What are Hot Toys Diecast? & What Does Diecast Mean?

Diecast collecting has grown in popularity considerably due to the fact that the collectibles made from these metal alloy parts not only now look and feel more real, but you give you the sense that they are more real when compared to a simial collectible made from modeling clay.

Diecast is the process by which metal alloys are melted and poured into a mold to produce a countless number of different parts. Hot Toys use these metal alloy parts to manufacture their MMS diecast series range of collectibles, which gives an additional “feel-factor” in making the collectible look and feel more real.

It will be fascinating to see what diecast actually is and how it is different from traditional modeling clay, more so because Hot Toys have an exclusive range dedicated to diecast, and these collectibles are extremely sought after.

Hot Toys diecast overview

Hot Toys are typically manufactured out of modeling clay, with most of their ranges, which include the MMS (Movie Masterpiece Series), the DX (Deluxe Series), the PPS (Power Pose Series), and the Diorama Series being manufactured from this type of specialized material.

There is another Series in the Hot Toys line up, and this is the MMS (Master Movie Series) Diecast series. These collectibles are significantly different from the other series in that besides modeling clay and other high-end materials, the primary material that these collectibles are made from is Diecast metal.

What is diecast

Diecasting is a process by which a manufacturer takes light metals, which are commonly some combination of Zinc, aluminum, magnesium, and brass alloys, heat them up until they are in a molten form, and pour them into a mold. Once the molten cools and hardens, then what is left is the hardened diecast metal in the shape of the mold.

Industrial diecasting process

The diecasting molds are preheated and coated with a die release agent to protect and lubricate the molds and equipment’s surfaces before each use. Next, a premeasured amount of molten metal is injected into the dies (molds) at extremely high pressures.

The newly formed part is then removed from the die, and the cycle can then be repeated after the die cools. One thing to note is that the dies have to be considerably robust to withstand high pressure, even more so than permanent molds.

The dies can be engineered to produce complex shapes with a high degree of accuracy time and time again. In terms of complexity, the molds can have such incredible detail having points, joints, smooth surfaces, rough surfaces, and can be manufactured so that many various types of surfaces can be applied.

In addition to having external characteristics such as different types of surfaces, diecast also has internal factors, and one such feature is fatigue strength. This means the diecast parts are robust (solid and sturdy) and are difficult to break, bend, or damage.

Hot Toys that are manufactured from diecast means the parts available can have microscopic, extreme detail, can be incredibly strong, and can be engineered to create any shape that Hot Toys needs to make their high-end collectibles.

What Hot Toys are made with diecast

Many collectibles are in the MMS diecast series, and we will not cover them all in this article. However, we will cover one of the most coveted characters that many collectors and fans seem to flock towards.

Hot Toys Iron Man MK VII

If you are an avid enthusiast or collector of Hot Toys, then you will know that this specific Iron Man is probably one of the “best” that Hot Toys have ever produced. Made from diecast and featuring a molded clay face, the detail on the battle-worn armor made from diecast is incredible. Not only do the diecast metal parts which make up the entire collectible have astonishing detail. Furthermore, Hot Toys give you additional parts that can be swapped out due to this collectibles’ many points of articulation, which is mainly due to the ability to manufacture them out of diecast metal (both the parts and the articulation). Hot Toys even dj

Announced in July 2018 and released in October 2019, this collectible had an MSRP of $433. If you have to look for them now on eBay, you may get quite a shock to find out that this collectible now goes for almost double the price.

Conclusion

We discovered that even though Hot Toys are renowned for making arguably the best 1/4 and 1/6 scale collectibles in the world from modeling clay, they also have a specific range called the MMS (Movie Master Series) diecast series. This range has collectibles that have parts made from metal alloys by a process which is called diecasting. This means that collectibles like Iron Man, Hulk Buster, and more can be created with even more lifelike realism using alloy metal parts and not just clay.

Conclusion