Lead is considerably cheaper and less price volatile than tin-based pewter.

Do we like cheaper miniatures that aren't all that safe to chew, or should we just stick with the industry standard white metal?

I've found lead too soft when I've worked with thin parts cast in it.

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Dave

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Personally I'd stick to White Metal. It's more expensive, but also harder, holds detail better, and you can eat it if you like.

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Currently doing a plastic scenery kickstarter

My quibble with lead is the softness. The lead based alloys I've fiddled with have the annoying tendency to dent if you hit them wrong or drop them.

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-Vaaish

thats also my concern. i know not to eat it already

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~Every Tool Is A Weapon, If You Hold It Right~

I like the feel of lead..... it's a nice weight in the hand, feels like a 'proper' miniature.... I would be happy using it....

I assumed GW moved to white metal so they could abandon the 'not recommended for under 14s' label as white metal is safe for anyone over 3......

edit: the detail on some of my ancient mighty empires pieces is pretty good, as good as any white metal I've seen

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For my part, I much prefer pewter. I'd also be shorting commodity prices in general -- the current rise seems to be the next bubble.

As long as its Heavy Metal, I'm a fan.

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Tom Webb
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*looks at 10kg bag of lead* ye i would be happy with lead i don't have any problems with it as a material, and im all for cheaper minis

Ok you can't eat it, but were the parents on here really going to let their kids chew the lead free minis in the first place Most epic stuff is spiking and a choking hazard anyway, regardless of which alloy it is cast in.

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

Cheap yes, but as said to soft for 6mm in eyes, lead rot , also its not just eating it, its also just the handleing of it, hence on sprues look at all the time you spend gluing bits on etc, also i like licking minatures going to lead would prevent me from doing this


Regards epic

Filing/drilling= lead dust.

That rules out resin for hobby use as well i guess, due to dust?

Ok lead is toxic, but i like to think people on taccom have some common sense and craft ability to begin with. If you want to snort the dust from your minis, chew them etc, you are probably incapable of playing epic to start with Turns out, hobby knives are sharp

On lead rot, has anyone here actually had lead rot on a properly made mini produced in the last decade? afaik this is only caused by very poor alloys used in older minis and keeping said poor alloy casts in pine furniture?

*edit, ok too soft is a good point, although you can obtain differing hardnesses by varying the exact alloy (although last time i raised the possabiity of changing an alloy composition here it went badly )

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AFK with real life, still checking PMs

your call on the detail, is it good enough ? as for the other question, takeing the toxic metal and coating in acryilic and putting it on my shelf can't possibly be a bad thing, can it ? I dont chew on my figs anyway, and I don't intend on snorting the dust from plastic or pewter any more than lead or resin, it just cant be good to inhale ANY kind of sanding dust, and I say this as an ex-floor sander.

How about switching to depleted uranium? Or perhaps unobtainium?

A Tantalum/Steel alloy should be hard enough. Heat resistant to several thousand degrees, too!

I'd stick with white metal unless there's a serious concern about prices as compared to GW.

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SG

Ghost's Paint Blog, where everything goes that isn't something else.