CB was nice enough to send me a Vostok to play with. I've assembled and painted over 300 Corvus Belli miniatures. I've also worked with hundreds, if not thousands of different plastic/ resin models over the years. The completed mini: The mini primes and paints just the same as our metal counter parts. Pros: Much easier to glue and pin Magnetized bases stay fixed to transports trays much better with lower risk of sliding or tipping over. Adjusting for fit or different angles is easier to achieve. Less pinning required. Mixed: Cleaning normal large surfaces, cleaning flash is easier, but mold lines on smaller details need a little bit more effort and use of fine sandpaper and sharp blades rather than files and older blades. Cons: the satisfaction of weight isn't there. Lol. If you clean the miniature to high standard, you need extra effort to avoid "gratting" the material if you're too aggressive with your tools. Metal allows more brute force with tools. The plastic is soft and partially flexible, but it doesn't bend and stay bent like you found with Dust Tactics, old Rackham plastic. This is obviously a balance of plastic composition that allows for better injection into the molds without sacrificing dynamic poses or detail. All in all, I'm totally ok with the plastic.
The weight is an actual consideration for me too. I can see the difference in the metal and plastic Vostok, how the weight and mass of one kind of gives it more gravity. But it’s a small thing all said and done. Safer models are important too. Great paint job man.
Honestly having a longtime veteran like you give these a blessing is a strong endorsement as far as I'm concerned
Can you provide some close ups of the problem areas from the original reveal. Underside of the head, front of the arms, etc?
Seems like this one had fewer issues around the head area. The hexagonal details seems to have come through better. CB appear to be aware there's an issue around the head given the news that dropped in the studio update and the final product now has the head bulb as a separate casted piece.
The problem area is in the back: I used my standard files which are too gritty for this type of plastic. I will switch to plastic model sandpaper like folks use for high end diroama Tamayia plane and tank models. At the time of prepping, I was a little annoyed. Later while painting I was thinking, "Why didn't I just use tools suited for the material." Really, my main concern is that the plastic isn't delicate and breaks under stress, nor is it too flimsy that it deforms easily. Neither of this is the case. So, if you like high end work, you still apply the same amount of prep time. If you're a standard tabletopper, all you will notice is a weight difference.
Nice painting by way. One question regarding the bent gun barrel. Can it be set straight with hot water/hand dryer?
Its quite drillable material. In fact you don't want to apply ANY push force for the drill. Let the drill walk itself into the material, or even apply some pull back force to let the drill pass 360deg before going into further depth.
Thanks. This Makes sense. With a thermoplastic like this, one ought to generate as little friction, and thus heat, as possible.
Here's my painted Vostok (I asked beforehand so no thread hijacking): My experience with the material is very similar to Magno's review. The only difference is I still used my file without any problems and after priming none of the scratches were visible
Thanks PS. So Tristan, looks like you did a better job cleaning up the mold line on the back of the remote. Did you end up spending the same amount of time, more time getting it that clean? Give us your thoughts comparing metal remotes to this thermoplastic.
To be honest that Mold line was almost not existent on my Vostok. There was bit of flash but it was cut away in seconds (I just realized I didn't een take before pics of the Vostok's butt) thus I think I spent less time to clean that up. Apart from the weight and the way higher elasticity the only major difference is the material's lower resistance against the tool use. That's something one has to be cautious of during the first few handling steps. As an example you shoud always keep a safety clearance for the clipper when cutting sprue bits away, otherwise the clipper will leave an indentation on the Model's surface which then needs more sanding to even out the surface (as happened on one of my Vostoks rear leg). Whilst talking about sanding, I didn't need to change any of my tools (clipper, hobby knife, nailfile) onl the ammount the tools were used was different. The knife was used the most followed by sanding with the file (wet and dry with almost no difference in the finish), the Clipper was only used three times.
