Thursday 4 November 2010

Campaign for Copplestone Plastics

Hi Chaps,

well this is it, a declaration of a bill of wants. The wargaming world needs a plastic version of Copplestone castings in plastic. Well animated, simple figures moulded in plastic that portray an artistic vision of the subject rather than every buckle, shoe lace and badge. I want to paint wargames figures and not a pretentious 28mm work of art.

So...who will join me?

I wonder if we can gain enough momentum via the internet to persuade Mr Copplestone or the team at Renegade to produce their miniatures unchanged in hard plastic? Whats the point in having an affordable alternative to white metal if it takes twice the time to paint. Perry twins, Warlord games and Gripping Beast have got it all artistically wrong...at the risk of sounding like an old hippie "they've forgotten their roots man"...

More detail does not equate to more happiness. I have been horrified at the thought of painting 28mm for the first time in my lifetime simply because they would be such hard work. A clever sculptor would halve the work for both himself and his customer by conveying his subject with the impression of detail and not a profusion of it.

Its a cruel joke. For the first time in 20 years I can afford 28mm but now I dont want it because it has transformed itself into the new 15mm....too much detail thats just not worth the effort because no one ever sees it.

I am sorry if this upsets the brave plastic 28mm manufacturers, I applaud your venture into hard plastic but your attention to detail has turned my lifelong dream into a nightmare of tiny buttons and pointless lace, thanks for nothing.

2 comments:

  1. OK looks like I'm on my own...charge!!!

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  2. Hi Carl. The extra detailed look of the new wave of plastics comes from tge sculpting/casting process. These models are sculpted at 3 times the height of the finished miniature (3ups), allowing the figure sculptor to put in much more detail.
    I must confess I found the fine details of the perry WotR figures a bit daunting at first but the really good thing I have found about the warlord/perry/gripping beast 28mm plastics is they are designed to be used with systems like tge army painter dips and ink washes. This allows a quick paint job despite the small details.
    My method is to quickly paint all the base colours in a simple scheme, e.g. All the leather and wood in one brown. Then I wash the whole figure with GW Devlan mud or badab black, this picks out the details. Then I can highlight the figure when dried. I have found this is quick, simple and the figures look great. As an alternative you can try the army painter dips.

    I would love to see some ww1 plastics, but I know the cost is prohibitive for small firms, I think upwards of 30k per sprue for tooling plastic miniatures.
    Mike

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