Size, scale, and material info about Swappables
A Swappable figure is made of plastic so that it is safe as a toy, is lighter weight than metal, is durable, and the material can be intrinsically colored rather than depending on a full paint job.To finish a figure with enough detail, we perform a "Basic Painting" on small areas. You can order a "Full Painting" at additional cost. The cost depends on the figure. At this time we are using two different types of paint;
All silver or gold details are painted using a petroleum based paint. For the 1812 line the basic parts painted these colors are; Shako plate, Bayonet and firelock, bugle and drum, and epaulets.
Other colors are painted using a water-based acrylic paint; shako plume, and face and hands. Acrylic is used because it is easy to remove should the buyer want to apply his own paintwork.
The size details of the connecting parts are as follows
- Waist and backpack peg; 3/16 inch (6/32)
- Head peg; 1/8 inch (4/32)
- Arm peg; 3/32 inch
- Wrist and feet/base pegs; 1/16 inch (2/32)
Swappables are made mostly of "type 4" plastic; that is Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE), but the legpairs (white, and some other colors) and hands are made of HDPE (High Density Polyethylene).
HDPE is a tougher, stiffer type of plastic. When inserting the hands, the wrist post needs to have strength to it, being so small, so HDPE was selected as the material the hands needed to be made of. Similar reasoning was used when deciding on the use of HDPE in the legpairs; they depend on the small diameter foot/base pegs which need to be strong and stiff.
At this time, only empty hands (and the paper sheet holding hand) are made of HDPE. All other hand/item parts are made of LDPE. The non-empty hands are larger, making them easier to grasp and insert so there is less need for them to be made of a stiff plastic.
A Swappables figure disassembled
Below are Swappables parts. You can see the pegs which are normally not in view.
The measurement details of each is given above.
