What type of plastic? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Louie.B
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Bid_kahuna
Private 2
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2010
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- 127
Polythene used to be the industry standard. All the original Airfix, Matchbox, Atlantic etc. figures are polythene. I think Britains Deetail were/are PVC. Older Timpo Action-Pack plastics had chalk blended in for better paint adhesion but they became very brittle over time. I think AIP are polythene.
My favorite plastic for toy soldiers has to be the kind used by Conte in the earlier sets which were made in Canada. It's very solid, and the body of the figure is quite dense and hard yet the tips of weapons are flexible. I think it's the same plastic used to make the removable drink holders in our truck. I've never tried painting any figures in this plastic, so I don't know how it holds paint, but for durability it can't be beat. TSSD plastic is good but you can get some breakage on weapon tips.
I HATE any figures in hard "model kit" plastic. I haven't bought any of the reissue Airfix sets because I've heard they are made with some kind of brittle resin material. I do have a few Barszo figures in resin. I love the sculpting and they are beautiful figures but I've had to make several repairs on muskets. Definitely not suited to my "dump them in a shoebox" method of storage.
I have bought some Star Wars Command figures recently since they are going real cheap now and they are in a nice flexible PVC. Sort of a denser version of the Britains Deetail plastic.
My favorite plastic for toy soldiers has to be the kind used by Conte in the earlier sets which were made in Canada. It's very solid, and the body of the figure is quite dense and hard yet the tips of weapons are flexible. I think it's the same plastic used to make the removable drink holders in our truck. I've never tried painting any figures in this plastic, so I don't know how it holds paint, but for durability it can't be beat. TSSD plastic is good but you can get some breakage on weapon tips.
I HATE any figures in hard "model kit" plastic. I haven't bought any of the reissue Airfix sets because I've heard they are made with some kind of brittle resin material. I do have a few Barszo figures in resin. I love the sculpting and they are beautiful figures but I've had to make several repairs on muskets. Definitely not suited to my "dump them in a shoebox" method of storage.
I have bought some Star Wars Command figures recently since they are going real cheap now and they are in a nice flexible PVC. Sort of a denser version of the Britains Deetail plastic.
Marxmaniac
Private 1st Class
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- May 29, 2009
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- 157
I have read the early marx figures are a vinyl plastic, then went to polyethylene for the 60's, then went to polypropylene in the end (the waxier looking figures). CTS is a PVC as well as TSSD figures I believe. The resin figures at least some like the conte warlord figures are a spin cast polyurethane plastic. The model type stiffer plastic is polystyrene. Stand to be corrected so not necessarily the gospel truth.
binder001
Command Sergeant Major
- Joined
- Apr 30, 2005
- Messages
- 2,729
Yes, most models are made from some version of polystyrene plastic. I'm not a chemist or production engineer but experience has taught me that some styrene plastics cut or glue slightly differently than others. Injection molded styrene can capture incredibly small details, plus it can be bonded with solvent cements (you actually fuze the parts together). Plastics like polyethylene and vinyl are impervious to most solvents. The old "rubber" of the Auburn figures from the early 60's was interesting. It seemed to hold decent detail and stayed flexible. Later Auburn figures were in a "firmer" plastic. The original Auburn figures were real rubber. Personally I DETEST the plastic used on older Conte plastic figures like the US paratroopers and Waffen SS. On the good news - it cuts quit easily. On the bad news it is hard to remove seam lines and you can't sand that stuff smooth. That matters to me because I like to do figure conversions. The plastic used on the Conte GIs and TSSD figures is much easier to manipulate with the modeling techniques that I have accumulated over the years. I agree that the Airfix re-release figures are in an "odd" plastic. The old figures were easy to cut and modify, the new ones seem brittle.
To add to the plastic discussion - many limited production figures for "model builders" are cast in a two part self hardening resin. These have the advantage of being less expensive to set up and cast. The down side for many figure collectors is that the resin figures can be brittle and their mold life is limited. Resin figures just haven't been the big hit that in collectible figures that they have been to the model world although many resin figures are have far better detail than metal ones.
Gary B.
Waverly, NE
To add to the plastic discussion - many limited production figures for "model builders" are cast in a two part self hardening resin. These have the advantage of being less expensive to set up and cast. The down side for many figure collectors is that the resin figures can be brittle and their mold life is limited. Resin figures just haven't been the big hit that in collectible figures that they have been to the model world although many resin figures are have far better detail than metal ones.
Gary B.
Waverly, NE