Multi-part kits?

[Luddite]

OK, so, first the rant.

We've had a 28mm project for Wars of the Roses bubbling under at our club for a while now - stalled due to lack of decent rules.  After 2 yesrs of trying not to, we've plumped for Field of Glory and set to sorting out the figures.

I bought 4 boxes of Perry's plastics about a year ago and started finally to put them together this week.

I cannot express in words the hate i have for these bloody figures.  Its taken me about 6 hrs to cut from sprue, clean, and glue these bloody things together.  Madness.  Sure they look ok but damn it all to hell, why not just cast them as 1-piece?!

For me, a multi-part kit should allow for you to sort out a variety of poses (something, love or hate them, GW figures do well).  These damned Perry figs don't even allow for much of that, save for which way the head is looking.






Anyhow, here's the question.

What is the point of multi-part casts?
Why do Pendraken use this for certain models?
What benefit does it provide to the consumer?
Do you personally prefer 1-piece casts, multi-part kits or a halfway house (say 1-piece with separate heads like the Pig Iron 28mm figs?

 

[fred.]

Interesting that you found the Perry plastics hard work to put together. I quite enjoyed putting together the two boxes I have done so far. Before this I had tried some 1/48 Tamiyia WWII infantry and they were really hard work.

One of the main reasons for multipart is to allow cleaner moulding - undercuts are hard to do. Which in single peice castings an lead to blocky solid areas. Another advantage of multi part is that it allows easy variation of figures and makes conversion easier.

Some other 10mm producers do multipart metal tanks (usually separate tracks as well as turret) and these give greater detail around the road wheels which looks good for minimal extra assembly work.

[Leon]

What is the point of multi-part casts?
Why do Pendraken use this for certain models?
What benefit does it provide to the consumer?
Do you personally prefer 1-piece casts, multi-part kits or a halfway house (say 1-piece with separate heads like the Pig Iron 28mm figs?

For us, as Fred says, it's pretty much just for the moulding of them.  With disc moulds, the model can't be too 3D.  If you take a tank as an example, if the turret was cast onto the hull, then the turret, and more importantly the barrel, would have to be embedded in one half of the mould.  This would cause problems with a) getting the metal to flow into that gap, and b) getting the barrel out of the mould without breaking it.

Now we generally only split the models into the minimum number of parts necessary to produce a good quality model.  We could do separate hulls, turrets, tracks, barrels, etc., which would allow for more detail, but they require more mould space, and reduce the output per spin.  There are other companies who do it (Wargames South), but unfortunately it doubles the price of the model.  We've always aimed to provide the best models at a reasonable price.

Personally, I like something in the middle.  We had a box of Victrix Naps at Pendraken HQ, which were only 4-5 parts per figure, but I got bored putting those together.  But at the other end, it's nice to see the extra detail which can be provided with more parts.  I know Baccus have recently started producing one-piece artillery, it'd be interesting to hear whether it's caused any problems with things like the spokes on the wheels?

[clibinarium]

As Leon says casting is more of a 2d process than a 3d one. A mold is two halves pressed on to each other. From a sculptor's point of view that's immensely frustrating; it limits the figure to one axis of motion. You can push that boundary a bit, but certain poses are off limits for single piece casting. Not a big deal in 10mm most of  the time, but it can be frustrating when doing single piece cavalry; the riders weapon can't stray far from the centre line of the horse (i.e. tail to nose).
In larger figures its a definite problem. Figures wearing swords are a constant nuisance, you alway have to stick the sword down the figure's side, it can't easily be put at a natural angle.
A lot of multipart figures are done as practical ways around such problems. Perry French Napoleonic infantry have separate back pack more to make the plastic mold castable (avoiding the undercut) than to provide you with options when putting them together.
And as Leon says, a single piece tank would be a challenge to cast!

[Leman]

I love the multi-part kits. I,ve had immense fun putting together my Wars of the Roses kits and English Civil War kits. Over the years I have found wargamers fall into two camps,ie those who just want to play wargames and those who get as much enjoyment from the modelling and painting side. In fact I get much more fun out of modelling and painting than I could ever get out of Field of Glory, DBX and all the other games of that nature. Thought I'd never play Ancients again, then along came Impetus, thank god!
DP

[Pruneau]

I find the glueing thing a bit tedious as well, to be honest.  Some makers do a better job than others though:  Having a round surface works better for positioning, I kinda liked the Wargames Factory Shock Troopers, and I dislike the GW black orcs - as far as glueing is concerned, I actually like the models.  For me, Warlord do the best job, with well fitting parts, and lots of options.

But this is only when talking about quantities.  I go through ridiculous amounts of work modifiying one model, changing shields, heads, hands, weapons, and more, but it becomes a drag if you have to assemble 40 of them.

[NTM]

My patience for building multi part kits has long gone. In my youth I enjoyed building Airfix/Matchbox/Esci/Hasegawa/Tamiya etc. Now job, family etc means hobby time is severely limited and I can't afford to spend too long assembling models. Pendraken are therefore great in that many vehicles are single part and if not it's only a case of seperate turret or gun.

I have various examples of the 20 & 28mm plastic figures now available, have assembled a few and they look really good but I could not face building entire units from them.

[Hertsblue]

I think it depends on what exactly your multi-part kit portrays. Most of us expect vehicles to come as bits and there usually aren't many of them. Putting together figures from kits is a whole different ball-game because there are usually far more figures per unit than vehicles. You have to be fairly dedicated as a modeller to go through that, and good luck to you if you are. I'll stick to single castings, personally.

I can't see individual 10mm figures ever coming as kits though (unless they're the dreaded Bug-Blatter Beast of Trall)

[Pruneau]

(unless they're the dreaded Bug-Blatter Beast of Trall)

There's my secret sculpting project out of the bag 

[Hertsblue]

Now that I gotta see!

[Jim Ando]

28 mm the devils own scale