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Was going to buy my friend a High Elf Special character in return for a Hordes battlebox. The one with a Halberd looked like he was carrying a bow with an axe on the end. Is there even a way to fix that in resin? I'm pretty sure it would just snap. Sigh, it's almost a waste of time for GW to produce nice sculpts for characters anymore. It's not like the actual miniature will do them justice...

powerclaw wrote:Was going to buy my friend a High Elf Special character in return for a Hordes battlebox. The one with a Halberd looked like he was carrying a bow with an axe on the end. Is there even a way to fix that in resin? I'm pretty sure it would just snap. Sigh, it's almost a waste of time for GW to produce nice sculpts for characters anymore. It's not like the actual miniature will do them justice...

This is a problem common to a lot of resin models, and isn't a particular fault with the Finecast material itself.

There is a way to fix this; warm the part up until it becomes flexible with hot tap water (60-70C) before straightening the part and immersing in ice water to set the resin. Be aware then when cold, the resin becomes brittle. Finecast at room temperature is fairly flexible but has low shear (sideways force) strength. If the part was pulled from the mould before the resin was fully cured (likely) then you will need to repeat this process several times, allowing the part to come back up to room temperature (leave it for10 mins) each time. As it returns to room temperature, the resin will have a tendency to 'remember' how it was when it cured.

helium42 wrote:

Yeah, you haven't bought a finecast model, so why are you trolling a thread about finecast? You claim that these models are easy to fix. How do you know without ever having purchased them or worked on them? Sounds like you're pulling that statement out of your ass.

Must you insist on the endless use of the word Troll? Is it a desperate attempt to have me banned for disagreeing with you?

It's not trolling. I'm not even attempting to defend finecast. Read what I write. I have not bought one, but the champ in question looked simple to fix.

I am not even discussing the product at this point. I am simply sticking up for people that feel they must justify themselves to people like you. The fething finecast police.

If a kid buys a flawed model and decides to keep it and fix it, what the feth does that have to do with an ill tempered Internet stranger?

You want to mock and bully people who disagree with you, and call me a troll (or a GW employee, even more amusingly) for defending them.

That's not trolling. That's calling a bully a bully. Freedom of choice, who the feth are you to mock or demand an explanation from people who don't return their models?

I don't own a finecast model for the tenth time. I'm not even discussing the product primarily. I'm simply here to point out that you and your mates have a shot attitude because the people your mocking are too polite to say what needs saying, and the mods leave us alone to be adult about things.

Namely, some of you are acting like douchebags, and It doesn't sit well with me.

I hope that clears things up for you. I agree there are issues with Finecast, i disagree with your gak attitude.

Simples.

Regards the US marines.. They aren't green berets. The US army SF adopted the green beret after training with British commandos back in the day.

<---Luvs Matty. Lol.

I agree with mattrym, if one wishes to keep the model, so be it. While I agree more people should return the model and not accept poor casts, it's their choice.

mattyrm wrote:I am not even discussing the product at this point. I am simply sticking up for people that feel they must justify themselves to people like you. The fething finecast police.

Except you are discussing the models. You ask me to reread your posts? Perhaps you should do the same thing. On more than one occasion you have mentioned that the flaws common in finecast models are easy fixes. You mentioned that twenty minutes of work should clean them up appropriately. I simply pointed out that you admittedly have not purchased or worked with any finecast models, so you have no position to make your wild claims as to how easy or hard it is to clean them up. You admittedly have no first-hand knowledge of finecast products yet you continue to post these arguments. In my opinion, that makes you a troll in this instance.

I've not once asked anybody to justify their decision to buy or not buy finecast models to me. If you had bothered to read any of my posts, as opposed to just grouping anyone who disagrees with you together into one group, you would have known that.

The problem is Mattyrm, while you are obviously a fan of miniature stuff, perhaps you are not as much as some of the people who post on here. In fact I remember you commenting in reply to one of HBMCs lengthy posts about why he complains, and how it is precisely because he complains that shows how much he cares about it.

I think you are being rather scurrilous in baiting people who you probably know full well have a (perhaps) unhealthy obsession with wargaming miniatures, and so expect the miniatures to be perfect. Perhaps I would be in that group also, I seem to spend far too much time with them - and handing over £12 for a character model, I would expect it to be free of flaws (as they used to be in fact). I wouldn't say you are 'trolling', but I think you post full well knowing that people will look at your post and have steam venting out of their ears, and probably get a laugh out of it.

Yes, people should get their FC problems into perspective. In the grand scheme of things it matters very little, but that doesn't invalidate the content of their argument.

Fair enough Pacific. That's a more than sensible comment, as i said, I'm not hugely concerned about the models now, I was simply replying to perceived attacks on individuals that are happy with their purchases.

