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Generally, I like the new finecast line. GW has had a serious quality control problem but their customer service policy of replacing bad stuff is second to none. I much prefer this new stuff to metal, but anyone who's read any of my previous posts on this subject knows that already.

The only issues I have with finecast are the corporate cheerleading that the GW staff seems required to give in order to promote the product line. The current speal is that metal is poured into the molds hot and contracts as it cools which can cause loss of detail. While technically true, it doesn't expand or contract that much and even so the cooling process doesn't impact the detail. Anyone who's seen those expensive "artistic" pewter models of wizards or dragons (usually with crystals embedded in them somewhere) made by independant sculpters knows full well about that.

The second issue I have is that the finecast stuff wasn't remastered before having new molds made. If the metal models didn't fit together correctly, neither will the finecast stuff. Buy a Green Knight or King Liquor on his griffin and you'll see immediately what I mean. Still, you can correct this easier in flexible resin than in thick hard metal.

The last issue I have is that GW doesn't seem to be putting their limited run stuff in Finecast yet; the Games Day and White Dwarf models, for example.

I never really had any issues with the metal models, other than the lack of posable options. In the rare metal blisters with more than one part, you pretty much had to place it exactly the same as everyone else or it wouldn't look right. Finecast is a good idea, but I don't see why they just don't make everything out of the same plastic as the standard troops. But then, I guess that would give them an excuse to raise their already extortionate prices.

I've gotten a Mek with Shokk gun and a Techmarine with Servitors.

The Tech marine had a couple of small bubbles, the worst being on the corners of the shoulders. All easily filled with GS. All other cleaning up of the model was much easier then metal, and I'm generally satisfied with the end result. The Servitors on the other hand came out quite nicely with no noteworthy deformities or defects.

The Mek on the other hand was missing a part (his left hand). Otherwise though it was fine with fewer defects then the techmarine (one bubble on the bottom of the Meks foot.. so yeah, nothing to really get too upset about). Once I got a replacement for the missing part it cleaned up just fine.

As for the detail, the resin does appear to hold detail slightly better then the metal did.

All that said, the resin is clearly more fragile then the metal ever was, and so I'm going to have to be more careful with them. And since my Orky counterpart is rather well known as a bit of a klutzy git, I'm probably going to be glad that GW sent an entire Mek model replacement as I'll end up needing the spare parts one day.

I detest Finecast with every single fibre of my body! Every single model I have bought in the finecast range has had something wrong with it - mishaped crozius, large air pockets, bits missing and seriously crap molding at the joints.

I have tested the finecast against metal (which I love) and found no difference in the level of detail (using a surface analysis programme worth over £6000).

It is just basically over priced crap and the indoctrination of the GW staff always makes me laugh! Lead models were the best - then the doping of lead with white metal was the best and now when I have to return finecrap back to the store, it's the best!!!! No it is not! Don't get suckered into the selling crap about it!

I want to get the new lhamian to do a Lady Malys... but I fear it..

Phototoxin wrote:I want to get the new lhamian to do a Lady Malys... but I fear it..

I know exactly what you mean! I went in and stupidly bought archaon the everchosen for a 40K chaos lord conversion. The finecack was crap as usual so I decided to exchange for some raptors....until I saw the dreaded yellow on the box depicting finecack! Changed my mind pretty damn quickly after that!

As I said EVERY SINGLE model I have bought has had something or still does have something wrong with it!

Neither, as I'm too scared to buy anything Finecast! If it wasn't for all the bad press I would have bought several Finecast models by now.

I really like Finecast. My Farseer, three Warlocks and five Rangers have almost no flaws, the few flaws that exist are small air bubbles in very obscure places, like behind the rifle of a Ranger. Finecast is far superior to metal.

The launch of Finecast was very poorly done by GW however, lacking quality control and doing their annual price raise at the same day. But if you get a miscast, you can turn it in for a new one, until you get one you are happy with. This is of course not the best solution, but tell me, what other companies are willing to do this? Most companies just says feth you if you try to return something you have removed the plastic from...

Wulfen Andy, you mad?

i really like finecast it nice to work with and quick to tidy.

i think they are easier to assemble than the metal models but they do suffer with mis casting. i had several problems with ghazghkull (missing bits from foot and both arms but these were replaced without question in shop and for one of the arms they opened 4-5 packs to get one i was happy with.

GW have a customer service second to none imo

Well, I got myself some Dark Reapers...and to my suprise they were alright. LOTS of flash though :(

At first I was concerned about the bad press but I gambled and got Huron Blackheart as a tester. Absolutely no flaws, I was so happy with it I think its a great medium to work with both for painting and modelling, so much better than metal in my eyes. I was amazed at how light yet strong it was as well. It goes together a treat with superglue (plastic glue won't work because resin isn't plastic).

Next up I got Dante and Astorath the Grim. There was a slight bit of miscasting on one of astorath's wings but that was easily reshaped. The detail on Astorath's armour is so crisp and awesome to paint!

I wanted to try a larger kit and got the Nurgle DP again a superb model detail wise but this had a few problems the pieces didn't fit together without a bit of GS which was a bit annoying and his fingers were miscast but kinda added to the nurgley look so I overlooked that part. I was amazed at how light the overall model was compared to a lump of metal yet still solid.
The main problem I had with this was it came with the wrong size base not the actual Resin!!! Come on GW!

For conversion tests I grabbed a Cockatrice to make my Tzeentch DP/ Changer of Ways (which has now come out in Resin anyway ) If it was in metal I probably wouldn't have been able to do this as I had to saw right through the model but the resin cuts quite easily. The detailing again on the feathers and wings was so crisp and great to paint. Very happy with how this turned out.

