It doesn't sound like you're really going to be happy with one of these hot-extrusion (FDM) printers, since you're asking for high detail and accurate surfaces. If you melt the plastic to smooth the surface, you lose the detail. If you really want to use a FDM-type printer, I'd say hold out for one with dual extruders that can demonstrate an effective workflow that includes producing soluble supports. Otherwise, you're going to be spending a lot of time essentially hand-carving the undersides of your figurines. But before you buy one, see if you can have someone who owns one print one of your models for you, so you can look at it close up. All of these printers produce models with a striated surface, which may or may not be acceptable to you. If you're doing these figurines for clients, you might find that it's worthwhile to send them out for printing on a better machine than you can afford to buy right now.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com