I am in full agreement that Finecast has issues, there is too much evidence for that not to be the case. I'm just saying I'm not happy with some of the criticism tossed at people that stated they are relatively happy with a purchase.

winterdyne wrote:

powerclaw wrote:Was going to buy my friend a High Elf Special character in return for a Hordes battlebox. The one with a Halberd looked like he was carrying a bow with an axe on the end. Is there even a way to fix that in resin? I'm pretty sure it would just snap. Sigh, it's almost a waste of time for GW to produce nice sculpts for characters anymore. It's not like the actual miniature will do them justice...

This is a problem common to a lot of resin models, and isn't a particular fault with the Finecast material itself.

There is a way to fix this; warm the part up until it becomes flexible with hot tap water (60-70C) before straightening the part and immersing in ice water to set the resin. Be aware then when cold, the resin becomes brittle. Finecast at room temperature is fairly flexible but has low shear (sideways force) strength. If the part was pulled from the mould before the resin was fully cured (likely) then you will need to repeat this process several times, allowing the part to come back up to room temperature (leave it for10 mins) each time. As it returns to room temperature, the resin will have a tendency to 'remember' how it was when it cured.

And any one of those heating+bending+cooling cycles could easily result in a snapped piece if I'm not careful. Clearly the material is not good for the sculpt then. I know that bent shafts are a problem for metal as well, but at least that's from impact or stacking. The resin bends all on its own. Besides what'll happen on a sunny day? putting something under warm water isn't quite as fun when its painted...

Thanks for the info though winterdyne. Its good to know since the future looks bleak and resiny.

Anyway, enough whining from me, I've got Privateer Press models to paint!

Generally a fairly light piece (like a halberd head) shouldn't sag under its own weight noticably, even when warmed. It's severely top-heavy pieces (Mangler Squigs!) that suffer from this badly. The trick to bending Finecast type resin is to be slow, though. Gentle, constant pressure will bend it (army case foam is enough for thin pieces) as it would with soft metals (like old lead-based TSR minis).

Talos63 wrote:Of the three replacements I received, the only one that was supposedly 'inspected' by CS for quality was the worst of them. Bits of mold stuck all over the place and resin 'spooge' that had seeped between the mold halves and obliterated detail completely.

As a matter of self respect anytime I buy a model and it has spooge on it I make sure I return it right away.

Just got 3 flamers of Tzeentch in finecast (failcast) and...... they're pretty much perfect

There are a couple of bubbles on the chest of one mini and a really badly placed vent on another. Should be an easy clean up though. Much better than the last box i got where one was horribly miscast (ended up using it for a conversion). Interesting to note that that flaw was not present in the new box... makes me think someone just pulled it from the mould too early :/

J.Black wrote:Just got 3 flamers of Tzeentch in finecast (failcast) and...... they're pretty much perfect

That's a shame. All the metal ones I've gotten were perfect.

puma713 wrote:That's a shame. All the metal ones I've gotten were perfect.

Wow... so not even any flash or mould lines to remove then? Did they self-assemble too?

Flash and very minor mould lines are not regarded as imperfections on any model produced in a 2 part (or more) mould.

My point is that it will take me about 5 minutes to remove all the flash/mould lines and fix the (3) tiny bubbles on the chest. Metal models, in my experience anyway, take quite a few minutes more work to clean up properly.

I used the term 'pretty much perfect' as 'perfect' is a rather over/mis used word :S

winterdyne wrote:Flash and very minor mould lines are not regarded as imperfections on any model produced in a 2 part (or more) mould.

Or, more accurately, minor flash or mould lines are commonly regarded as being acceptable on models produced in 2-part moulds... Flash however is an imperfection. It's a sign of a worn or badly-fitting mould.

I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service to complain, or go back to the store and get a replacement???

And by that I mean real molding issues, not bent spears from packaging. Especially on single-castings, or models with very few pieces, like normal infantry?

The nay-sayers that support Finecast keep saying that we are being overly-critical towards the medium- in comparison would like to see even a percentage of complaints against metal, other than stupid stuff, like the weight. real, legitimate issues that finecast has solved to well that it merits the replacement of metal as a casting medium, as well as a price increase above even metal models.

I can't honestly think of any casting issues I've come across in 15 years that would make me refuse to buy a model off the shelf because of a visible flaw I see, like Finecast has done for me. Ive never felt that i need to inspect a metal model while it's still in the package before, past checking for all the parts being there. Sure, large models and their ill-fitting pieces aggravated me, but I'll bet Finecast has those exact same problems.

AegisGrimm wrote:I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service or go back to the store and get a replacement???

And by that I mean real molding issues, not bent spears from packaging. Especially on single-castings, or models with very few pieces, like normal infantry?

*raises hand*

I had a Kasrkin box with several(notably: grenade launcher and flamethrower Kasrkin, along with a Sergeant) that had to be replaced because of mould slips obliterating the detail on the helms/respirators.

