Why is there virtually no 15mm plastics!

[RichyBee]

Ok so we have 15mm tanks and the eras they fought in and one US  15mm ACW company ive never really seen but why no Romans/Dark Ages /NAPS/ECW.
Is there a reason? 15mm is so popular though.

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

I think it is down to the process limitations.

Hard Plastics cannot have undercuts or crevices because they would both cause the parts to stick in the mould. This limits the sculpting a lot especially on one or two piece figures.  28mm figures overcome this by having five or more parts.

I have painted some 15mm WW2 Germans and the detail is very soft compared to 15mm metals. They are also quite delicate and break easily at the ankles.

[mellis1644]

Yeah I used the battlefront 15mm desert infantry platoon which are plastic and would not buy them again. Very soft detail and really not great figs IMO.

[eilif]

In addition to durability issues of thin parts in hard plastic and the multipart nature of many figures, I think some of it is simple economics.  With 28mm plastics, though the initial mold creation is expensive there is a potential advantage in using a much cheaper material in mass production for miniatures that will potentially sell alot.   With 15mm there's exponentially less metal used so there's not nearly much cost savings in material but you still have the high cost of injection molding tooling and potential market that is likely smaller than most plastic 28mm figures.

I do think we will see more 15mm plastics over time but I doubt it will be like what we've seen with 28mm figures.

[Elbows]

The market has to generally be consistent and supportive of any range to warrant quality plastics production.  15mm is a popular scale with historical WW2 etc. stuff so it is common there.  But despite the flag-waving of random people on forums, many other genres are a niche of a niche of a niche...and can't financially support a company doing quality plastic sprues.

The company looking to do it has to be pretty damn sure they'll sell enough to justify the mold/factory process.

Also, something to consider - historical gamers are generally older than many other genre gamers, and with age comes nostalgia and the grognardism.  I know plenty of 50+ gamers who don't like plastics "just because", etc.  So you probably run into more resistance to plastics in some of those niche categories.

Many of the popular metal historical ranges are run by a single guy and his wife in their shed...barely functioning companies as we'd think of them.  I can't tell you how many times I've been perusing through my buddy's game room and I'll pick something up and he'll say "yeah this old guy in Denmark does this small range of...."  So these are 'companies' who are never going to get into digital sculpting and arranging Chinese production efforts, etc.

[arloid]

The market has to generally be consistent and supportive of any range to warrant quality plastics production.  15mm is a popular scale with historical WW2 etc. stuff so it is common there.  But despite the flag-waving of random people on forums, many other genres are a niche of a niche of a niche...and can't financially support a company doing quality plastic sprues.

The company looking to do it has to be pretty damn sure they'll sell enough to justify the mold/factory process.

Also, something to consider - historical gamers are generally older than many other genre gamers, and with age comes nostalgia and the grognardism.  I know plenty of 50+ gamers who don't like plastics "just because", etc.  So you probably run into more resistance to plastics in some of those niche categories.

Many of the popular metal historical ranges are run by a single guy and his wife in their shed...barely functioning companies as we'd think of them.  I can't tell you how many times I've been perusing through my buddy's game room and I'll pick something up and he'll say "yeah this old guy in Denmark does this small range of...."  So these are 'companies' who are never going to get into digital sculpting and arranging Chinese production efforts, etc.

Even if those companies would go into digital sculpting, it would be cheaper to have a master made by a company like shapeways and make the spin casting mold as usual. Assuming itīs old Bill in his shed.
Getting a good quality master shouldnīt cost more then 20 euros a miniature, not much of a add up if you ask me.

[Elbows]

Yep, there just isn't the financial support/reasoning to do it - despite being something many companies would probably prefer to do.

[Smokeyrone]

So, it's difficult to mold 15mm hard plastic 1 piece figs? 

They make great soft plastic figs in 1/72.  Would doing. Same in a hard injection molded plastic be difficult?

I ask because I know not

[Mick_in_Switzerland]

Valiant make hard plastic 1/72 and they are quite nice.

[Elbows]

It's not about difficulty, it's about cost and thus return on investment and avoiding going bankrupt as a small business.  There are plastics in 15mm, but they're few and far between and mostly done by the largest companies in the business (Battlefront and Plastic Soldier Company, Zvezda, etc.).  They're also safely made for extremely popular (or potentially popular genres); i.e. WW2 and Cold War, etc.

I think we're more addressing why more niche ranges don't get plastics..and that's because it isn't cheap.

[jetengine]

I'd assume because 1/72 basically exists. Its got a massive  headstart, alot more range and has the detail.

[mcfonz]

1/72 is also a slightly different kettle of fish.

It's a scale modeling scale. Although some people wargame using them.

Oddly, people often suggest that 1/72 is 20mm. But in terms of figures the two are not the same. Mainly because 1/72 is a scale the proportions are much truer.

I think the Valiant sets are closer to wargaming 20mm than the proportions of 1/72. I could be wrong there mind you.

It is down to demand and supply. If the demand was there to justify it, then the supply would move to plastics as the numbers would make more sense.

I also wonder about the popularity of scales outside of various nations.

I have some 15mm for Gruntz but only as a friend bought into it. Otherwise I have no real desire for it. I'm in the UK and recognise that it is popular here, I'm not sure about it's popularity as a scale on the EU mainland or elsewhere.