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Has this KS been completed yet?

I hope Mark will do another KS. It's amazing to me how as a one man bad he delivered such high quality stuff, on time and as promised.

I hope Mark does a Kickstarter for the stug in resin and the krieg marines in plastic.

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I hope Mark will do another KS. It's amazing to me how as a one man bad he delivered such high quality stuff, on time and as promised.

My understanding was most of it was actually incredibly late. Has everything now been completed and sent out to backers for this KS?

I got everything about 3 years back, I remember it being late but nothing like Robotech or some other horror shows

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I got everything about 3 years back, I remember it being late but nothing like Robotech or some other horror shows

And he kept in constant communication with the backers - so they knew exactly where things stood.

The Auld Grump

For clarity, the previous KS from DFG broke down roughly as:

September 2012 - Campaign finished
January/Feburary 2013 - Wave 1 (things originally promised in the campaign) delivered - 1 month late from Nov 2012 schedule
December 2013/January 2014 - Wave 2 delivered ("Smaller" stretch goals) - 9 months late from March 2013 schedule
January 2015 - Wave 3 (Big stretch goals like the awesome, if expensive, APC) delivered - 19 months late from May 2013 schedule

To my knowledge though, all pledges were fulfilled in full; if a backer didn't get something at this point it's their own fault.

So, depending on what you got from the campaign your experience could have varied from "Nearly perfectly on-time" to "holy tap-dancing Jeebus this is late" which could also be compounded by not selecting wave shipping which was an extra cost at the time of the pledge manager.

As was pointed out though, Mark maintained fairly good communication throughout and often solicited feedback on what direction things should go in based on what the backer's opinion was. Thus, the female stormtroopers were made to match their male counterparts for customization options and the APC has rubber wheels instead of plastic. Also, the quality was, in my opinion, beyond expectations versus "we'll cut some corner because we're so far behind." The APC can actually fit 10 people inside of it....because you have all 10 of them of sculpted and inside of it if you so choose.

Amazing stuff all around, even if it was a bit slow in coming. The shame is that in the time it took for delivery, GW pretty much crippled my interest in 40k, so for the most part they've been mainly "Yeah...look at this cool stompy robot".

Even still, for a FlugStug, I'd buy three. Shadokesh I'd definitely pick up some, but not nearly as much as I did with the Eisenkern.

Wow. So much to read. Thanks to that sale last month, I finally dove into this war-game series. 2 10-man trooper sets, panzerjager set and accessory set. Everything is plotted and assembly begun.
The details are beautiful and pose an interesting challenge to this intermediate painter who loves challenges.
I for one, waiting patiently for the Hover Stug (If I recall right from somewhere else, will also come with a tread option so SWEET!) and the Shadowkesh. But mostly the rules so I can hopefully model my fire teams right but am confident that after enough prying for the past 18 months, will be fine.
Now, with that, keep up the work Mr. Mondragon as I will be off snipping and gluing!

 Krinsath wrote:
To my knowledge though, all pledges were fulfilled in full; if a backer didn't get something at this point it's their own fault.

So, depending on what you got from the campaign your experience could have varied from "Nearly perfectly on-time" to "holy tap-dancing Jeebus this is late"

Agreed on both of these. I just backed for the Leviathan, so this looks like a model KS for my personal stake. And yes, all backers should have been fulfilled for quite some time now.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I hope Mark will do another KS. It's amazing to me how as a one man bad he delivered such high quality stuff, on time and as promised.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I got everything about 3 years back, I remember it being late but nothing like Robotech or some other horror shows

Krinsath wrote:So, depending on what you got from the campaign your experience could have varied from "Nearly perfectly on-time" to "holy tap-dancing Jeebus this is late" which could also be compounded by not selecting wave shipping which was an extra cost at the time of the pledge manager.

So any way you look at it, "On Time" in just a factually inaccurate description of the KS. If I show up to work one month late, I cannot then claim I'm on time, no matter how good my communication is, nevermind turning up a year and a half late and finding my boss doesn't remember my name.

The KS was worth it, and I might back another one if it was smaller scale and had something really interesting in it, but I would be wary of any ETAs

Charax wrote:

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I hope Mark will do another KS. It's amazing to me how as a one man bad he delivered such high quality stuff, on time and as promised.

Kid_Kyoto wrote:I got everything about 3 years back, I remember it being late but nothing like Robotech or some other horror shows

Krinsath wrote:So, depending on what you got from the campaign your experience could have varied from "Nearly perfectly on-time" to "holy tap-dancing Jeebus this is late" which could also be compounded by not selecting wave shipping which was an extra cost at the time of the pledge manager.

So any way you loom at it, "On Time" in just a factually inaccurate description of the KS. If I show up to work one month late, I cannot then claim I'm on time, no matter how good my communication is, nevermind turning up a year and a half late and finding my boss doesn't remember my name.

The KS was worth it, and I might back another one if it was smaller scale and had something really interesting in it, but I would be wary of any ETAs

Welcome to the world of Kickstarter. Has anyone EVER made their release date for something that wasn't simply a glorified preorder for stock all ready made?

Mechadrome's Kickstarter shipped 1 month early

MODcubes I think we're a week late, but his wife gave birth early and communications was great. I think he was actually going to be early shipping, but you know wives love to change plans .

 Kid_Kyoto wrote:
I got everything about 3 years back, I remember it being late but nothing like Robotech or some other horror shows

For a small operation, i forgive the delay, Raging heroes is a bigger company and the delays where also almost 3 years to get everything (still no art-book though?)
I wouldn't mind waiting for quality stuff, i hope he reconsiders doing another, maybe a knight size robot, or the stug or even shadokesh kickstarter.

I hope he gives us some notion on what he wants to do, instead of a big KS he could do several small ones.

