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Pacific wrote:
As I have said, we are all on the same side here.

Sums it up for me. I agree with your suggestion regarding a thread where we don't label each other.

I believe that Finecast is neither a resounding success nor an utter failure but falls somewhere in between on a sculpt by sculpt basis. There are figures that come out of the process near perfect every time and those where it's hit or miss. If by chance you only buy those that have high rates of success then finecast is perfect in your mind, if you are unlucky enough to get some from the other group then obviously you'll believe the opposite. Personally my experiences have been poor but I know there are good ones out there.

With the news of LotD going finecast I recently bought all the figures I didn't already own so I could A) get them cheaper and B) get them in metal to hopefully avoid returns. This is where finecast concerns me. When I clicked "complete order" (or whatever) there was no little voice in my head saying "I hope these are good", the same can't be said when I buy their resin. Would I rather have the LotD in resin? Yes. I don't plan to convert but I do prefer the medium. They've already arrived and are perfect by any standards. Have I never had issues with metal? No, but over all these years I've made more calls to GW over FC than metal. Is the replacement process so awful? No, but it can get frustrating when it becomes multiple calls concerning the same model.

Anyway, I think posting good/bad pics and personal experiences informs us of what figures are "full speed ahead" and which are "buyer beware"...they don't win the argument of finecast being perfect or a "fail".

Howard A Treesong wrote:Winterdyne, I'm curious as to why you bought the Emperor's Champion in Finecast. The advantage I see in Finecast is that it's light which makes it excellent for larger figures like monsters and dragons.

But as for the smaller figures I can't see the benefit. With new releases you don't have the choice, but why buy a figure in Finecast when you have the option of getting it cheaper and in metal?

Lugging a metal Karamzov round isn't fun. My only gripe is thin things such as the new Necron Overlords weapon breaks far too easily and is impossible to repair. However I bought 2 Venomthropes the second finecast came out (didn't dare attempt the metal ones *shudder*), they are perfectly cast and are argueably the coolest model GW has.

I've only made 1 finecast purchase so far, a box of Striking Scorpions. All in all I'm pretty pleased with it, a couple small air bubbles but in places that are hard to notice. You've really gotta be looking for the impurities to catch them.

I'm still pretty leery about buying any others, and will be making those purchases sparingly, but my experience so far hasn't been horrible.

I've purchased the following:
Calgar with Honour Guard:
-The banner was messy and there were some issues with a few models. Called up customer support and they promptly sent me replacements. I asked if they wanted me to ship the others back, they said "No, keep em, take the best of both kits and make your squad, you can practice your green stuff work on the others." I was pleased with this.

Sicarius:
Had issues with his cast, same as above result though, GW promptly sent me a new one.

I've taken a commission to paint Abbadon (or is it Abaddon >.<. He was in finecast and I was pretty pleased with the scuplt and the overall crisp feel/look of the model.

I've seen the Eldar Council kit, Draigo, and some Rangers, all of which look awesome.

I think many people complain, and they have a right too, but most people seem to understate how much Gamesworkshop does to make things right (or at least myself and everyone else who has dealt with them has had 101% outstanding customer service). We do however call seeing as we do not have a location near by to walk into.

Edit:
Also wanted to note that although the resin can snap it is awesome not having to deal with models that weigh a ton and break if you glue them with anything short of epoxy (speaking about pewter).

-Loki- wrote:

daedalus wrote:What I don't understand is why there is this "hater"/"lover" mentality? Why's it gotta be us or them extremes?

Can't we just settle for it being sometimes good, sometimes bad, let it die?

The problem with Neutrals is you just don't know what they're thinking.

"If we hit THAT bullseye, the rest of the dominos will fall like a house of cards. Checkmate!"

Seriously though, you can be somewhere in between without being bland.

Finecast is OK. It's harder to shatter, the paint doesn't chip, and is easier to put together, flash and bubbles is easy to fix, anyway.

I have only worked with a few finecast models so far. Not enough for a full evaluation. But, what I have worked on has not converted me to being a fan of this particular resin over metal.
I have found that this resin seems to be a bit flimsy and small parts of the model like spikes and blades have a tendency to break or bend rather easily. More so than metal.

I have been working on metal models for a while now and with the proper tools and practice I have found that pinning and converting metal models is not that difficult no matter what the size of the metal part.

So, At this time I will say that I am not a fan of finecast. But, if some changes to the resin formula were made to strengthen it and the amount of bubbles and flaws were reduced to the level that the metal models had I might begin to like this product.

Time will tell.

PhantomViper wrote:This thread isn't an example of positivity, this thread is spin control and a semi-marketing ploy by all the white knights, pure and simple.

There isn't a single shred of positive evidence besides statements, because every single absolutely flawless example of failcrap that people get, is so absolutely marvellous and wonderful that their owners feel compelled to immediately prime it and paint it!

You want a single shred of positive evidence? Okay. Here's one.



And here is another. Oops, I guess that's two shreds of positive evidence. My bad.

Quite frankly, there was no need to provide those pictures, as PhantomViper is just another troll, but I salute you for proving him wrong anyway.

