Reaper Bones Black initial impression

[horati0nosebl0wer 19647xp 6]

Ok, so I just got in my latest order of figures from Reaper as I was really interested in the offering for promotion (Ziba, Female Efreeti). I also ordered some regular Bones line minis to compare the new material in durability and cast quality.  The new material is worlds away from what the original Bones has been.

From what I see the original Bones line was something akin to nylon in being light and slightly pliant at room temperature. When you heat it the material becomes quite a bit more pliant and workable to get things straightened out when need be. It also did not take well to rattle can spray primer. The issue I face was a slight tacky residue left on the figure that you could still paint over and seal but didn’t really lose. I never had that with airbrush/brush on primers so I think it was likely something to do with the propellant. Another issue is the loss of detail and how difficult it is to remove mold lines. The material being as soft as it is doesn’t pull the sharpest of forms and the mold lines tend to be pretty large when they’re apparent. Removing them requires a hobby knife with fine profile as you try to cut away the edge without cutting into the figure.

Here’s what I observe immediately about the new stuff in opening the box. I don’t know about the priming just yet but this new material is definitely harder. It is really light compared to metal and a little heavier than the previous Bones due to density. The mold lines are far smaller than the previous figures and the details far more crisp. There are more points that the figure has slight imperfections but it is likely that they are places where the model had gates/vents for the mold injection. The durability of the material definitely is present as I’ve tried to mangle the small bits and find a low breaking point without success. So far so good by me and my small stress test. I don’t know about any temperature issue as the parts are all straight that need to be and there aren’t any weird warps for the cast.

If Reaper goes to change their full line to this I would suggest picking some up if it isn’t too expensive where you are. Its a great idea for the cost of the large monsters in their line dropping by significant amounts if you aren’t already 3D printing your bestiary.

[sundancer 42976xp 0]

I might be wrong here but weren’t Bones pre-primed so that there would be no need for pre-priming? It says so on the box IIRC.

[144artist 25545xp 1]

Not pre-primed just not needing any primer. It just needs a quick wash with a little dish soap and water to get rid of the mold release that can cause paint to bead up and disappear. Acrylic paint adheres well directly to the plastic and seems to flex with it after drying. If one has to use primer go with brush on or air brush as the propellant in rattle cans will often cause the residue that @horatiOnoseblOwer ran into.

Thanks for the review. I’m looking forward to trying out some of the new material.

[janus1004Member 4165xp 0]

Yes, if anyone more has gotten their hands on Reaper Black stuff please share! This is something I have been looking at and think could be a bit improvement for Reaper, but I have not seen any figures in the new material myself yet.

[evilstu 15298xp 0]

Sounds promising. Thanks for taking the time to do the write-up 🙂

[somegeezer 18431xp 0]

This is excellent hands-on info. How easy/painful is cleaning up the mould lines?

[horati0nosebl0wer 19647xp 3]

Here’s some quick pics to show off the mini that they throw in after hitting $40 in your order (before shipping).

 

Here are a few shots that show the mould lines that I caught on this model. Pretty much minimal when compared to the regular Bones. The hair has the most mould lines that I caught but that’s just probably because, from what I’ve pieced together (heh heh heh), the Bones line is multi part like metal but affixed as a single piece during production. The legs/base, crotch curtain (front/back), right arm, head/hair/shoulder pad are parted out once you look into the recesses of the figure. Overall a pretty good sculpt for 75mm (78 to the tip of the horns).

I did take a second look at the regular Bones and I think that the line is just slowly being moved over to the new stuff from the slight change in detail. The old stuff is still heat pliant which isn’t really a good thing when considering the headquarters for Reaper is located in the US smack in the middle of Texas. I also noticed that the detail level is a little crisper in the regular stuff and slightly darker in material color (not a pure white but more grey).

@somegeezer no idea on cleanup yet. I have other projects to finish (as I promised the Weekender thread)

[zeker1966 1633xp 0]

That’s a pretty nice model. Looks great. I have a lot of Bones stuff. This new material looks a lot nicer.

[osbad 4279xp 0]

I am hopeful of this product, however I am a little perplexed as to why they have only picked larger models to launch it.

Having bought quite a few of the “white” Bones over the years (got the first kickstarter and then several individual purchases since) I think the problem with “white” is not with the larger miniatures, which seem to come out pretty much OK, but with the smaller, man-size ones with lots of detail, which typically don’t fare so well.

It would therefore make sense to me to switch the production of smaller models to the new material, if it does what it is supposed t0: produces finer details and less obvious mould lines!  However this is not what they have done, instead concentrating on larger models which are pretty much OK as they are.

So, I await further developments with interest.  Quite the conundrum.

[horati0nosebl0wer 19647xp 0]

@osbad From checking out the material that Reaper has been putting out the stuff made from Black, or something like it, has snuck into some of their Chronoscope line. If you take a look at the CAV series that they put out I think it’s the same material so it isn’t limited to big monsters.

Reaper has a short FAQ but I think the minis show more of what can be done with mecha with regard to detail.

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