Slitherine

This question isn't about FoG specifically, but about miniatures gaming in general.

Given the now well-documented health risks of lead exposure, why is lead still used as the material of choice for making miniatures?

I am a shooter, and I've done a lot of reloading. And one might well ask the same question of the shooting sports.

For the shooting sports, the answer comes in two parts.

1. We have already eliminated all lead from shotgun pellets. Steel is used now, and it's not quite as desirable. Some claim it doesn't carry quite as well, and most agree it wears barrels more. But it works, and there's no longer any need for anybody to "chew" lead pellets out of their food.

2. For rifles and pistols, we still use lead because it's the only material that has the necessary qualities. Lead is "dense", by which I mean it has a high specific gravity. It is malleable. And it is affordable.

Obviously pure gold would have an even higher SG, and be about equally malleable, but that "affordable" requirement...

Of course, modern firearms fire mainly jacketed lead bullets because unjacketed bullets lead the barrel heavily at velocities over, uhh yeah, this is wandering way off topic.

So, why still the lead in miniatures? Is it basically the same thing, that lead is the only material which fulfills all the requirements?

I think most manufacturers have a health warning with an age requirement (12-14) to use lead figures. Given that most figures that are routinely handled are painted, lead exposure is minimal.

Unlike hunters who have been spraying lead all over the countryside for decades, most wargamers wouldn't dream of throwing them out. In fact I can only think of two cases where lead figures have been handled inappropriately:

1. The Milton Keynes non-stop competition aeons ago where a player using Dacians "sacrificed" a Roman figure before the start of the game by, IIRC, burning it with some spirit he was drinking to keep him going through the night.

2. My sister-in-law who jokingly threatened to melt my brother's collection in his equally prized non-stick frying pans should she ever discover he's been up to no good.

Finally, given that only 0,001% of the population (or similar) uses lead figures on a routine basis I suspect most governments are either not aware there is a potential risk or just don't care.

Regards,

Julian

IIRC figure manufacturers now use a lead alloy (e.g. lead + tin).

The issues with lead are well known, and manufacturers take precautions. The main advantage of lead/tin is the low melting point compared to other metals (steel, aluminium) makes it easy to work with - all you need is a centrifical mould, a heating unit to melt the metal, and a well ventelated work room.

From the buyer's perspective, lead/tin has the advantage that it doesn't corrode and figures can be easily worked if you want to convert them. A "base" of figures is heavy enough to not easily be knocked over accidentaly. The disadvantage is lead is heavy when carrying around a whole army (okay it 15mm, a problem in 25mm) and the lances/spears get bent or broken realatively easily.

People do use plastics, but seasoned wargamers prefer "lead" figures. However, Warhammer figures are mainly plastic so if a younger generation crosses over from fantasy / WAB you may see a shift.

Neil

Actually sometime in the 80s regulation appeared banning the use of figures, so practically all manufactureres switched to pewter or other tin alloys. For some reason model soldiers in Germany are called Zinnfiguren. Old figures in any case were not entirely made of lead, but of some lead alloyes with tin, bismuth, etc.

This change was caused by the mortality of wargamers caused by lead poisoning, which was reaching insufferable levels (another interpretation says these regulations were valid for the entire toy industry).

In practical terms, at the time the price of figures increased by a factor of three or thereabouts. Also due to the fact that these figures are to be used painted and varnished, they might be made even of polonium

Anyway, tin alloys give much better fluidity to the molten metal, so casting quality is much better.

mnm wrote:Actually sometime in the 80s regulation appeared banning the use of figures, so practically all manufactureres switched to pewter or other tin alloys. For some reason model soldiers in Germany are called Zinnfiguren. Old figures in any case were not entirely made of lead, but of some lead alloyes with tin, bismuth, etc.

This change was caused by the mortality of wargamers caused by lead poisoning, which was reaching insufferable levels (another interpretation says these regulations were valid for the entire toy industry).

In practical terms, at the time the price of figures increased by a factor of three or thereabouts. Also due to the fact that these figures are to be used painted and varnished, they might be made even of polonium

Anyway, tin alloys give much better fluidity to the molten metal, so casting quality is much better.

I am surprised by the statement about wargamers dying because of lead poisoning. It would be interesting to see some documentation of this statement. I personally have not heard of any wargamers dying as a result of lead poisoning.

I know the green lobby pushed for banning lead/tin alloy miniatures and I believe most figure manufacturers just gave in rather than try to fight back with reasonable replies to the attacks on their products, mainly due to the cost of defending their miniatures.

randynovotny wrote:

mnm wrote:This change was caused by the mortality of wargamers caused by lead poisoning, which was reaching insufferable levels (another interpretation says these regulations were valid for the entire toy industry).

I am surprised by the statement about wargamers dying because of lead poisoning. It would be interesting to see some documentation of this statement. I personally have not heard of any wargamers dying as a result of lead poisoning.

I think he was having at your expense.

hazelbark wrote:I think he was having at your expense.

You don't say

The most celebrated wargames names dying were the great old names Charles Grant , Tony Bath and Peter Young, well into their 70s-80s, with no sign of lead poisoning. And if they did have one, it would be characterised by a contraction of the facial musculature named as 'smile'.

a timeline

We came a long way along time without these new business models, What matters is I see no need at all of these concentratory rules-figures-dice-table scenics materials, etc., schemes. We already have massification enough, let the individual shine! We are wargamers, not komsomols.

An alloy of 63% tin to 37% lead has a melting point which is substantially lower than that of either metal individually, and any deviation from that ratio increases the melting temperature. There's enough tin in the mix to effectively "lock in" the lead, so leeching into the environment is relatively low. Tin reproduces finer detail, but deterioriates over time without something alloyed with it to prevent it from crystallizing. Pure lead figures tend to be fairly low in detail and rather soft and smooth when cast, but bend back to shape without breaking, whereas tin figures pick up intricate detail beautifully and are noticably harder to bend, but develop fractures in the metal if they are bent. Alloyed figures fall somewhere between the extremes.

One clear advantage of metal figures over plastic is that you can dump them in a can of solvent and repaint them, if they become too badly "chipped", or if your painting skills improve over the years to where the earlier attempts look out of place with the later ones.

The new RoHS lead-free requirements for solder and the removal of lead in electronics have a few nasty long-term implications. Tin by itself will develop conductive crystals, which are sometimes referred to as "tin whiskers", and which can eventually grow to substantial length. These "whiskers" are likely to short out electronic equipment after a few years, especially those higher-tech items with closely spaced Integrated Circuit pins, so any such consumer grade electronics made to RoHS specifications WILL eventually fail due to this effect, meaning that it WILL end up in a landfill somewhere relatively soon. This is a perfect example of "planned obsolescence", guaranteeing repeat purchases. Note that military and medical equipment is specifically exempt from this requirement, and most military specifications call for the traditional 63/37 alloy of tin/lead.

As an addendum, California governor Schwarzenegger just signed legislation making the use of lead bullets for hunting illegal within the nesting range of the California Condor.

Sigh.

iirc the european union has banned the use of lead in electronics. this is causing a problem with the solder joints. without lead in the solder the tin will grow "wiskers" causing electrical shorts.
actually i would prefer to see hard plastic figures. they are a lot easier to repose or modify then lead figures. unfortunately the only hard plastic figures that i have seen were either fantasy, for other historical periods, or of the "toy soldier" variety.
from what i have seen on other forums, the main problem would be the cost of the molds and injection process needed for plastic figures.