ID credit: FUYUE_NAILS on 小红书

Happy Halloween!🎃

In the case of LOTR armies, regular troops were usually made of plastic (with the quality available at the time), while metal was reserved for heroes or elite units. And for quite a while, the sharpness of detail in metal miniatures was often noticeably better than in plastic ones.

I still enjoy the weight of a metal miniature in hand — there’s something satisfying about it. But with each passing year, I find myself liking them a little less.

First of all, the quality of modern plastic miniatures has improved massively, while metal casting doesn’t seem to have progressed nearly as much. Working with metal models can be challenging — plastic is simply more forgiving and easier to work with.

And then there are the gaps… Just look at the photos — those are not small imperfections. You rarely see anything like that in modern plastic kits.

Another important factor is magnetising. I recently decided to magnetise my bases, and metal miniatures require stronger magnets — and often more of them — to stay in place. With larger and heavier models, this can become a real limitation. With lightweight plastic miniatures, this problem barely exists.

To sum it up: the “elite” feel of metal minis will probably stay with me forever, but I no longer see them as a priority in my collection. For future projects, I definitely prefer working with plastic models.

What’s your take on this? Metal vs plastic — which do you prefer, and why?

Making progress on my pile of guard, this week I finished the command squad and Rocket Artillery team.

First finished green- stuff work too. Not sure it's the best, but it's good practice for the other project in working on.

The field guns have been some of the most fun, just getting to make little dioramas, some environmental story telling.

Also I'm really happy with the OSL.

Finally, I made a completely Kitbash cadian sniper using the upgrade sprue, two lasguns fused together, a stalker bolt rifle scope, and a myriad of green stuff creations.