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Why are Resin 1/35th figures so expensive?

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  • Member since
    June 2008
  • From: Iowa
Posted by Hans von Hammer on Thursday, January 29, 2009 8:21 PM

Resin figures are too expensive for me to use, except in some limited and specific cases, and that's usually a head gettin' swapped... Even the 6-8 dollar ones...  Figures are never in the poses I want, so I chop 'em up and make 'em do what I want...  Resin figures are too expensive for that, lol... Oh, I'll break down and buy 1/48th now and then though... Ebay has figures that go pretty cheap sometimes...  I got a three-figure Desert Storm Tankers (I only wanted the CVC Helmets on the figures so I could cast my own, lol) set in 1/35th for 5 bucks once, and several 1/48th pilot/aircrew/groundcrew sets in the 8-12 dollar range...

On top of it, I don't want my dioramas to have any figures on them that are recognizable by other modelers... 

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • From: Sunny Florida
Posted by renarts on Thursday, January 29, 2009 5:30 PM

Resin figures = small production runs, more hand work, and more waste in the process. Bad pours, mold problems etc all add to production costs.

Injection molded = larger production runs and more efficient prodcution methods. Molds have a longer life so you get more out of them. Hence cheaper pricing.

Alpine is some of the best and you get your monies worth. As for the others, they have their pluses. Verlinden's stuff is kind of dated and really no comparison to Alpine. Good, prolific but not nearly as well done.

In all honesty you can do some amazing stuff with DML, Trumpeter or Masterbox figures and Hornet or MIG heads and produce some outstanding figure work with the look of big money figures for much less impact on the wallet.

Mike "Imagination is the dye that colors our lives" Marcus Aurellius A good friend will come and bail you out of jail...but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn...that was fun!"
  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Central CA
Posted by Division 6 on Thursday, January 29, 2009 5:18 PM

First off Resin is expensive and the price has gone up with the hike in oil prices.

Second Silicon is expensive.

This stuff is hand made not just cranked out by a machine so paying someone to do it adds in.

Also for clean molds and copies they need to be preasure cast and the tanks are very expensive.

Also depending on the detail and the silicon used you won't get that many good copies before you have to replace the molds, ball park figure 20 to 30.

 

I have been buying garage kit's that range from $30 to over $200 and have seen rare or large ones going for well over $1000.

I have in the past also done some casting in a friends garage so I have some limited experience of what goes into it.

I've also visited a shop in LA that produces studio props (TV & Movie) and replica studio scale models.

 

Eric... 

 

  • Member since
    May 2008
Why are Resin 1/35th figures so expensive?
Posted by mpkev31b on Thursday, January 29, 2009 12:24 PM

im assuming because of the more high end detail and cost of makeing them over regular plastic?

although doing some shoping around i compared prices with different top named products on a few sites.

 

alpine miniutures was one of the most expensive with an average price of $32 USD for 2 figures.

 

verlinden was pretty cheap with some very great looking high detail figures as low as $6.00 USD

 

MIG figures were up there to in the high $20 range.

the most expensive ones ive found were from  Oryon Italy 4 figures , which dont look any better then verlinden for $50 !

 

just wondering in the day and age with economic timesbeing tough it amazyes me that these figures are that expensive. i can buy a decent Armor or aircraft kit for the price of 2 resing 1/35th figures!

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