Prices are in Australian Dollars ($AU). Go to the Universal Currency Converter to check the exchange rate to your local currency.
Many of the kits in our catalogue are "resin". What is it? Resin starts off as a two-part plastic material which can be cast into any shape. Once cast and set, it's a reasonably strong (although fairly brittle) material which can be sanded or detailed for a superb quality final appearance.
Resin kits are prone to bubbles in the material, excess material at the cast joints, and other imperfections, which may require some additional work at construction stage. There are also some safety concerns regarding breathing resin dust, so if you are sanding or cutting resin you should take reasonable safety precautions, such as wearing a dust mask and ensuring you are working in a well ventilated area.
Many resin kits are manufactured by "garage" manufacturers who use moulds which do not allow large numbers to be produced - for example, the moulds might last only a couple of hundred castings. This is the reason many resin kits have short production runs. For the same reason these kits are on the pricey side!
Vacuum Formed Plastic (vacform)
This manufacturing technique uses a mould which allows a heated styrene sheet to deform under vacuum pressure to the shape of the mould. Commonly used for large pieces which can be hollow, such as some of the UFO kits and the Comet Miniatures Robby the Robot kit in the catalogue.
The vacuum pieces generally have to be cut from the surrounding un-moulded plastic. Filling materials are commonly needed for joining two vacuum-formed pieces together, as it is difficult to cut two pieces for a perfect join.
Vinyl kits
These kits are generally very good quality, and are not difficult to assemble. Vinyl is a soft materal and deforms easily in warm to hot water, allowing re-shaping - excellent for figure kits which can be posed.
Casting detail is usually superb.
Injection Moulded Plastic
The most common manufacturing process, used almost exclusively by the larger manufacturers who can afford to make the expensive metal moulds for the liquid casting process. Manufacturing runs are usually very high, which in turns allows these kits to be sold cheaply. Easy to assemble and good for all skill levels.
White metal kits
The casting process is similar to resin, but the white metal is lead based and has a low melting point, so some good, simple models or parts for larger models can be made in white metal. Not very strong, but the parts will bend rather than break, so often used for detail parts of resin kits, where resin would be too fragile.
Given the lead base, obviously white metal kits and parts are not suitable for children!
None of the kits are pre-painted unless specified.
More information on kits, construction
techniques and other information can be obtained from modelling magazines
such as Science Fiction Modeller, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Models, and books
and other general information in hobby shops or on the internet...
The material of Comet's kits varies from injected plastic (eg. Blake's 7 Liberator), resin (Dr Who figure kits), vac form (Robby the Robot) to white metal (the "Mini metal" range).
21st Century Paradox can import to Australia almost
all the kits featured in Comet Miniatures' own catalogue - drop us a line if
there's something specific you're after - we can probably help!
21st Century Paradox sells most items in the Polar Lights range.
For more information on existing and forthcoming
releases, check out the Polar Lights
website.