RE:
Figures in Plastic / Pewter / Resin...is our testbed towards a bigger range of WW2 plastic figure sprues.
Yes! 
Even though this will be in the far distant future, this is still good news.
Having a good mix of anatomically correctness and wargaming enhancements is a tricky business, and one that I think the Perry brothers has accomplished with their 28mm plastic WW2 figures.
Currently there are only three WW2 plastic Perry Miniature sets (Desert Rats 1940-43, Afrikakorps, US Infantry 1942-45). While all three are very good, you can tell that the latest one (US Infantry 1942-45) is their best - and one of my favorites! This is probably due to everything Rubicon Models has said above - learning from making the earlier sets and discovering new things and perfecting the digital sculpting as well as improving and/or modifying other aspects of making hard plastic figure molds.
There are also several other manufacturers doing 28mm plastic figures, we are very eager to see how they will manage.
As mentioned before, having a good mix of anatomically correctness and wargaming enhancements is a difficult balance to achieve at this scale (28mm, but AKA 1:56). Once again though, I have to mention that I think the Perry brothers has accomplished this with their 28mm plastic WW2 figures.
As for several other manufacturers, well, to be honest, this is one factor that Rubicon Models needs to be highly aware of. However, I feel that only a few of the manufactures have accomplished this art of blending anatomically correctness and wargaming enhancements to good affect.
Sadly, except for the very few Rubicon Models and Perry Miniatures plastic figures I have, my 28mm WW2 collection is mostly made up of Warlord Games (Bolt Action) plastic figures. Because at the time, these were the only figures I could get... and because of no other choice, a few metal figures as well.
While Warlord Games' older plastic sets are a bit heroic sized, it was not as bad as the newer overly grossly heroic sized sets. Every time I see these grossly oversized heroic figures, I keep thinking that the people responsible need to go back to art school - and actually go to their Human Body Form class and pay attention.
That being said, I would like to make a few comments about the current figures out there available to the miniature gamer:
Perry Miniatures: Many think that these are some of the best 28mm WW2 plastic figures available. Especially their newest US Infantry 1942-45 set (highly recommended!). If they had a larger range of figures, I would only collect these figures.
Rubicon Models: These figures suffer from being too anatomically correct, and their earlier figures lacked detail and wargaming enhancements, but Rubicon Models has been improving their figures ever so slightly. However, what makes Rubicon Models number one in my book are there fantastic plastic model kits. However, maybe some of their latest kits might be a bit over-engineered?
Wargames Factory: I only recently learned that they made 28mm WW2 figures. Sadly, for me these are very difficult to obtain at any reasonable price, but the few figures a friend sent me makes me want more of them. Like the Perry Miniatures, they have a good blend of anatomically correctness and gaming enhancements. While not as good as the latest Perry Miniatures' US Infantry 1942-45 set, I would still take Wargames Factory 28mm plastic WW2 figures over Warlord Games 28mm plastic WW2 figures any-day of the week. It is just a shame I missed out on these figures when they were still being produced with great offers.
There is more information about
The visual appeal of 1:56 (28mm) scale figures. , have a look at the following thread:
http://forum.rubiconmodels.com/index.php?topic=900.0PS: On another note, we are also testing other raw material for producing our figures. We will let you know more about it once we had some positive results.
You mean material like what they call "Warlord Resin"? It is supposed to be a resin, but feels and acts more like a soft-hard plastic. However, it doesn't assemble as nice as plastic, but most figures I have seen do not need assembly or only have one or two bits to attach. Even the best model glue/cement does not work with this material, and that is what gives the plastic figures a huge advantage. The simple fact that the glue/cement physically welds the plastic bits together makes for a fantastic durable bond.
That being said, these new "Warlord Resin" figures seem to be more liked than metal figures. At least that is what I have been hearing so far. Once the paint starts to flake off, maybe opinions will change - anyone else have experience painting the older soft plastic figures by Airfix? (good childhood memories) Only later to see your nice paint work peel and flake off later. (bad childhood memories)
Curious... who else still has their thousands of Airfix plastic figures (Napoleonic, American Civil War, WW1, WW2, cowboys/indians, and so on)?
