January Poll : Lead, Resin or Plastic?

This months Poll is as response to my recent self realisation that a large portion of my 'Lead Mountain' is actually not lead. I tend to buy miniatures from a practical or aesthetic point of view and what it is made of comes way down my list of purchasing criteria. Having said that I definitely prefer to paint metal miniatures. I like the weight of a metal miniature in my hand, the surface seems easier to clean and I think metal takes paint much better than plastic or resin. I may be wrong about all this of course, it could just be that having grown up with lead mini's I'm just a little bit biased towards them.

I have found that resin models are more likely to be coated with residues of mold parting agents, silicon or wax based products when bought. I wash all my miniatures in warm water with a small amount of washing up liquid before painting but especially so with Resin or Plastic mini's. Some resin pieces however are extremely smooth with a glass like surface which doesn't take water based (brush on) primer very well. I usually spray prime these instead. I've never experienced this problem with metal miniatures once they are washed.

Similar problems can also exist with plastic miniatures and one suggestion I have read about is to coat the min in watered down PVA glue then prime. The Glue gives the paint something to key onto the surface. I've not tried this myself but in theory it would work.

So do you have a preference? If you were faced with three identical miniatures, one in Lead, another in Plastic and the last in Resin, which would you choose to paint? The Poll will run till the end of the month but as always I'd like to hear about your preferences or experiences so feel free to leave comments below.

Alchemy at Lead Mountain

As mentioned on Monday I've had a rough Christmas and consequently not got a lot done on the paining front. I'm feeling a lot better now and Monday I actually sat down and did a bit of painting, moving one small step closer to finishing my latest project. I also spent time carrying out what has become something of a New Years ritual; tidying up my model box.

I keep a 'working' box of tools and materials close to my desk but I also have a much larger toolbox filled with models and scenery yet to be worked on. This is where my Lead Mountain lives and like many embarrassing secrets it spends most of its time hidden away in the cupboard under the stairs. I pull it out several times a year to put new stuff in it and (rarely) take models out to paint. Now it doesn't take a physics genius to work out that it would take internal dimensions like the TARDIS to accommodate a lifetimes worth of collecting. I periodically have a sort out of models and - like thousands of painters before me - silently rebuke myself for buying so many when I never stood a chance of painting them all.

Last year I was ruthless in my sort out, and gave a lot of models to the kids in an attempt to encourage their own painting. This year I found it much harder to thin the ranks because I think 2010 is the first year when I haven't added to the Lead Mountain. There are two reasons for this (trust me I will get to the point eventually). First I've been trying to only buy miniatures to paint for current projects, only making new purchases when needed and painting almost immediately. This has taken some self discipline but clearly the policy has worked. The second reason for my static Lead Mountain is that a lot of what I have bought isn't lead or even metal!

It suddenly dawned on me that a large part of my Lead Mountain is actually Plastic or Resin. Obviously I've been aware of the trends towards these materials but I never truly appreciated just how much of what I purchase was not white metal. Which of course begs the question: Is it still a Lead Mountain if half the models are not metal?

Lets try this again

Well the Christmas holiday is over for another year and although I worked most of it I had been hoping to get a little painting done during this 'quite period'. Such are the plans of mice and men!

Its been really quite in work all December then on Christmas Eve all hell broke loose. All our inspectors worked at some point over Christmas and when I got back in the office on Wednesday I had a pile of paperwork and invoices to process. As the end of the year approached the normal month-end deadline become even more critical. So whatever happened it was going to be a challenging few days. Then I got hit by a Stomach bug which left me feeling like a gutted fish, followed in short order by a chest cold. On a regular week I would have played the "Man Flu" card and taken a few days off, but not last week. Instead I dragged my sorry a** into work and struggled through the days towards the weekend.

As a balm for my weakened and battered soul I went online and spent some cash on some post Christmas presents. I ordered a book I've been looking at for a while now, Death by Design by Peter Beale from Amazon. Beale served in British Tanks during WWII so is ideal placed to understand the weaknesses of the tanks Britain started the war with, and more crucially, what it developed as the war progressed. I'm looking forward to reading his assessment of the inadequacies of British equipment (what Montgomery called the "Flawed Tool").

I also picked up another EBay bargain in the form of yet another box of tanks for Flames of War. In this case a Platoon of M4A1 Sherman's for my American Tank Company. Combined with those I already have this will complete the core units of the company. I still have the Motorized Rifle Company to finish painting (I'd hoped to work on those over Christmas) before I start on these though.

OK folks, time to go. Its a Bank Holiday Monday, I have no prior plans or responsibilities and everyone is spending the day relaxing and "doing their own thing"... so I think it's time I stopped prevaricating and did some painting, don't you?

Big Picture : Spartan Shield

This was taken at the Military Odyssey living history event in 2008. Although the focus of the event is invariably modern (with more WWI and WWII reenectors than any other period) there are other groups in attendance. This Shiled and Helm belong to a group dedicated to reencacting the Greek Wars.