Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Hello!

I want to buy a Thunderfire Cannon and i do not what to decide.. the metal or the finecast one??

I do not relish having a model that weights a ton and the paintjod is easily nicked..
Then, we all know the horror stories that accompany the finecast versions.


Does anyone possess both versions? Which is better? What would you suggest???

I possess three metal ones and have seen finecast ones.

I will tell you there is no difference in the assembly difficulty, and the little fiddly bits break all the time for the fine cast model. Also, thunderfire cannons tend to be placed high up in terrain, and metal falling ones don't break.

Finecast, one of the few times finecast has ever been needed. The metal model is stupidly heavy, while the finecast one is very light and I have yet to see a damaged one.

Great...

2 replies, 2 completely different answers... what am i to make of it???


Ok, i will make a poll

Metal. Finecast is extremely fragile as juraigamer pointed out.

Metal, again, finecast is way too fragile.

The finecast one is a lot easier to put together without power tools (the metal one was notorious for the miscast parts that needed a lot of filing to get them to fit together).
The metal one is good if you need to test your patience as a modeller.

If you just want a quad barrelled tracked gun unit, get a Jotunn Hailstorm cannon from mantic. Easy to assemble and does the job and cheap, too. Three for the price of 1.

Metal does take more time to assemble but I've never needed power tools. O.O Xacto has always worked for me. Nice thing is, once the metal one is together you don't have to worry about small stuff snapping off. I've had small stuff snap off of FC when I didn't even notice and later couldn't find the part that snapped off.

If scratch building one is out of your abilities then I would go metal.

Fine cast falling from the top of a building is just not good. At least metal you can paint over it and do some battle damage.

If your metal models are falling from the tops of buildings, then stop playing roofhammer and maybe switch to floorhammer.

I've handled one of the Fincecast thundercannons and needless to say, i perfer it greatly, being a bit easier to handle and balance

The metal Thunderfire cannon is the worst model (of any kind) I have ever built. Period. And I own well over 30k points of models in 40k and at least that equivilant in other systems. I know nothing about the Crapcast one, but the metal one I would not build if you paid me 50 dollars. No joke. I hate that bugger with the fire of a thousand suns. /rant

The metal one took me several days of filing, exacto-ing, drilling, dremel-ing, cursing, and pleading to assemble. I can not, in good conscience, recommend attempting to assemble a metal thunderfire cannon.

I only have a finecast one. Had to get 2 replacement tracks for it and a few other parts replaced once. If you can, get the metal tracks and finecast gun haha.

I'm not sure why everyone seems to be having trouble with assembling the metal model. Simply exacto knife, plus loctite gel glue and a small amount of patience and everything tuned out fine. Make sure to dry fit first!

Take one away from metal hit the wrong one.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Take one away from metal hit the wrong one.

 juraigamer wrote:
I'm not sure why everyone seems to be having trouble with assembling the metal model. Simply exacto knife, plus loctite gel glue and a small amount of patience and everything tuned out fine. Make sure to dry fit first!

Glue! Let it dry!! Why didn't someone tell me that?! How on earth did I ever assemble to other 1,500+ GW models I own! /sarcasm

Maybe our models were a little different than yours...

They are the same thing. You should be so lucky as to have a place that has both models. So which do you want, unbreakable parts that will chip paint everytime its dropped, or a fast and easy build that may reauire some maintenance before assembly or painting?

 Lobukia wrote:

 juraigamer wrote:
I'm not sure why everyone seems to be having trouble with assembling the metal model. Simply exacto knife, plus loctite gel glue and a small amount of patience and everything tuned out fine. Make sure to dry fit first!

Glue! Let it dry!! Why didn't someone tell me that?! How on earth did I ever assemble to other 1,500+ GW models I own! /sarcasm

Maybe our models were a little different than yours...

Ha ha, perhaps. I see enough people using testers glue or other stuff and it failing, so I always recommend the gel glue I use. Then again, I've never had a problem with metal models, even my un-pinned abbadon has stayed together after being in the mail many times.

Maybe I should offer a service of assembling metal models?

Anyway, bottom line: The metal cannons will last you much longer.

There's a person at my FLGS who built a metal TFC. My ears are still ringing from how much he whined about putting it together. Like others, he had to break out a dremel to get it anywhere close to having the two pieces fit together.

As such, if this particular model is going to be so poorly cast no matter whether you get it in resin or in metal, then, in this case, you might as well get it in resin, as it's going to be much easier to correct the casting errors.

On an unrelated note, I got some metal minis a few months ago, and was shocked with the poor quality of the casts. I'm starting to think that it's not so much a problem with finecast in specific so much as GW just really doesn't care about its non-injection-moulded minis anymore.

 Ailaros wrote:
There's a person at my FLGS who built a metal TFC. My ears are still ringing from how much he whined about putting it together. Like others, he had to break out a dremel to get it anywhere close to having the two pieces fit together.

I feel his pain. I used a drill, dremel, and rubber mallet (among other tools) just to get mine together. Any 40k model that needs power tools and a hammer for assembly is not well cast.

I prefer metal in anything over finecast. It may take me a bit longer to assemble but it is much harder to break small bits off. I dislike finecast greatly.

I'm curious about all the power tool usage, maybe I have a super xacto but it cuts pewters fantastically. *shrug* I've never thought of bringing a power tool near my minis.

My friend has the failcast one and his went together pretty well.

Misalignments of cast parts is why so many people had issues with the metal one. The parts would NOT line up.

Think of it this way. You have a pipe, made from two half-cylinders. One is approx 6mm radius, the other half is flattened and closer to a 12mm radius. Now cast them in metal.
Now add a mounting piece that slots into a circular hole in a plate.
Except that plate has an OVAL hole in it, not circular. And while the width will accept the mount, the narrower part of the oval will not.

This, is pretty much what every person on this side of the pond had to deal with when they bought the metal TFC (also known as "That Fething crap-pile").

How the hell are you supposed to join them up?

 60mm wrote:
I'm curious about all the power tool usage, maybe I have a super xacto but it cuts pewters fantastically. *shrug* I've never thought of bringing a power tool near my minis.

If your xacto can make half ovals into half circles and then make a different oval shape into a circle and can then make a base piece that is 5% larger than its pal match and take one support leg down to match the size of its mate.., then yes, you have a super xacto.