Newbie Question

[Batman007]

Hi all,
So I'm getting into statue collecting. Anyone know a thing or two about this??? Haha.

I'm already a big collector of sixth scale figures. Hot toys, enterbay, medicom, customs, have a bit of all. Naturally, the statues i am interested would be the same scale.

So, my dummy questions...

1) why poly stone and not PVC? Former is twice the cost at least. If I'm not picking them up to feel the weight difference, they look the same.

2) I live in Asia. Do I have a price benefit on certain brands? I can tell u for sure that hot toys is cheaper by about 30-40 bucks.

3) What is all the fuss about low numbers? Other than the number itself, any difference in the quality if the statue?

Thanks in advance. Looking fwd to showing off my collection here some day.

[nbr3bagshotrow]

Originally Posted by Batman007

Hi all,
So I'm getting into statue collecting. Anyone know a thing or two about this??? Haha.

I'm already a big collector of sixth scale figures. Hot toys, enterbay, medicom, customs, have a bit of all. Naturally, the statues i am interested would be the same scale.

So, my dummy questions...

1) why poly stone and not PVC? Former is twice the cost at least. If I'm not picking them up to feel the weight difference, they look the same.

2) I live in Asia. Do I have a price benefit on certain brands? I can tell u for sure that hot toys is cheaper by about 30-40 bucks.

Thanks in advance. Looking fwd to showing off my collection here some day.

Welcome to Statueforum.

I also am a big 1/6 scale collector (both Hot Toys and statues). As for why polystone/resin vs PVC, not sure there is a rational decision why. The PVC smell bothers me (although supposedly that smell goes away over time) and the fact the PVC is just light bugs me. Prefer the solid feel of resin pieces. I've seen the detail of PVC and they look very detailed. (I wonder if we will ever see a 1/4 scale PVC).

Collecting any back issue statues is going to be expensive for our Asian collectors since most of them are in the states and shipping can get expensive.

Let's see pics of what you have.

[jedi_don]

Welcome to the hobby and the forum.

My thoughts on question 1.

Polystone/Resin
PRO
- Sandable. Moldlines can be easily sanded. Seamlines can be filled with putty and sanded. Easy to hide casting imperfections with putty, sanding and priming
- Silcone molds. Easy to make silcone molds for smaller production runs
- Stiffer. A more rigid material for making larger pieces. Easy to embed metal rods and pins to strengthen. Less likely to warp unless material is thin

CON
- Breakage. Chips, breaks and fractures easier.
- Weight. Added shipping costs
- Material costs.

PVC
PRO
- Casting flexibility. Can cast more complex shapes. Can cast thin and small parts.
- Lighter weight
- Damage resistance. More flexible material means less likely to break.
- Cost. PVC and ABS materials are cheaper than resin
- Details. Finer details can be cast with PVC.

CON
- Steel molds. Requires more expensive steel molds
- Mold lines. PVC and ABS are harder to sand/scrap to remove mold lines. But clever mold line locations and paint can reduce this (see Kotobukiya figures for good examples)
- Warp. PVC is more likely warp due to gravity and heat. But the use of ABS plastics in combination with PVC has reduced this
- Smell and oils. Older PVC figures exuded oily residue on unpainted parts and through painted parts. Not much an issue anymore with current PVC materials and painting techniques.

I have both PVC and Resin figures and seen the PROs and CONs on both with examples I own. Although PVC figures have been much improved over the years. No more sticky, oily figures.

My thoughts on Question 3:
I think there is a false belief that lower the serial number, means better the quality. That may be true with some products where molds degrade over time. While silicone molds due degrade over time, several sets may be used for a large production run. Also, there is every indication to believe that the factories do not number in the order of manufacture. For example, a 100th produced torso might have a 2000th head mated to it before shipping. So the serial numbers are most likely arbitrarily assigned. There might be some psychology of the lower number implying being ahead of others some how. For me the serial number hasn't mattered as a long as I get a good copy of the statue.

I due think there is increased "collectibility" with a lower serial number when the serial number does match the order produced like with classic cars. Not sure this truly extends to statues

[Batman007]

Thanks for the 411 so far. Most informative!

About my collection, here's a sampler of the latest set on display. Shelf space is a real luxury in my turf.

[Batman007]