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Hi there! I was super excited to assemble my first broadside... then I saw my weapon sprue.





Wow. This rifle is smashed, and bent to the right, up, and then back down again!

I don't think I can salvage it? Any tips? Should I just pick up the phone?

Bring it back to the store and get another one. Failing that, call GW, and there's a slight chance you're getting pieces to make a scenic base out of it.

It was the last one in stock. :( I knew I should have just opened the box and looked since it wasn't shrink wrapped. It looks like a machine bent the heck out of it!

The problem is they use the exact molds they did for the metal casts, and the metal casts weren't perfect either. But they weren't that bad!

Its in a box? Oh man.

This is why I only buy finecast in a blister.

You can try soaking it in hot water for the overall bent sprue...but that lower gun...yeah, thats rough.

I can say however, that even some of the metal guns are not ...perfect.

The metal ones were worse and harder to repair. That said - forgeworld makes a really great broadside for about $5 more. I'm not accounting for shipping here, but if you wanted to do some slick tau with better quality then you actually can't beat Forgeworld.

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Tau/TAU-BATTLESUITS-AND-DRONES/XV88-2-BROADSIDE-WITH-SMART-MISSILE-SYSTEM.html

Might be just me - but that doesn't really look that bad as far as a resin cast goes. I generally expect them to be warped and deformed. As long as there are no voids or slipped mold joints (which there don't appear to be in the photos) you should be good to go.

Turn the water on hot from the faucet and let it run for a bit. Stick the part in the hot water and let it stew for a few minutes. Remove from the water and use a straight surface to reform. Let cool and it should be straight. You will probably want to go ahead and remove them from the sprue and clean the flashing first of course...but that is pretty quick work.

If you are impatient or if it seems to be trying to go back into the bent shape...you can lock it in place with cold water. Once you have it straight, carefully dunk the whole thing into cold water and hold it there in the correct shape. The cold water will help relieve some of the memory that the resin might have and cause it to cool in the correct shape.

I am pretty quick to say return it too - but like I said, resin warps. It is the nature of the beast.

I'll try reshaping it. Like I said, it was the last one and it's hard to get items like this in on the timeframe that I prefer. Failing that, I'll call GW.

Man thats terrible. It almost amazes me that some people are saying thats acceptable. Maybe if it was a $10 kit...but not at the prices GW charges.

dude! there are no airbubbles in there!
so it wont be that hard to fix... just use a cup of hot water (not boiling water!!!) and hold it in to soften the resin. if it doesnt straight itself out you can help it a bit to straighten it out. if its straight hold it in a cup with cold water to set it.

thats really not a bad cast!

You're right, the cast is good. Like I said, I think the machine manhandled the crap out of it when it was removed. I'm going to try some hot water here on Wednesday (got a lot of stuff going on til then), and I'll post how it turns out.

Hot water and some fiddling might get it back into shape, but it might never look right, you will only know if you try. If that doesn't work then ask for a replacement.

Personally, that looks fixable, but you should feel every right to ask for an exchange. I feel like I could fix the warping in that but not everyone could.

I would probably get a piece of wood or plasticard the width of how thick the 'gap' in the middle of the gun should be. Boil the part to get it bendy and wedge the brace piece in to straighten out the hole. Then wrap the piece to a flat edge to make it straight then stick it in the freezer.

The hot/cold helps it set for memory.

I've found that the Finecast resin is a lot easier to straighten-out than the Forgeworld stuff for some reason. Those look easy to fix based on my experience. As everyone said, put it in hot water for a minute then straighten. I find that once you've got it looking right, dunking it in ice water works well to help it keep the new shape.

Sure buying finecast, or forgeworld or anything of which they claim to be able to provide a decent product, this is just horrible, and he should go back to the store for a new complete box for his trouble and having to deal with this.

So I did the water trick and it took the side-to-side bend out of it. The up/down/middle bend is still very evident. I'll post a pic of the assembled model. :( Probably going to call GW about this.

the problem is with bending their not really gonna do anything about it if their having a bad day... just say its a horrible miscast if your gonna call them or they might not help you out..
and if they wanna see pictures just take a lighter and... well you know

I'll give fair warning; that looks to me very much like the part was pulled before it cured fully; you can tell because the bend is consistent with a levering 'up' pull from one side of the sprue. A bend due to pressure / gravity post-cure is more likely to be on one particular corner or part of the sprue - very much looking like the bottom edge of the bottom photo.

Pre-cure warping will give the cured piece a lot of 'memory' of that bend; you will find it tends to move back to it over time, and that correcting the bend may be extremely difficult.

In short, I'd advise replacing it - it's likely to be a lot of trouble.

Once you do get a hold of straight parts, I would strongly recommend cutting them and inserting a solid metal core along their entire length. They have the look of a part that will sag badly in warm weather.

