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Are white metal figures still being produced?


DennisTennant

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I'd like to add some figures to an armor project and have the choice of resin or plastic figures (1/35). I thought there was a line of WWII figures made in white metal. Anybody remember the manufacturer? Was it I/R?

 

I'm looking for something in German armored personnel, winter garb, if possible.

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I'd like to add some figures to an armor project and have the choice of resin or plastic figures (1/35). I thought there was a line of WWII figures made in white metal. Anybody remember the manufacturer? Was it I/R?

 

I'm looking for something in German armored personnel, winter garb, if possible.

 

I can't say about 1/35--have you tried The Red Lancer or Michigan Toy Soldier? I know that Andrea is still using metal for their figures, and the Poste Militaire 110mm Sailor Malan figure I bought last year are metal, too. I did a quick search on The Red Lancers site, but everything that came up was resin. You may wind up going with resin....

 

http://www.redlancers.com

 

http://www.michtoy.com

 

Ralph

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Just on white metal figures, I purchased some through this guy last year: newhopedesign@hotmail.com

 

And here is the contact information for Kennington.

http://theminiaturespage.com/man/?id=kennington

I hope that helps. Let me know what you find out.

 

___________________________________________

 

Extract follows: "It is still alive and kicking - just taking a bit of break from the internet whilst i foccussed on other ranges (i also own SHQ, Kennington, Mayhem and others)...

However i have been filling orders that found me and i plan to relaunch on the internet v. soon.

In the meantime my contact details can be found at: www.shqminiatures.com

The falklands range has 8 x 54mm figures, all of which are available:

 

OSP133

MA0333 British Paratrooper, full assault equipment, 1982

MA0333A British Soldier, in beret, lifting ammo box, 1982

MA0334 Corporal, 1st Battalion, 7th Gurkhas, 1982

MA0335 Teniente, Argentine Marine Corps, 1982

MA0336 Soldier, Argentine Marine Commando, 1982

MA0449 British Infantryman, armed with blowpipe launcher, 1982

MA1169 Piper, 1st Battalion, 7th Gurkhas, 1982

 

OSP156

MA0517 Rigid Raider Coxswain, Falklands Islands Campaign, 1982

 

The figures are £8.50 each and postage is 15% of order value to the US.

 

If you can let other people on the forum know that we are still alive it would be much appreciated!"

 

Cheers

 

Adam

 

 

 

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Thanks guys, this will give me a place to start my search. Haven't done figures in quite a while. The last ones I purchased were Alpine. I guess resin may be the only real option anymore due to health reasons, cost, etc. I did like the extra weight of the metal figs though.

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Dennis,

 

There are still some manufacturers of white metal figures though the sculpts coming out of companies like Alpine and New World are some of the best out there.

But, as you know, these companies cast their figures in resin.

 

Colorado Miniatures has a wide variety on their site:

 

Colorado Miniatures

 

and

 

Andrea Miniatures still casts their line in white metal:

 

Andrea Miniatures

 

This should help narrow down your searches...

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Yeah, guess I'll cherish all the white metal I/R figures I do have. I don't know why, I just like the way the metal figures go together and the fact that they used to have finer details than the Tamiya offerings of the '70s. Resin seems to have the edge on fine details now. Thanks everyone for the input! I'll let you know what I eventually choose.

 

Check out this page http://www.milminwh.com/ww2_&_other.htm

I would suggest that you not limit yourself to white metal. Some of the new resin and even plastic figures are worlds above anything by I/R or NHD.

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Verlinden has about the most numder of metal figures on the market.

tomk

42750

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Sorry, had another cup of coffee. Verlinden are resin. Very nice, lots of detail and big selection.

tomk

42750

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Sorry, had another cup of coffee. Verlinden are resin. Very nice, lots of detail and big selection.

tomk

42750

 

While there may be volume, sometimes you have to watch out with Verlinden--some of the figures in the line have some serious proportion issues. While not as prevalent in 1/35 as in the larger sizes, he's still got a few with huge hands, long arms, and giraffe necks. At my seminar in Atlanta (2005 Nationals), I repeated Shep Paine's warning--you can easily fix lack of detail with paint, but fixing proportion issues is difficult and you can't just paint over it....a figure with "the proportions of an ape and the face of a gargoyle" will still have the gargoyle face and ape-like arms no matter how you paint it.

 

And, just to be fair, Verlinden isn't the only manufacturer that sometimes has proportion issues--Series 77 figures tend to be a wee bit too short, something that is more easily fixed than most problems. It just seems to affect Verlinden more than the others, and it is usually something with the faces, hands, and arms. Anyone who has ever painted the Verlinden 120mm RAF pilot or the Operation Drumbeat U-Boat commander can testify that the pilot's arms hang well below his knees (almost to mid-calf!) and both he and the U-Boat skipper have positively huge hands. Some of the later Verlinden works have some pretty horrible faces, more akin to zombies and/or horror movie characters than humans.

 

R

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Actually Verlinden does do white metal. I think it may have something to do with import/export regulations. I have several of their figure sets (Vietnam tank crew) in both metal and resin. Exact same figures and castings....just metal as opposed to resin. There may have been a country where resin was illegal to import to (that would be my only guess).

 

Mark

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After looking over the various resin offerings, I'm leaning toward the Alpine line featured in AFV magazine.

I'm looking at set #35038....

 

35038b.jpg

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