted PVC minis called Bones that use the same sculpts as their pewter lines, but at a fraction of the cost.

Just like polystyrene, it takes a major manufacturer with the right equipment to produce such minis, so you won’t have as wide a selection.

If you can stand ‘bendy’ minis, and can reliably find pieces that fit what you want, PVC is probably the way to go.

RESIN

I’m going to level with you.  I don’t own a single resin mini, and have never worked with any.  I can’t speak as to how well they paint up (supposedly great,) or how resilient they are (damn near indestructible in some cases,) or how they are for converting (I’ve heard they’re terrible, really brittle and hard to cut or drill.)

What I can tell you is the reason I don’t have any: they are expensive.  Resin minis can be made by small outfits, and are usually found in specialized lines such as licensed properties or conversion kit parts.

I will say that supposedly new forms of resin have come to light, and companies like Mantic and Games Workshop (please hold all booing and hissing,) are moving towards more resin, with GW in particular pushing it heavily with their new ‘Citadel Finecast’ products.

And that’s all I have to say about Resin.

CONCLUSIONS

So there are my takes on the various materials you will find in the world of minis today.  I will be working with nearly all of these on this blog and will go into more specifics on how best to work with each.

I hope this has been informative.