I noticed that the product picture for the commander upgrade finecast shows miscast /bent parts....not really instilling me with confidence.

Perhaps you should have learnt how to deal with resin before you ordered a resin product.

That's pretty unfair to post that IMO. I pay a premium for my hobby products and I'm ok with that due to the quality I expect and I don't think that's unreasonable. I am not one to cry about a few bubbles or simple, correctable issues (noticed a bubble or two on the feet I will correct with liquid green stuff), but this was brutal.

I think youre in the right here and to say something like AG did is not very nice.

I didnt know that you have to be able to fix the producers product when you buy it yourself? Its not like factory new cars will be broken and they will just say: Oh well you should know how to repair it yourself.

Anyways, at my local GW shop they give you a new one if its misscast, hope you get it replaced.

AG. wrote:Perhaps you should have learnt how to deal with resin before you ordered a resin product.

Well as winterdyne said, if it was a flaw that came pre-cure then it might not be easy to "deal with" it. Perhaps GW should make sure the products they sell at a massive premium aren't flawed in the first place to require fixing.

There's very little option BUT to buy finecast unless you just want to give up on the hobby, and for a company that tries to market wargaming to the mainstream they shouldn't be expecting consumers to have to fix their flaws (or even having to go to the hassle of returning faulty products constantly).

I would be far more accepting of the flaws in finecast if it weren't for the huge price tag that comes along with it. Specialist runs of models from small distributors or cheap models, sure, but this is GWs signature range that they charge a premium price to get.

Perhaps you should have learnt how to politely deal with people before you posted on a message board?

Thats quite unfortunate considering the rest of the part is in decent condition. I would definitely encourage you to have it replaced. You pay a premium price, you should receive a premium product. Period.

AG. wrote:Perhaps you should have learnt how to deal with resin before you ordered a resin product.

I too would have to say this is a bit....extreme.

I am willing to accept issues with limited runs or to be honest, even forgeworld.

However, fine cast is retail packaging sold in public game stores - not a dedicated high end hobby website.

This is marketed as a premium product, and clearly, it is not. Tragically, they have failed at the "last mile" of the sale.

I buy a ton of stuff, and while I accept most minor finecast issues (I have learned how to deal with resin imperfections) ...but I have to say, some of this is way beyond what I would call reasonable.

For the price charged there needs to be better Quality control. a few small bubbles is one thing.... this is another... if you buy any other brand new $50 item... say a jacket, shoes, whatever and then see a major defect... what do you do? you return it or get an exchange... your not expected to go home and try to fix it yourself and you should NEVER be expected to.

And to AG... Nice constructive post there bud... keep up the good wor... oh wait.... Never mind...

drglnc wrote:For the price charged there needs to be better Quality control. a few small bubbles is one thing.... this is another... if you buy any other brand new $50 item... say a jacket, shoes, whatever and then see a major defect... what do you do? you return it or get an exchange... your not expected to go home and try to fix it yourself and you should NEVER be expected to.

And to AG... Nice constructive post there bud... keep up the good wor... oh wait.... Never mind...

Yeah, some people have praised GW over their speed in replacing faulty parts, however by law they're really required to do that and I'm sure the eagerness to replace faulty parts is born from a desire to not get in trouble and protect their own interests more than anything. We do have consumer protection laws saying, basically, that they have to replace faulty parts. I think if any of the consumer protection agencies in various countries investigated GW they might be in trouble!

AG. wrote:Perhaps you should have learnt how to deal with resin before you ordered a resin product.

Funny how GW produce some of the worst quality castings on the market yet are targetting the youngest gamers.

Perhaps instead he should consider sueing GW as it's sold as "finecast" and not resin?

But I agree that this looks like it was pulled from the mold while it was still cooling, I would have sent it straight back. But then I totally refuse to buy anything in finecast anyway and already have 6 broadsides, so... well.... good luck!!

As an aside, I only have 1 out of 16 broadside railguns (i have more than I do broadsides) with any bending issues, those that have had issues were probably from molds that were past due for replacement.

well if thats what it looked like for me id have already been on the phone. GW's customer support over the phone is great. thay just ask you whats wrong yout ell em its finecaste and they ask what kind of miscasts there are you tell them then they ask you for a shipping address. seriously ive had 3-4 abbadons sent to me before one came back with little problems. they dont drag out the phone call or interigate you

It seems to me that a lot of people are missing the issue. The fact thats its fixable doesnt matter. For what GW is charging for these kits mistakes like this should NEVER get packaged and sent to a customer. GW makes a huge deal about having the finest miniatures in the industry, tags them with a premium price, and they send garbage like that to a customer? Inexcusable. A premium price should come with a premium model, not something thats "fixable".