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While I highly doubt it was their largest project ever, it certainly was far larger than the average 1500-2500 point army they do. The fact that it didn't receive any extra care or customer service shows a lot about the way the ccompany views their customers.

However, that discussion is better left in the other thread. I hope this OP has a pleasant experience, but I hardly see how this could be considered a test for the "average" BTP job. I'm 99% sure they're aware of this thread and the other thread, and will do their best to give OP his money's worth on this job.

Got a surprising email today:

Name,

I started working on your project today and I wanted to show you a sample I did. Let me know what you think of it and if any improvements or changes to bring it as close to what you would like as possible.

Thanks for your time!
Name.
Art Director
BTP

Here are some of the pictures they sent me:





The only improvement I told them was that the legs could maybe be a little more rusty on the front side. Everything else I'm pretty happy with, maybe the little eye smudge could get neatened up.

That looks pretty poor to my eye but the photographs are horrendously unprofessional so it's hard to actually see anything worth seeing. I'm glad you are happy with it though even if I wouldn't be. Wouldn't be very nice if you were disappointed after paying all that money.

This is level 3 remember.
Moff3l: Did BTP specify what level 3 meant for your project?

My only real comments would be that they eyes seem lazy, it's not hard to put the paint in the lens.
Also I think they could be tying your GS work in to the armour a bit more. Right now it's a little obvious as there is no overlap between the green armour and the GS rot.
That's probably outside the scope of level 3 though.

Sending you a sample pic out of the blue suggests that they have either changed their policy or are reading this thread.

I'm sort of hoping that theres is someone lurking out there with another BTP project on the go that can let us know if they are having an experiance similar to yours.

 plastictrees wrote:


Sending you a sample pic out of the blue suggests that they have either changed their policy or are reading this thread.

Maybe both! I'm just glad for the update.

It's entirely possible that it looks a lot better than I currently think it does but those pictures are just not up to scratch to show the miniature.

Put it this way, if someone posted them on Dakka for feedback then they would be getting quite a few responses with advice on better photography set ups.

plastictrees wrote:This is level 3 remember.
Moff3l: Did BTP specify what level 3 meant for your project?

My only real comments would be that they eyes seem lazy, it's not hard to put the paint in the lens.
Also I think they could be tying your GS work in to the armour a bit more. Right now it's a little obvious as there is no overlap between the green armour and the GS rot.
That's probably outside the scope of level 3 though.

Sending you a sample pic out of the blue suggests that they have either changed their policy or are reading this thread.

I'm sort of hoping that theres is someone lurking out there with another BTP project on the go that can let us know if they are having an experiance similar to yours.

Yeah the eyes are pretty terrible. Otherwise it looks okay, then again it is hard to mess up a nurgle chaos space marine army.

Casey's Law wrote:It's entirely possible that it looks a lot better than I currently think it does but those pictures are just not up to scratch to show the miniature.

Put it this way, if someone posted them on Dakka for feedback then they would be getting quite a few responses with advice on better photography set ups.

Yeah the reflection from the overhead lights are taking a lot away from the model.

This is One paint airbrushed on with a wash and some drybrushing.. Poor paintjob.. Lenses are poor done.
Dont Kniebundhose everyone can paint like this while only Reading a tut

For level 3 it's alright I guess. Not great, but alright.

The foto itself is a joke... no seriously, no professional company should be this horrible.

The edges of the bolter aren't drybrushed or edged well. It looks like paint has been glopped on.





It does look like just an airbrush base, a wash, and maybe a drybrush.

Blunt man joins in.

That's a pretty poor conversion with a poor paint job, even for the $9.97 the OP is paying,

I would have rejected both. The former as 'I won't be able to make this look like anything other than something stuck into a space marine', and the latter as an appalling waste of effort.

The OP is paying for what in most studios equates to about 45 minutes to an hour of average working time. This does not look like an hour's work. More like 20 minutes.

OP: sorry if I seem insulting. It's not personal. It takes a while to master making what I consider decent plague marines (I can only think of two guys I know of). I just calls it as I sees it. I appreciate you making these posts, so thanks.

I'm actually positively surprised - I assume that model isn't finished but is a work in progress. If it is in fact a finished model, my opinion will obviously be different.

But as far as a WIP goes I think it looks promising. It needs some details and a wee bit of love, and I hope the base isn't meant to look like that, but overall a good start.

