Corvus Belli Announce Fantastic Plastic For Infinity
July 29, 2021 by avernos
Corvus Belli has always produced stunning metal miniatures for Infinity but today they have blind-sided everyone with a startling announcement of a new range of plastic miniatures for their hard sci-fi universe.
Vostok Sputnik // Infinity
Corvus Belli has been working with the Sio-Cast Thermoplastic injection moulding for several months now dialling in the process until they were happy that they could replicate the exacting standards they have for quality and detail from the metal versions in the new material and have reached a stage where they are happy with the results.
The manufacturing system is identical to that of metal in the cutting, 3D printing, moulds and filing processes, the only thing that changes is that the plastic is injected into the mould while the metal is centrifuged, and with the rising costs of metals they have decided to push ahead and use this for larger models from September rather than be in a position which would require another price rise this year.
Can You Tell the Difference // Corvus Belli Infinity
Some Corvus Belli miniatures from the next launch and some game accessories will be manufactured in this new material, in this way the production of the game will continue to be viable while maintaining its quality intact. But fear not metalheads as Plastic and metal will coexist in our gaming tables, each offering the best in terms of quality and price.
A list of what you can expect to see in Sio-Cast injected thermoplastic from Corvus Belli includes
- Vostok Sputniks (included in Beyond Operation Crimson Stone), new for September.
- Jackbots (included in ITS Season 13 Tournament Pack and AGL Tournament Pack - Fiddler Edition).
- 25mm Scenery Bases, Alpha Series, October New.
- Nomads Remotes Pack, new for November.
- Polaris Bearpode (included in the Ariadna Beast Pack), new for November.
- 40mm Scenery Bases, Alpha Series, November New.
- 55mm Scenery Bases, Alpha Series, November New.
It will be fascinating to see how this goes, especially with the Infinity Community being so long accustomed to using metal only for the models. If CB can maintain the quality of their ranges in plastic then I can see this becoming accepted quickly, Tags and larger models on the horizon will soon prove very costly with the rising material costs, so this also helps people who are just getting into Infinity with pricing.
If you want to know more you can check out the full announcement on their blog here.
What do you make of the switch to plastic?
"...they were happy that they could replicate the exacting standards they have for quality and detail from the metal versions in the new material"
Wow this is huge news. I’ve played with a few Infinity minis and they’re not kidding about the quality. It’s a high standard to maintain.
They are fabulous looking ATVTs (all terrain vehicle tank).
No a war vehicle but gives you an idea of how nimble they can be.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ruII4fBWptM
Those are great looking plastic models.
As somebody whos always admired the infinity miniatures but never took the plunge this is interesting. Hopefully, these keep the same quality as the metals, they are suggesting such but the proof is often when the batches start coming out.
Companies always try to spin material changes as the next best thing, I can’t really think of a case where it’s ever gone well (GW Failcast, Warlord “Resin”), except where companies got big enough to step up from metal to hard plastic. Fingers crossed this is an exception.
This brings me one step closer to Infinity. I think Infinity is almost certainly the next game i’m going to try and if the miniatures start to come in plastic (or in a combination of plastic with metal parts if need be) and the plastic miniautures are as good in terms of detail as the metal versions then that’s the last barrier as far as the miniatures are concerned.
I think for the time being standard infantry will remain as fully metal and the larger pieces will be switched to the plastic, over time though that could change assuming they can keep the quality of the metals.
Aren’t remotes infantry size? The ‘Nomads Remotes Pack’ is listed as coming in plastic.
I think they fall under the “game accessories” charging nearly 30 for what are disposable in-game tokens can be a little off-putting.
In this case I think they’re talking about sputniks / zonds which have historically been on 40mm bases
Yes it is not the Tinbots – Little extras that a thrown some infantry boxes.
This is the real Remotes, you need in your list to cover your back
This is *really* big news as Carlos has been adamant about plastic not being able to give them the quality they want in a miniature. I was getting the Nomad Stuff for Code One anyway but now I’m really excited for Beyond Crimson Stone.
Finally, plastic instead of that fiddly, glue resistant metal and the possibility of customisation to come. I am a very happy bunny.
Metal isn’t ‘glue resistant’ … it just requires a bit more prep than your average plastic kit from GW.
And unless CB says the material can be used with polystyrene cement (which literally melts plastic to form a bond) you still have the same work flow and thus the same problems.
