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I bought some pyroclast bodies via an eBay seller, since I didn’t need the whole kit. Three of the bodies are flawless. I’d say they’re even better than the GW plastic parts. One has some pretty bad mould slip, and the other has a pretty bad casting defect and some mould slip.

Is this normal for FW models? Are these recasts? Should I try to return the affected ones? Do I just bulk up the defective parts with greenstuff?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Edit: thanks, dakkadakka, for rotating those for me. Clearly, I couldn’t have meant to have them upright.

Well... iv had direct forge world stuff be that bad before. normally i take a picture and ask them to replace them and its never an issue

but you ebayed so im about 75% sure its a recast
easy ways to tell
1) is it from Russia, China or possibly from Germany
2) cut the pour spout, does it smell like gasoline or death?
3) is it very brittle.

if yes to one or more of these its probably a recast.

as to what you can do.... not much other than open a complaint against the seller for a refund or replacement

otherwise get very very good with green stuff and re sculpting the area or any areas you cant turn it into battle damage.

That's pretty outdated information, neither 2 nor 3 necessarily apply in the majority of cases nowadays.

The location thing is still probably the best indicator, but even then it's not a given.

It makes me angry how much obviously recast stuff gets offered around, especially on the FB trade groups etc, but they're nearly always assembled and primed to cover up the most obvious giveaways.

One thing I believe I've encountered, which I think might fit this situation, is I think some people, either commission painters, bits breakers or just really committed hobbyists, buy more than they need, cherry pick the best casts and then sell on the "Grade B" ones. Admittedly it was finecast rather than forgeworld that prompted my thinking in this regard, but I don't see why it couldn't apply here.

Truth is, there are recasters who have more consistent QC than Forgeworld, those that are all over the place depending on what you buy and those that you can spot a mile off. Realistically there's just no way to be sure, unless it does stink, then it's almost certainly a low grade recast.

Mould line slips do seem to be coming more and more common with fw, it's gotten to the point now where (in my experience) perfect casts are a rarity, and most kits have faults of some kind. It's put me off buying any more, as premium pricing for me should deliver a premium product. I wouldn't assume it is a recast based just on that.

It could just as much be that the re-seller doesn't bother complaining to FW about casting issues and just passes the product on

You can try asking the seller for a replacement, if it's one of the two UK ones that I know of then I doubt it's a recast, they should send a replacement, don't bother contacting FW.

You could still fix it up with a bit of filler, a sharp knife etc.

To be honest, I don't see much there that can't be fixed by judicious trimming with a hobby knife.

I've seen {(and received) worse direct from FW.

Azreal's point about poorer casts being ebayed is a salient one, especially since FW often replace defectives without asking for them back; pure profit for someone to stick them up for re-sale in that case.

 JamesY wrote:
Mould line slips do seem to be coming more and more common with fw, it's gotten to the point now where (in my experience) perfect casts are a rarity, and most kits have faults of some kind. It's put me off buying any more, as premium pricing for me should deliver a premium product. I wouldn't assume it is a recast based just on that.

That’s why I think I’ll try contacting the seller first. I could clean up the helmets with a sharp knife and some greenstuff but that collar is paper thin and I’m not sure I’m a good enough sculptor to do the work replacing it after 20 years out of the hobby. This is my first “conversion,” if you can call it that, after coming back to WH40k. All I’m doing is swapping out some bodies—this was supposed to be easy

Upon closer examination, one of them is far worse than I thought.

I've had a bunch of models with mould slip from FW, but goodness knows whether or not yours is a recast. If I really care about getting a good cast I buy direct from FW not because I expect them to give me a good cast but because I know they'll replace it when a bad one comes.

Mould slippage is a nightmare, there's often bits that are easily to fix but then other bits that are practically impossible to fix (e.g. how do you fix a 1mm belt that no longer meets because the mould has 1.5mm of slippage?).

With FW I just take a high res pic of a bit I think is absurd for me to try and fix it myself and send it to them with a request to replace it.

Sometimes I wonder if other folk do the same but then proceed to offload the junk that was replaced on eBay.

I'm sure people will offload broken/damaged/poorly cast models on ebay and the like; sadly some will note that they are damaged and some will not and others will try to hide it (5 for sale - high res photo of one or two and the rest are assumed good).

Honestly I'd say check the condition listed on the auction and consider filing a grievance with the seller if its miss-sold as ebay should help protect you. Howver if its sold "as is" and there are photos and the defects are "sort of visible" then it might not work; but it doesn't hurt to try.

Going back to the ebay seller is about the only recourse you've got

My experience with FW products is they can sometimes have terrible casting flaws. Bubbly, blurry mess where details should be etc. At least when buying direct you can get them replaced though.

But I wouldn't immediately presume recasts just because of this, as like I say my experience of FW direct is often resin kits leave a lot to be desired quality-wise.