Each model starts from either concept art or a conversation between the Reaper Miniatures Art Director and a commissioned sculptor. An original model is created physically or digitally by the commissioned artist and then processed by the Reaper Miniatures team into a mold.
The mold making process varies depending on how the original sculpt was provided. Some original pieces come from 3D printers while others are simply placed directly into the molds used as masters for the future miniatures.
Metal miniature molds are made at the manufacturing site in Denton Texas. Once completed the desired metal alloy is poured into a spin casting machine. This process fills the rubber mold with liquid metal and once cooled a created metal miniature is collected for packaging. Failures by quality control are then dumped back into the liquid metal pots to be reused on the next spin.
Plastic miniature molds are created in China, or the US depending on cost, and are placed into a large machine the pushes liquid plastic into the metal mold. Once cooled and the mold separated the plastic miniatures are collected and either shipped to the manufacturing site or moved for further processing in the packaging department. Failures by quality control are then ground up in a machine for future uses by the plastic machine.