In our previous article, we introduced How Painted Miniatures are Produced in the Factory, then in this article, we will introduce to you the pitfalls that may be encountered during the manufacturing process of painted miniatures.
First of all, let us introduce you to the common raw materials for miniatures, namely PVC, ABS, HIPS, and PMMA. We are not unfamiliar with PVC materials, it is one of the world's largest production of plastic products. PVC was divided into two types, soft and tough. Soft products are soft and tough, sticky to the touch, and commonly used in coasters. Hard products have a high hardness and are usually used for the body part of the miniatures. ABS material is usually used for the base of the miniatures, which has high requirements for the form of the texture. It’s suitable for the more square, large size and the appearance of the product is not easy to be deformed, but the cost is relatively high. If cost is your highest priority, you can consider the PVC for one-piece molding. Of course, if you focus on the appearance of a weapon, then the ABS material is a good choice for you. HIPS material is a modified material of PS, increased some of the ingredients to make it more flexible than PS better, and at the point of price, the sprue craft will perfectly match with HIPS material. PMMA material is commonly used in dice, cosmetic boxes, and other high-end products, it is also more expensive. Usually, the cost of material is HIPS < PVC < ABS < PMMA, but this year's market is a bit abnormal, ABS will be cheaper than PVC.
Secondly, as you know, the coloring miniatures are usually divided into two categories, pre-painting and painting, The pre-painted process is mainly for the washing process, as you know, most miniatures from Awaken Realms are sundrop, such as Etherfields, and ISS Vanguard;
Washing technology is usually used for monsters, and some figures have more details. If the shape is simple and plane figures are not recommended use the washing technology. On the other hand, the final appearance depends on your budget. Choose some of the special figures to use These technologies will spice up your game.
Then I’ll introduce you to the other kind of washing technique which can make models have a similar effect to sundrop. Different from sundrop, it can save 1/3 cost, and no need to pay a royalty fee because of the different processes. You can find more photos of those so beautiful models below.
If your figure's design is cute, it is recommended to use the original color, such as the Flamecraft of the dragon, it does not use any technologies, but is adorable and vivid. The other washing technique is ink wash, it is a kind of antique effect, the more deep the details, the more marvelous the finished product.
As for painted miniatures, as we produced in the previous article, the production of the figures is divided into different stages, and the position of the coloring must be confirmed before opening the mold. Different coloring positions may affect the disassembly, then futherly determine different prices.
If you communicate with the factory during the design process, it will undoubtedly greatly improve your production efficiency and reduce your variable costs during the production process. The common issues will occur on PU wax. The PU sample of the colored figures is very different from the PU sample of the ordinary one, and some of the PU sample is colored by the oil coloring painting process, which may have a lot of imperfections. You need to take care and pay special attention to details when it is audited. Of course, the supplier production difference and price difference are completely demonstrative in this way. The frequency problems are as below:
1. There are gaps in coloring;
2. Color overflow;
3. Some parts of the paint are too thick, easy to lose details, or look like melting.
Limited by factory area, equipment, technical strength, and workers' experience, there will also be more problems. So if it’s possible, appropriately raise your budget, and pay for better quality and more experience.
That’s all, Keep the above points in mind, it will save you a lot of money and communication costs. If you want to know more about Eastar figures production, please click on the previous content to view.