And I think the nurgly-conversions are just fine

It helps that BTP are undoubtedly reading this thread and so will probably not make a hash of the final product. It helps that the OP did the GS work himself (at least I believe he did before sending the models to BTP, correct me if I am wrong) so that is one less thing for them to bodge or screw up. It also helps he has chosen a Death Guard/Nurgle colour theme that lends itself very well to speed painting/undercoat/wash/drybrush techniques. All in all, I am sure the OP will be very satisfied with his army but it really doesn't serve to prove anything other than add a little extra scrutiny on BTP's methods.

Not gonna say it's horrible, but it aint good either.. If you look at the eye the painter has painted outside of the eye.. This is not what I would expect to get for paying money to get someting painted.

Actually several things..

The backpack have clear damage from cutting..
The eye paint is outside of the eye..
The bolter makes me cry..

It is just an ugly model that even I could produce.. And I sure ain't no prof painter..

Lets just face it.. BTP just can't match up to the real painting studios..

I've done better paint jobs while watching football games drunk. It's not terrible but I certainly wouldn't pay someone else to paint to that standard. I can do tac squads to that level in an afternoon.

 Toofast wrote:
I've done better paint jobs while watching football games drunk. It's not terrible but I certainly wouldn't pay someone else to paint to that standard. I can do tac squads to that level in an afternoon.

Well in order for them to make money that is the whole idea behind their painting technique. Paint whole tac squads in an afternoon. As long as you are fine with that for the money you pay then no problem. The thing is they keep on producing lesser quality results as their painting level rises, compared to what other studios produce for the same amount of money. I don't care if they paint thousands of minis each year or if they paint ten. As long as they are unable to keep up with other studios in the market they are obsolete and need to reconsider their work practices.

 Gorlack wrote:
I'm actually positively surprised - I assume that model isn't finished but is a work in progress. If it is in fact a finished model, my opinion will obviously be different.

But as far as a WIP goes I think it looks promising. It needs some details and a wee bit of love, and I hope the base isn't meant to look like that, but overall a good start.

And I think the nurgly-conversions are just fine

The base is pretty much as per my requests in the instructions, and I really like how the base turned out.

Also please note I did the greenstuff work on all of the models, also the conversions etc. So any cuts or bad greenstuffing is not their fault. This model is a bit of a bad one, it's one of my earlier ones, and its from the DV kit, so no posing, I had to cover a lot of DA symbols etc. The one thing thats cool on this one is his left hand is melted with the bolter, but you cant really see it on this picture.

Also:

Name,

I confirm the smudge on the eye and will clean that up!

Thanks,
Name

hey M0ff3I thanks for the update eye and bolter should be a bit neater easy fix at least they are communicating and working with ya .but at the end of the day if you are pleased they did there job

If that's Level 3, what should we expect from Levels 1 or 2?

It's pretty clearly been speed-painted, but the key to good speed-painting is to keep is simple and let the technique do the work (rather than precision brushwork), and keep it clean. That's not a very clean paintjob at all...the eye looks horrendous and the bolter looks pretty rough too.

 NuggzTheNinja wrote:
If that's Level 3, what should we expect from Levels 1 or 2?

Level 1: Primer
Level 2: Basecoat
Level 3: Wash
Level 4: 1-2 Details
Level 5: Half-assed edging
Level 6: OSL
Level 7: GOLDEN DEMON

To paraphrase winterdyne, that marine looks terrible. I certainly hope that the OP isn't trying to put a good face on possibly getting burned. OP, if this is your standard for what you consider quality, well then more power to you.
I'm only talking about the paint job, since I'm tracking the modeling was done by the OP.
The picture quality alone should tell you the standards under which this company operates.

 NuggzTheNinja wrote:
If that's Level 3, what should we expect from Levels 1 or 2?

It's pretty clearly been speed-painted, but the key to good speed-painting is to keep is simple and let the technique do the work (rather than precision brushwork), and keep it clean. That's not a very clean paintjob at all...the eye looks horrendous and the bolter looks pretty rough too.

I think level 1 is you pay them to spray a primer on, and two is a base coat.

Like not joking I belive that came from a video.

Level 3 is their basic table top standard. A standard they charge a lot more for then other studios.

nkelsch wrote:

 M0ff3l wrote:

Here is the issue... This level of paint job for nurgle is easy to do. Base colors, drybrush, details, wash in camo, and slight highlights, usually more drybrush.

It is a nice paintjob, and easy to get quickly and will look better to the eyeball than it will to a zoomed in photo.

To compare a Nurgle paint job quality, or a muddy ork to a airbrushed fire effect chaos dwarf or highly detailed arbites makes a futile exercise.

And for those who think this is anything but 'money = time' remember:
42 Dollars to paint Typhus...
You need to recover some profit, to cover company expenses.
You need you cover raw materials, paint adds up.
You need to have a slight cost for infrastructure.
So that is probably going to be 5-8$ just on 'overhead' stuff...