Squigsquasher wrote:Quite frankly, there was no need to provide those pictures, as PhantomViper is just another troll, but I salute you for proving him wrong anyway.

So are most of the people that frequent these threads.

That Dragio looks awesome, but yeah, your words are ample for more than most. I wouldn't take the time out of your life to photograph your stuff and upload them just to appease an odious little cyber bully with a complex.

is that a chunk missing from draigo's sword, to the right of the runes on his sword?

on the back banner, reverse view, there's something wrong with the ][ on the right hand side

the ends of the crossbar of the backbanner are irregular too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
also, bokeh is all well and good but please increase the depth of view of your camera so that the areas immediately beyond and behind your focus point, i.e., the whole miniature, are in focus otherwise everything beyond a minute plane is blurred.

Really?

I can't see any chunk missing from the swords edge. All I can see on the back of the =][= on the top of the banner pole is some little bits of flash. And the ends of the crossbar? They're stoppers. You might see them in your house on the ends of curtain rods.

holycow wrote:is that a chunk missing from draigo's sword, to the right of the runes on his sword?

Nothing is missing from the sword so I'm not really sure what you think you're seeing there.

holycow wrote:on the back banner, reverse view, there's something wrong with the ][ on the right hand side

I suppose it isn't perfectly symmetrical but nothing really wrong with it, either.

holycow wrote:the ends of the crossbar of the backbanner are irregular too.

I suppose. See above comment.

holycow wrote:also, bokeh is all well and good but please increase the depth of view of your camera so that the areas immediately beyond and behind your focus point, i.e., the whole miniature, are in focus otherwise everything beyond a minute plane is blurred.

Ah, the first truely legitimate criticism of these images isn't about the figure but rather my lack of skill with a camera. I know that the depth of field isn't great but this is a cheapo camera and I'm lucky it has a macro setting. My intent was to show how the detail was not miscast in any way (or repaired by myself) and I think I did that rather well. If all you can do is nitpick about minor "irregularities" then I should point out that that's a long way from the horror stories generally posted on the internet and can be viewed as "proof of positivity" in itself.

Still, I think I should mention that these miniatures are NOT recent purchases, they are among the first batch of finecast to have hit the shelf. This is back when the world was ending and every finecast miniature being released is supposed to have looked like swiss cheese or melted in the afternoon sun. First batch stuff I have but did not take pictures of (all of which were absolutely fine) are my box of Dark Eldar Incubi, Deathmaster Snikch, King Louie Liquor, Lelith Hesperax, Queek Headtaker, Urien Rakarth, and the Tyranid Hive Tyrant back when it was a finecast body with plastic arms.

Let's compare this to the plastic Daemon Prince kit that I recently purchased. That thing would NOT go together correctly. I nearly had to pour LGS into the gaps where the wings attached, under the arms, and where the legs attached to the hips. This is a plastic kit and is a failure of design on GW's part, not a failure of production process at the plastic mill (or whatever it's called where they pour the plastic). There was no replacing bits because everything was cast correctly and would have been identical in every other kit. Can't say this is a problem with the first batch of models, either, because this thing has been out for quite a while now.

Please don't think that I get perfect miniatures from the Finecast Fairy or something. Production problems do exist and it is rather sad that GW allows so many errors to slip into customers' hands. Still, unless you live in an isolated area and can only do web orders chances of bad casts ending up on your hobby table can be mitigated no nearly zero. When I buy a model I inspect every package I get to make sure all the bits are there and that each bit has nothing wrong with it or isn't damaged in some way. When I see a problem, I get the Bunker staff to replace the bit, which they promptly do. That means I leave the shop with a figure that is perfectly acceptable for having spent money on. This isn't new behavior on my part. I did this even back when GW only used metal for their singles.

Ive actually had quite a few decent finecast models, only 1-2 real problems in total though.

3 hive guard - 1 has a few small bubbles on the underside of its hoof (cant be seen)

3 zoanthropes - no issues except minor tail warping on 2 of them.

Stormlord - a few tiny bubbles here and there, but had to look bloody hard to find them.

3 sets of boneswords - these were a fail though. out of 6 swords only 1 could be recognised.

Old one eye - amazing amazing condition, couldnt find a single issue.

2 mangler squigs - 1 has a few bubbles, but apart from that (and the weak legs issues) they are great.

I could go on for hours with this.
But from my own trials / luck, i have no real issues with it, infact, i like finecast.
Just think GW need to be easy on what they make from it as there are 2 issues.

1: Old metal sculpts (taurus etc) dont convert well into resin.
They had gap issues before and all this has one is make them worse.

2: Weak joins: The mangler squig is a good example.
For those who dont know, its 2 large squigs stacked up.
The connection point between the 2 is a single leg, which with the weight, bends badly and needs a support.

LadyCassandra wrote:All those folks asking for pics, and not a single comment about my C'tan Shard. I'm crushed. :(

My apologies. I've had a busy weekend, and though I can't speak for anyone else, I don't sit at my laptop waiting for people to post.

It does look fine though in those pics. It's not particularly clear, but it certainly does look noticeably better then any of the few acceptable casts i've had. If all of the Finecast minis I bought looked like that then I'd be a content customer!

