I know.... plastic infinity

The last public statement on this was: There are no appropriate nearby plastic production facilities, so it won’t happen.

 

Most of the Infinity metals are now 2 piece sculpts, 3 tops that require zero pinning and just glue. How old is your son exactly that he can't handle a file and clippers to deal with mold lines (both tools you need for plastic minis as well?)?

 

Aristeia is actually a great argument AGAINST plastic Infinity models. Sure, very well-made plastic models exist, but Aristeia and Defiance stuff does not belong to them.

 

Let's not conflate GW style hard plastic and the PVC board game crap.

And for one, the PVC Megalodron was done extremely well for the material they used. The scenery bits have issues.

 

I think going plastic or PVC will really hurt level of detail on models *looks at starter Gata with melted face*, and some of the latest sculpts are really crisp (I can even see 3d printer lines on Defiace characters).
Also, I have some 3d-printed infinity guns and I don't think these 0,5mm thick pointy barrels will ever work in plastic. Unless CB repose them into something less pointy.

Besides if they go plastic people will start whining: Why no multipart kits? Why can't I repose them? Why my multipart kits don't have X? Why does kit have X but profile not? Why do I have to represent everything in WYSIWYG? Why can't you nerf Nomads CB? Oh, wait...

 

hold on I told defiance is metal minis?!

 

At least putting boobs on a Gorgos would be easier...

 

He means that there are supposedly visible steps from the 3D printed spin casting mould which have been retained as "detail".

 

Average modern infinity model, 2-4 pieces typically large compared to the model with some small bits (x4 per box)

Average GW model (intercessor), 11 minimum before extra details and of varying sizes from normal to way too goddamn small (x10 per box).

one of these is much easier to do

 

It’s not just Defiance; this has been the case on certain Infinity models for years now. The layer line marks are generally very small and are usually on undersides of things or otherwise hard to see areas, but they are there. There’s a lot of extra cleanup and finishing work that has to go into turning a 3d-printed master into a casting-ready final piece.

If my memory serves, I spotted this on the Raicho pilot’s hair, for example.

 

Mine are.

 

I only have the Megadildon, which is Aristeia-like plastic.

 

Maybe it's because it's a bigger model but I actually thought it was better quality than the A! plastics. Everyone I've shown the Megadildo to has been more or less blown away by how good it is, and it certainly makes most of the Warmachine plastics and resins look like a total joke

 

PVC plastic is actually very good at retaining detail. Probably good enough that unless you're a person who is really, really into plastic molding and models you won't be able to tell the difference between PVC plastic and resin/metal at first glance.

There is one BIG caveat to this, though: PVC plastic tends to bend a lot easier than the plastic GW uses. That's how you get stuff like 8Ball's staff being bent downwards or massacre's sword looking like a hook.

So it's less about the detail, and more about how much that plastic can retain it's form. In the case of a large, solid piece like the Megalodron, these issues are greatly minimized so the model comes out looking pretty good.

However, Infinity isn't going to be plastic unless a bigger company buys CB and injects a ton of money into it. You guys have no idea of how much they'd need to invest to make a transition into plastic production. It could honest to goodness cripple them if they tried to transition all their models to plastic and keep the production in-house like they do.

Or they could move the production to china, but that would open a huge can of worms too. I really don't think it's worth the hassle.

 

Well a kid is going to be a kid. It reminds me of fights my kids had over who had a particular color cup. Because for some reason water tasted better with that color. Eventually he will mature to find the easiness of plastic doesn't make it better.

I don't see them changing anytime soon. For now, doing plastic needs to be done outside of CB and they don't want that. They would almost need to create their own plastics company to be able to do it.

 

PVC has one huge hobby issue - mould lines. They are hard to remove because you can't scrape or file them off like with plastic or metal. They will crumble and create nasty looking holes in the material. You need to cut them away, which means either getting a flat angle with a hobby knife or risking gouging into the soft PVC and creating more of an issue. If they run over detail, you're done, either you will leave flat cut areas on the detail or leave the mould line on.

The Megalodron was the only PVC model in Defiance, due to size, but it was also very obviously a work of love by the sculptor and cast preparation crew that I've already complimented before. All the mould lines were either accessible and on flat surfaces that were fairly easy to clean or pretty well out of the way. This won't work or happen with Infinity S2+ scale minis.

 

I can't say anything about your dildo, but I meant the CA super-TAG from Defiance :v

Medallion has more glaring design faults, so I'd rate them the same, before docking points for preassembly (because now I have to unglue it to fix the assembly flaws and change the base to Infinity-like round).

 

At Interplanetario 2019 I personally asked Bostria about plastic minis and he said back then that they will invest into plastic production process if Defiance KS and N4 bring in enough cash. He also said they expect at first their plastic models will be simple until they master the process.
To all the people saying how plastic ( HIPS ) production line is expensive, this is true to an extent, but CB doesn't need production line on the scale Namco Bandai or GW have. Since they wouldn't transition to all plastic production overnight they don't have to invest millions. Starting small is not stupidly expensive, and ROI is huge on plastic crack. Not to mention all the new people that would bring. Plastic minis are 100 times easier to sell compared to metals.
That being said, looking at how CB is run in the last few years I would be really surprised they actually invest into plastic production line. Their management is not into investing money and expanding, they to me seem just happy they are making money and not wanting to invest those profits ( or God forbid take a loan or a partner ) to aggressively expand. But I wouldn't mind them doing a KS that would fund production line for plastic minis.

 

There are smaller outfits doing HIPS, Renedra in the UK are <10 people and do manufacturing for Perry twins, Conquest, and Gripping Beast, along with their own terrain and base ranges. Wyrd moved to HIPS minis a few years ago IIRC but I think they're coming from China which is something CB want to avoid.

In terms of expansion and company size I think CB are right to take it slowly, having seen PP expand and then contract (and move back to mostly metal for Warcaster), Warlord are probably 50% larger IIRC but production of plastics is outsourced to Italieri I think and their new games fail as often as they succeed. Asmodee have Crisis Protocol and Legion in plastic but they're in a completely different scale to CB, and again, China.

As I've heard it told the main cost of plastics is the moulds, compared to metals where the mould is dirt cheap compared to the material. This means you want to be using plastics for things as many players as possible will buy and use. Remotes seem like a good first step to try as they're more simple shapes and generally available to multiple Sectorials.