So even if 35$ went to the painter... That is 3 hours MAX paint job. You can't get blending and extreme highlighting in that time.

I think you will probably get decent tabletop models you probably will be happy with... but I also think nurgle are easier to paint compared to tzeeench or models with actual fleshtones. I would love to see all 4 chaos gods presented as a single job since you would run the gambit of technique, styles and paint colors with the 4 gods.

The picture above and the work produced are far from equal or even close in quality. I agree with what you said, but its the responsibility of the business to quote the price needed to produce the quality requested. I have to admit the dedication the OP has to trying to show BTP as being good awes me. It spits in the face of the community and myself personally. This commission was sent in after my problem and therefore shows direct support for the actions of BTP against the gaming community and myself.

I will not say much else on this thread, but i do feel the what the OP is trying to do here is despicable. (while as a rule I would hope no one has their models damaged, since this was done as a direct retort to my problem i could not care less)

While this is a cheap job, there are plenty of other studios who can do better work or even the same for the same cost (especially when considering shipping), so there is no reason to use BTP except to show support for their recent actions.

People are happily paying $10 for that?

lol

Looks to me like the OP is blatantly trying to justify his decision choosing BTP to do this job.

At the end of the day if he is happy, then more power to him, just don't take this thread as any sort of legitimate cross sample as they are obviously monitoring it.

I, as an OK painter, would be somewhat proud of that if I painted it. My best piece of work was a tomb king standard bearer, that is where I finally figured out washing, and proper drybrushing. I was so pleased, but it took 4 hours in all, and about 6 layers of drybrushing, and 5 colors, it looked better than this.

But if I were speed painting for a tourney, I'd be happy with this

Thanks
Austin

The paint job on that test mini looks alright to me, depending on cost. Then again, I have a feeling they're keeping a special eye on this project given that the progress is being logged and with the "other project" (chaos dwarfs) that this was supposed to sort of be "in contrast" to.

Regardless, I appreciate the tenaciousness of the OP, and wish him the best of luck in getting his army back to a good standard! I think logging the progress every step of the way is the absolute smartest thing you can do to ensure their best effort.

Please stop bad mouthing or disparaging the OP.
Fact is that's $10 of BTP work. Everything else is opinion.
As for blends and extremes in a 3 hour job, certainly possible. I reckon I could do a pretty damn fine typhus in 3 hours.

The fact they contacted mof with a test mini when he never even asked? It's obvious btp is watching this thread, and did thus due to comments in this thread.

We already saw how btp actually REFUSED to do this for a much larger and more expensive project.

No offense but mof is obviously Benefiting a lot from the fact he has made this thread, and is already getting better service then the average btp customer.

Despite some grips with the paint job on that guy, i would argue mof has gotten a better paint job then ten who paid almost twice a much per individual guy for higher levels.

If mof wasn't benefiting from a bias created from this thread, that is still pretty damning on btp's part on how bad ten got screwed.

To claim now this is going to be a fair review would be unethical because of the bias both mof and btp are giving to each other.

I still would like to see the finished army. But in all honesty btp has demonstrated their true colors once agien in my mind. Apparently you can't get good work out of them unless your creating a social media circus around them from the start.

It's also a good yardstick for what BTP can put out at best for a certain level of work. And what they think the optimal handling of a project is. It's worth observing, regardless of any perceived bias. Really speaking, any work out out by any studio should be observed by someone looking to place a commission. It's hard to disguise capabilities, or lack thereof. Again that makes this thread worth observing.

I still think it might be possible that they just do the sample fig for everyone now, not just me. I didnt ask for it, they still did it.

Maybe they are reading the thread and thats why they did it, maybe they just do it for all customers now. Maybe both. I would love it if someone else who has done or is going to do a project with BTP since the tenebre thing could PM me and tell me if this is the case. (PM so that there can be no doubt about that BTP just read his post and did it..)

And the last thing before I go back to update only mode,

The picture Tenebre linked was only for the color (as the text above it clearly says), they didnt get it exactly right but I like it this way. I 100% honestly like this model (After the extra rust and the eye clean up I asked for ofcourse). If any other service had delivered this I would have been happy, if I had gotten better fromm a different service, thats my fault for not picking them then.

But saying that I am white knighting them because I like the model? Thats like saying anyone who likes [insert crappy band here]'s music is just white knighting them... Its like winterdyne said completely opinion based.

I feel like inserting my opinion on MY models has nothing to do with the review whatsoever. If you like their work, maybe give em a spin, if you hate it, dont use them.