The Sergeant was not one I needed replaced, as I was cutting his head off anyways.

AegisGrimm wrote:I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service to complain, or go back to the store and get a replacement???

I had a mounted Vampire back in the late '90s that had one half of his horse being from a completely different model. The first replacement had the same problem, although the second was fine.

And the original Vindicator I bought... the metal top plate simply didn't fit onto the rhino.

I've seen several other casting issues over the years (most commonly models with capes that have had significant surface pitting) but that's about it personally for metals.

Not including packing errors, I've had casting / fit issues with about 4 metal models in 25 years. Never rang CS about a miscast for metal, only one I would have done for is a Sicarius where the helmet in hand was borked. But the client didn't want that, so it was a non-issue in the end.

I have had a couple of plastic sprues replaced; marine backpacks and a sprue of 'stealers from Space Hulk.

Actually, I was dead wrong about never having miscasts in metal models (above large mold lines). I have a Howling Banshee with the point of her sword mis-cast. It's just a blobby end about 1/16 of an inch from where the point would be.

But then again, it's a model so friggin' old that she's got a laspistol for a ranged weapon, and a date of 1990 on her tab.

Wow, some of these pictures make me cringe :(
Luckily I haven't had a bad cast yet. Now that I've said that, I've probably jinxed myself :(

AegisGrimm wrote:I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service to complain, or go back to the store and get a replacement???

And by that I mean real molding issues, not bent spears from packaging. Especially on single-castings, or models with very few pieces, like normal infantry?

Never... out of over 300+ metal GW minis (I currently have a 6000pt all metal 2nd/3rd edition marine army and used to have a 2500pt 2nd edition metal IG infantry force just to name two). The only thing I've ever had to call GW about was when I bought a box of 3rd edition metal/plastic hybrid devastators that were simply MISSING the blister of heavy weapon metal bits but that's a packing error and not a mold issue.

AegisGrimm wrote:I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service to complain, or go back to the store and get a replacement???

Only model I ever had to ring CS about was the Exorcist. The response i got was that I could have 50 replacements and I would still have to bend/file/fill :( It's an old mould and demand was never high enough to make a new one.

AegisGrimm wrote:I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service to complain, or go back to the store and get a replacement???

Once, a metal vanguard vet jumppack with horrible mold slip, purity seals missing, etc. I still have it. This was a known issue as a friend had bought a set of vets a year before with the same problem. CS told me at the time that there were several batches "in the wild" with this issue and the mold had been replaced. Unfortunately with finecast the lifecycle on a disk is so short that they're probably retired by the time batches start coming back defective.

J.Black wrote:

AegisGrimm wrote:I have an important question:

How many of you have had problems with the old metal models of the past that were big enough to call customer service to complain, or go back to the store and get a replacement???

Only model I ever had to ring CS about was the Exorcist. The response i got was that I could have 50 replacements and I would still have to bend/file/fill :( It's an old mould and demand was never high enough to make a new one.

Not only that, it's just plain bad design too, the way the pieces fit together (or rather how they are supposed to fit together).

Shandara wrote:
Not only that, it's just plain bad design too, the way the pieces fit together (or rather how they are supposed to fit together).

I had to pin both in about 35 places and use loads of GS..... took a full weekend for both :S

If I ever build another one i'll make a tutorial as the one you get with the kit is almost laughably bad and makes no mention of all the little mods you have to make to the Rhino chassis to make everthing sit together properly! Not that I am in the least surprised by that.....

Looks awesome when it is together though <3

J.Black wrote:

Shandara wrote:
Not only that, it's just plain bad design too, the way the pieces fit together (or rather how they are supposed to fit together).

I had to pin both in about 35 places and use loads of GS..... took a full weekend for both :S

If I ever build another one i'll make a tutorial as the one you get with the kit is almost laughably bad and makes no mention of all the little mods you have to make to the Rhino chassis to make everthing sit together properly! Not that I am in the least surprised by that.....

Looks awesome when it is together though <3

I bought 2 recently from GW directly and they didn't come with ANY instructions at all. (Or the old exorcist packaging, just sprues + metal parts in the shipping box).

jonolikespie wrote:I picked up an emperors champion today, it's a pretty good summery of my experience with finecast so far. It looks fine from the front but when you pick it up there are a ton of bubbles underneath. All in all it will only take an hour or so with some liquid greenstuff to fix everything so I wouldn't bother with a refund or anything but that is still an hour or so wasted

Gonna be honest with you, I'd have sent it back. In fact, one of the 25th anniversary models I bought had fewer issues than the one you took pictures of. I've a very low tolerance for miscast figures given how much GW charges for them and how they treat their advanced-order customers. On the other hand, I've bought a LOT of Finecast figures and most all of them have been great. Problems that did happen were quickly delt with by the guys at the Seattle Battle Bunker so no worries there.