(never mind that people have been customizing metal miniatures since the dawn of time … )
Customising metal miniatures since the dawn of time? You really need to show us some of those cave drawings. I don’t bother customising metal miniatures any more because it’s a pig of a job and you are limited to what you can achieve when you have a solid lump of pewter to play with. Unless you think sticking bits of green stuff on it is craftsmanship. Thanks for the condescending science lecture, very helpful. I was trying to emphasise the difficulty with working with this material and not being blood serious. Try gluing on the antennas on pano orc troops… Read more »
You go, girl!! 🙂
those antennas are fiddly (been there, done that, got the tshirt) … but that is a design issue, not a material related one. I’m certainly not blaming the material for my lack of skill and experience in getting that thing to fit. Plastic model kits also have fiddly bits that need lots of patience to fit correctly (B1 Battledroids and their two part heads … ). Again … design, not material that is the problem. Likewise you’re going to have a real challenge changing the design of most monopose plastic models without the use of greenstuff and related materials. The… Read more »
Best news from Corvus Belli ever! Hopefully their whole line will go plastic and hopefully Tag Raid will be too.
It’s much easier to replicate detail in plastic when you’re converting chunky, vehicle-type metal sculpts. The proof will be when they bring that plastic to standard individual skirmish-type miniatures.
Interesting there using the same casting methods and maybe the same company that PSC are using for their 15mm ancients
Wow that’s huge news! I, for one, prefer the metal. I enjoy the heft of the model, when painting it feels less touchy, the hand seems sturdier, maybe that’s just my imagination though. Playing with metal models seems more substantial especially in a skirmish game with a few minis that you tend to try to not cut corners on painting. Plastic although higher cost to produce just feels “cheap”. In large mass battle games weight adds up, and the workload so care for that model in second row isn’t there as much. Hope the infantry is a long way out… Read more »
i like the infinity miniatures, i have to source them over time to keep the cost down (I don’t play the game) but use specific ones in moderns / post apoc etc.
The fact the bigger bits are in plastic won’t change anything for me at the moment as i dont particularly buy them. however this is good news for the future, with potentially roll outs of infantry if the above goes well i would presume
for me they are easily some of the best quality/sculpts on the market, but that is preference
I do a lot of conversions so the thought of there eventually being a multi-part kit for Infinity is very exciting to me. I’ve played Infinity a few times, I enjoy the setting and think the minis are great, but it’s just not the game for me, I’m afraid.
If they put out plastic kits though I’d happily buy some to use for conversions.
I’m getting an early copy and I’ll let you know how it compares to the pewter.
If its the same process as PSC are using these figures won’t be hard plastic
No polycement?
Balls. If they were, I’d go a bit mad.
Intriuging news. I do love the Infinity minis but gluing them often been a pain. Hopefully the quality will stay the same.
Interesting news. I’ll reserve judgement till I can get hold of one. This might make storage easier. Their weight has always put me off using magnetic storage. Still they’re not bringing out the entire range in this material at the moment so it may be an academic point.
Wow — great news and an impressive example! Looking forward to getting a kit in my hands and having a go at constructing it… that’s where the real test comes in. Gotta keep my eyes peeled for the releases! Bring it on!
is this mean drop in prices for big models?
I would hope so, don’t know how much the new machine costs, so that may need to be offset. But I know some other companies that are using them and producing at a price reduction over the metals
The latest PSC figures in the plastic which are the Greeks from Xyston your saving about £1.05 by not buying the originals in metal
£53 for metal, £39.95 for plastic
I worked it out at £41 for metal
£1 for the general
£4 for the command
£24 for the hopolites
£6 for the cavalry
£6 for the peltasts
Apologies you are correct. I thought it was £6 for12 infantry not 8
I worked it out based on the costs on the scotia grendal website and the PSC list of what is included, that is what it comes to there are 9 packs of hoplites in there alone coming to £36 by themselves
is that still a spincasting mold? i would REALLY like to know the material basis for the material used
good news the guys talked to the people behind it today and you can see the process https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJYUYRrxk7k
That is a surprise, though perhaps inevitable that they would experiment with something like this in view of a tendency to more larger models and rising material prices. Will have to see if the quality is there both in terms of the casting and behaviour of the material overtime.
One of the things that has always attracted me to Corvus Belli miniatures is that they have very fine parts, including the ‘fiddly bits’. I hope that any move to plastic doesn’t mean that this will change. From what there is to see so far it doesn’t look like it. Other than that, there are what i take to be good signs here. – It seems to me that Corvus Belli have held out against calls for plastic (from people like me) until they were confident that they could maintain the quality of their miniatures in plastic. It seems that… Read more »
from what I can tell from the interview with SiOCAST at the Expo, they sell (or rent) the machines to the companies. So CB will still be manufacturing in house, only using different machines and materials depending on the model in question, so still no outsourcing by CB so they can maintain quality and production schedule
I have 15mm manufactured in the plastic and te flag poles which are about 1mm thick have come out fine