Since I had a run of good models I got an ELdar Shadowseer and Wood Elf Spellsinger for my girl friend as she wanted to paint resin after I kept babbling on about it. Again Shadowseer great no flaws great detail, Spellsinger .... awful. Covered in air holes and her face looked like she ran into a wall face first But the guys at GW swapped it and the replacment was fine.

Finally I bought a Chaos Lord on Horseback (Can't Remember his actual name, not Archaon) Again great but the joins on the horse were a bit dodgy underneath. I also bought Corteaz and that was perfect all round no flaws and the details were stunning.

For overall model quality (my personal experiences)
Huron 10/10
Astorath 9/10 (Wanted to put 10 due to the detail alone but wing flaw lead to 9)
Dante 10/10
Nurgle DP 8/10
Cockatrice 10/10
Shadowseer 10/10
Spellsinger 4/10
Chaos Lord 8/10
Corteaz 10/10 (Probably my favourite Finecast figure)

SO overall I am impressed with Finecast I only had a few flaws which were easily fixed. The Spellsinger was the only messed up one and that was replaced straight away. I think the finecast range has a lot to offer over metal in the long run particularly for large models which would have been too heavy in metal. I will certainly keep collecting Finecast for my armies.

Hate it-"yeah, lets take important models, make them out of cheaper materials, pass them by 'quality control' (actually arthritic chimpanzees) and sell them for more! Genius!"

I hate metal kits, I just don't have the time and patience to sit on my duff and hold a metal bit to a metal bit until the zapagap finally hardens.

I have one finecast model, the terminator librarian and was very happy with it at first. Instant welding of parts easy to paint, etc.

I drove from my house to the FLGS I frequent and the staff warped to the point it looked like a snake. My home was airconditioned, my car was airconditioned and the miniature was in a GW carry case. Granted it was 110 degrees (f) outside but it was only in that element for at most 1 minute....

Yeah, not impressed.

I have a lot of experience with resin models and nearly half of my 40k collection was made by Forge World. If I had my druthers, I'd would rather have had those models in plastic, but Forge World is a small operation and it's far easier, far cheaper to cast in resin than it is to make new plastic molds.

Resin is more fragile than plastic. More care has to be taken with the figures than metal and even a stiff breeze can knock one off the table. The argument behind changing over to resin has been one of weight and detail. Both of these issues are readily solved at the cost of have an extremely fragile game piece.

The Finecast miniatures I have seen thus far have 'crisper' detail, not more detail. Simple rehashes of the metal figures given a second chance at life.

I don't mind the resin as I'm an adult without a pair of 'ham-hands' so I can live with the fragility. The rest of the world might not be and one wonders what GW was thinking.

Then again, maybe it is the fragility of the figure that will keep the company solvent through secondary purchases for replacements.

I hate to be cynical, but this is GW after all...

no fan of finecast here.. best glue ever doesn't work on it.. the models became even more fragigle than the ones with metal parts or full-metal.. i was happy about finecast first (i love to paint plastic, and hated to do metal..) but that all changed i bought a inq Karamazov a vangaurd vet squad and a jumppacked chaplain.. none of these came out like i wanted them to come out.. no I ain't no fan of finecast i even prefer metal.. at least metal doesnt break or bend as easy as finecrap..

I think GW jumped the gun on this one. In wanting to get their new flagship product out of the door they just ignored the quality assessment and just shipped everything out that was halfway decent.

There's no other way to explain the generous replacement policy in place in the GW stores. If they take it back, no questions asked, they know that something is up and they just don't want to acknowledge that there's anything wrong.

I think we will, and might even already have, see a big improvement as they work out the kinks in their knew casting process - but I also think the pisspoor quality some early adopters have seen will hurt them in the long run - early adopters are often the most devoted fans and if they aren't happy, chances are your bottom-line also won't be in the long run ;-).

Just my two cents,

cheers,


IK-Painter

Joske De Veteraan wrote:no fan of finecast here.. best glue ever doesn't work on it.. the models became even more fragigle than the ones with metal parts or full-metal.. i was happy about finecast first (i love to paint plastic, and hated to do metal..) but that all changed i bought a inq Karamazov a vangaurd vet squad and a jumppacked chaplain.. none of these came out like i wanted them to come out.. no I ain't no fan of finecast i even prefer metal.. at least metal doesnt break or bend as easy as finecrap..

Uh, super glue works amazingly on Finecast.... not sure what kind of glue you're using...

Here's my two cents on finecast vs metal for what it's worth. This is just my experience with it so far...

Finecast Pros:
Better for conversions
Better detail
Easier to assemble

Finecast Cons:
High miscast rate
Price
Occasional (and minor) warping

I've bought a few Finecast models now, and seen a couple that my brother's bought. Overall I'm pleased with it.

Dark Eldar Archon: Small piece of huskblade missing (seems to happen on almost every DE Archon), but it's not very noticable. Very small part of heel missing (again, not that noticable), some excess flash on the cloak which was almost impossible to remove cleanly. It's a salvageable model, but not as great as I'd hoped.

Eldar Avatar: No imperfections whatsoever, perfect cast.

Bloodthirster: Almost 100% perfect; only small imperfection was the join between the horn (on the new-shape head) and the side of the head; the join was a bit miscast so it was very awkward to get it to stick. Aside from that, no problem at all (and it goes together without pinning every joint, which is a huge bonus- the less pinning I have to do in the future the better).

Overall it seems I've been pretty lucky but it's very obvious that there are a lot of miscasts. Thankfully GW are pretty generous on returns. Hopefully in time the miscasts drop off a bit.

My local GW store now opens and checks (exchanges if necessary) all finecast.