Congrats, and may you luck hold out better than mine.

Breotan wrote:Let's compare this to the plastic Daemon Prince kit that I recently purchased. That thing would NOT go together correctly. I nearly had to pour LGS into the gaps where the wings attached, under the arms, and where the legs attached to the hips. This is a plastic kit and is a failure of design on GW's part, not a failure of production process at the plastic mill (or whatever it's called where they pour the plastic). There was no replacing bits because everything was cast correctly and would have been identical in every other kit. Can't say this is a problem with the first batch of models, either, because this thing has been out for quite a while now.

That is strange. My Daemon Prince kit had no such problems and everything fit perfectly fine witout gaps.

There are plenty of crappy kits, though. The Tau Crisis Suits are notorious for their terrible fit. The Devilfish chassis isn't exactly no.1, though better than the Suit.

To be fair, aero modellers are used to various types of bad fit from many manufacturers.

I'm on a pretty good run with finecast, have a skaven warlord that didnt need any repairs just the usual clean up off the sprue, and there was less clean up needed than i used to get from metal minis so thats a positive in my book.

I also have a librarian terminator with a bubble on the corner of the book back banner thing that i decided not to fix and instead made it a bullet chip, i think it made sense since it was a nice round chip as if he was taking fire to the fore

The weird thing about the Finecast is that it kinda melts under heat. Not really melts, but gets really flexible - I followed tutorials online for fixing my fire dragons where a head had a slight curve, or the Firepike was curved like a banana. I nuked some water in the microwave to near hot, and got some cold water in a 2nd cup, and in 10 seconds in the hot water, the whole model got very pliable, soft and spongey (probably 120-150 degrees at least, that's a guess). bend it to place, dunk in cool water to set the shape, and you're done.

Nice thing about that is easy conversions and easy reposing of limbs, to a point (gotta avoid rubber arms syndrome). That is a benefit, really; easily reposable. Although I would be afraid of what leaving them in a hot car might do for an extended period of time.

just tossing this out there but Breotan's FC Draigo looks way better than the metal Draigo that I worked on a few months ago

Can't we all just get along though? Seriously.

The way I see it the FC fans really should be supporting the guys who arent happy with their FC purchases. At the end of the day everyone just wants the same thing: A Good Product

People may be happy with their FC purchases but that doesnt invalidate the horror stories that are still out there and that are still being made. Hyperbole, low-fail rate or not the fact remains that unsellable and unusable product is still being made and sold. If you're an FC fan that should be even more so unacceptable to you.

Breotan wrote: Okay. Here's one.

Although this is a little OT, man, that Draigo sure is a great looking model.

Ouze wrote:Although this is a little OT, man, that Draigo sure is a great looking model.

Yea, too bad I've decided not to use Grey Knights anymore. I'll just keep him for painting.

I have purchased:

Dante
2 Hive Guard
1 Lictor
1 Tomb King
1 Liche Priest
1 Astorath
1 Casket of Souls
1 Term Libby

I haven't had to return anything. The worst flaw was missing part of a skull on the casket of souls on one of the skulls that goes on top. It's a seperate piece and the flaw was underneath, so you can't even see it.

I owned the terminator librarian already, and compared to the metal, the finecast is so much better looking, easier to assemble, and much easier to lug around.

Bakerofish wrote:just tossing this out there but Breotan's FC Draigo looks way better than the metal Draigo that I worked on a few months ago

Can't we all just get along though? Seriously.

The way I see it the FC fans really should be supporting the guys who arent happy with their FC purchases. At the end of the day everyone just wants the same thing: A Good Product

People may be happy with their FC purchases but that doesnt invalidate the horror stories that are still out there and that are still being made. Hyperbole, low-fail rate or not the fact remains that unsellable and unusable product is still being made and sold. If you're an FC fan that should be even more so unacceptable to you.

Well said. I sometimes feel that there is an unspoken "you must be nit-picking or you must be a lazy hobbyist because I've bought a gajillion finecast and haven't had any problems!" In my case, not true, but it bums me out to think others might believe this.

Breotan wrote:

Ouze wrote:Although this is a little OT, man, that Draigo sure is a great looking model.

Yea, too bad I've decided not to use Grey Knights anymore. I'll just keep him for painting.

That is a shame since it is a terrific model and an excellent finecast example. A little OT, but why? Is it because people give you flak for using GK? Give it a half a year and another Marine codex.

The photos are so small Breotan.

Which mod can I be in contact with to why 2 of my legitimate posts are removed? Thanks.

coyotius wrote:

Breotan wrote:

Ouze wrote:Although this is a little OT, man, that Draigo sure is a great looking model.

Yea, too bad I've decided not to use Grey Knights anymore. I'll just keep him for painting.

That is a shame since it is a terrific model and an excellent finecast example. A little OT, but why? Is it because people give you flak for using GK? Give it a half a year and another Marine codex.

No issues with the army other than it doesn't really do much for me. I'm going to use some of my unbuilt GKs for Librarians of my regular SM chapter and probably trade or sell off the rest.

LunaHound wrote:The photos are so small Breotan.

Wut?