Mini material preferences....

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SIGIL

New member
Ok so I am REALLY working toward doing my own line now and was wondering about the virtues of the various materials for miniatures. My partner and I were thinking of using bronze for our minis in the hope of producing greater detail with greater or at least more reliable durability.

ANy advice? And also what is the preferred material?
 
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Tiderius

Guest
Not sure, but I just read something on these forums about lead and pewter.

Lead stays molten longer thus it can get more detailed.

Pewter is non-toxic, but a little more expensive I think. It hardens fast, though.

Other metals Im not sure about.
Have any pics of the mini\'s you will be making molds of?
 
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SIGIL

New member
None that I am ready to publicize. :innocent: Actually I have quite a few minis going but none truly \" finished \"................ yet.

I plan to post up the greens as a preview once I have enough together to market as a set or at least as individual pieces of a set. :cool:
 
Chrispy

Chrispy

Active member
Remember that Bronze is made of copper and tin, and it can turn greenish when it oxidizes. Same thing with lead and water, but it\'s more dangerous, since you need to make sure you NEVER breath in it\'s fumes and you have to be in a ventilated area just for casting it. I\'ve seen several pewter alloys sold in bars that melt at different temperatures, so you would just have to figure out how much and ounce would make in figures to find out the cost.
 
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farseerlum

New member
bronze is very hard. it would be near to impossible to convert.
its also has a quite high melting temp. i believe you need to make steel molds for casting.

in other words don\'t go there!
 
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Vallan

New member
Quite an interesting topic...

I was under the impression that pewter was a mixture containing lead??? Anywho, I like the idea of a more exotic mini by using metals other than pewter or lead.
Why not gold? Very limited editions of course, but it never tarnishes.:D
But seriously, I\'m curious to see what metal you decide to use. But keep in mind the things lovers of the mini art (hereafter refered to as \"we\") do with mini\'s. Like farseerlum said, we like to make conversions and pewter is a metal that accomodates the cutting. Also, i\'m not sure how other metals would take paint or balance without tipping over.
I don\'t know that they won\'t or will, respectivly, like I said I\'m unsure.;)
Keep us updated...
:flip::bouncy::flip:
 
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Raptoriffic

New member
I don\'t remember where I read it, but Pewter is any mixture of metal that is at least 90% tin. The other 10% can be anything else, like lead. I\'m not sure what they generally use for the rest though. If the mix is less than 90% tin, it\'s classified as \"white metal\". I\'ve heard that 100% tin would make an excellent casting material (detail wise), but I\'m not sure of the cost involved, and I believe that it ends up being harder than most people would like for converting.
 
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SIGIL

New member
Hmmmmmmm Lots of really good input here. I am VERY new to miniatures so I know absolutely NOTHING about the mediums used in their production. Oh yeah I knew that pewter was probably the most common but I was not sure as to the options for materials.


SO what about other materials such as Plastic, Resin, or perhaps.................. rubber.:eek: Posable minis anyone? :D

I remembered reading that bronze did make conversions nigh impossible and that was the first concern as I would not dare to think I should supercede the imaginative modifications of my work by those who buy it. :innocent: So it sounds like bronze is out. OK.


Chrispy in your post you state that the fumes of --------- should NEVER be inhaled during casting. WHich material were you refering to specifically? Bronze or pewter or lead?

Oh and this will be the first site that gets a preview posting most definitely.:cool:
 
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Vallan

New member
My vote is...

no to plastic. I just don\'t like the feel of plastic, and I\'ve heard that it doesn\'t hold detail well. GW makes some oftheir mini\'s partially out of metal and partially from plastic. There\'s been tipping. Hopefully there\'s no damage to the paint but I refuse to buy plastic so I don\'t know.
:flip::bouncy::flip:
 
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Tiderius

Guest
He was most likely referring to lead, and high lead content metals. (some pewters have lead.)

But you should probably have a good ventilated area anyway. Im sure not many molten metal fumes are healthy.

Ever hear about wall paint with lead in it is not healthy to have in your house? I would assume because it can flake and you have constant exposure to it.
 
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Vallan

New member
Interesting fact...

Lead paint \"chips\" was the problem. Children were eating them and it was poisoning them. Even earlier in the human race timeline lead was used in Egyptian makeup.
Even further off topic, Egyptians used crocodile dung in their birth control \"pills.\" The scientists say theirs an acid in the dung that would kill the fetis, personally I think it was the female breath that kept babies from poping up.lol
:flip::bouncy::flip:
 
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Tuubje

New member
No to bronze, I would never buy a mini I cannot cut to pieces and reassemble.
Stick to known mediums, more info on those materials and people trust those.
ie. lead, pewter, resin... I guess those give the best results. But resin molds only hold for about 100 casts (so I\'ve heard :) )
 
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dauber22

New member
Yup. Same folks who decided sheep intestines would make great condoms.

As for mini materials, I\'d stay away from ice and jello.;)
 
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Vallan

New member
You know, I remember...

I remember seeing a AD&D mini cast in plastic that I would have bought. It was either an invisible stalker or a ghost, I\'m not sure, but it was clear plastic.
I\'m not sure how it could be done, but a clear plastic mini would enable weapons to look like ice while you paint the rest of them normally.
Probably not worth it though.:~(
:flip::bouncy::flip:
 
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Tuubje

New member
I like resin, it\'s light, durable, but most people say it\'s \"expensive for another kind of plastic\".
 
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SIGIL

New member
Ah so it IS durable aye? You would not happen to know how much more expensive it is would you? Sorry to ask so many questions that I could probably answer for myself with enough research but I just get bewildered searching the net. :(
 
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finn17

New member
Hmmm..

I suspect that unless you are incredibly wealthy, or have an incredibly wealthy sponsor, the only viable option is will be lead or a lead alloy. Plastic and resin involve hugely expensive tooling costs.

i-kore have been going for years, but they have only just bought out their first placcy minis. Same applied with GW.
 
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