Yeah, a month late isn't much in terms of KickStarter. That's a project less like "showing up to work" (a regular, expected interaction) and more akin to constructing a pre-fab building (constructing something where presently there isn't anything, but a non-repeating interaction). Your plan might be perfect, but then your permit to build got snarled up in the local bureaucracy and thus you're a month behind schedule. That's really not an appreciable delay in the situation. Nearly two years of delay on the initial estimate is a government-level snafu though.

At the same time, the number of kits is worth mentioning too:

Wave 1 - 8 kits (1 Leviathan, 2 small Leviathan accessories, 3 stormtrooper kits, 2 freebies)
Wave 2 - 9 kits (2 Leviathans, 6 weapon arms, 1 small Leviathan accessory)
Wave 3 - 16 kits (1 Leviathan, 3 Val'kir kits, 2 stormtrooper kits, 1 APC, 2 APC conversion kits, 6 weapon arms, 1 small Leviathan accessory)

Unless I've gotten something in the wrong place or overlooked something, Wave 3 was basically the size of the other two waves combined, and included a kit that from an engineering standpoint was likely as challenging as the original work done pre-campaign on the Leviathan Crusader (which had a major cross-over with the Mortis so those later Leviathans benefited from earlier work in a way the APC could not). When you look at the time involved from end-of-project to the end of Wave 2, you get 16 months. That's...roughly on par with how long the remainder took at 12-13 months for a similar number of kits, especially when you factor in that the production company was working with a large number of clients at the time.

Further, this was really the beginning of Mark's interaction with WGF production to my knowledge, so both parties had a great deal of feeling-out to do on the process. Compare WGF's contemporary products (Shock Troopers, Zombies) and then the Eisenkern and see if you don't notice an appreciable uptick in the design complexity. HIPS is not metal nor resin, and so I imagine there was a great deal of learning going on. Thus I believe that if Mark ever returned to KS that neither he nor WGF are likely to repeat their mistakes on estimating the time involved. During the context of when this campaign was run, there was still a lot of knowledge growth the marketplace had to do.

I'd love to hear from Mark about future releases.

As for the KS, it was well done. Manufacturing delays happened and do happen with nearly every mini-kickstarter that I've seen/backed. Mark was a champ through it all with great communication and making sure that the quality was up to his standards. I recall there were some issues with a few of the test-shots at one point which put things a couple of months behind but I'm always willing to wait a few months for the level of quality in the final product.

Considering how long it took for me to receive Kingdom Death : Monster, also produced by WGF, I think Mark did OK. It'd have been nice if he had gotten everything out when he originally thought he could. But he did deliver, and the product was of excellent quality. I was not disappointed in what I received.

Now, he has a lot more experience for timelines and fulfillment. Given that he actually delivered, I'd not be opposed to backing his next project.

I'd love to hear what Mark is up to, too - he's my wargaming industry hero

(And thanks, Theophony!)

 RiTides wrote:
I'd love to hear what Mark is up to, too - he's my wargaming industry hero

(And thanks, Theophony!)

was just playing with MODcubes last night

I just backed for a Leviathan and was thrilled with the results. Mark actually commented on my youtube unboxing video and my Amazon review. (This was a long time ago)

I have since bought 30 troopers, 3 heavy weapon teams and a command team. Thrilled with it all. My only gripe is the troopers can be a real pain to assemble with thin superglue (tiny parts that are hard to hold in place). So I need to get some thick plastic glue before further assembly.

OMG, stop using CA to build polystyrene. Buy the Testors gel, and your life will become immeasurably easier!

Have the Panzerjäger re-stock reached Europe yet? Been keeping an eye on Dark Sphere and Wayland but nothing so far.

Just received the larger troop model, it will make a great statue on a piece of terrain. I just wish Mark would release the stug he teased us with in resin

 inqscott wrote:
Just received the larger troop model, it will make a great statue on a piece of terrain. I just wish Mark would release the stug he teased us with in resin

HOVER STUG!

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
OMG, stop using CA to build polystyrene. Buy the Testors gel, and your life will become immeasurably easier!

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/87113limonene_cement/index.htm

Even better than the Testers, brush applicator, doesn't get you high.

Also comes in super thin.

Liquid is totally different from gel. Gel stays where you put it. Gel doesn't run.

But yes, liquid cement is better than CA, as it still welds the part.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Liquid is totally different from gel. Gel stays where you put it. Gel doesn't run.

But yes, liquid cement is better than CA, as it still welds the part.

I used Testors liquid for the troopers, with no problems at all. While it can run, you use so little that it doesn't go far.

*EDIT* Testors liquid comes in both a brush on jar and in a precision applicator bottle - I greatly prefer the brush.

The Auld Grump

As a long time railroad modeler, I prefer Plastruct liquid cement. It has a brush that prevents excess accidental application of the glue but it has a short shelf life when repeatedly used and then not used for about 8 months.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
Liquid is totally different from gel. Gel stays where you put it. Gel doesn't run.

But yes, liquid cement is better than CA, as it still welds the part.

Whilst valid points, I prefer liquid, habitually using Plastruct Plastic Weld.

You can press the joint together dry, use a paint brush [only used for this purpose] to draw a small amount along the join and capillary action pulls the liquid into the join for a strong bond with no glue spilling out of the sides requiring removal prior to painting. I have also found that it is not generally affected by standard primers as it dissolves them and you still get an acceptable bond strength.

OK, my large scale Valkyr arrived this morning.

Inside the very large box was a load of packing and a much smaller box with the model inside. Mark really seems to know how to pack things for non-mainland USA deliveries. I think this could have been dropped from the top of Big Ben and survived!

Can't wait to get to grips with this tonight, but now I have to work on a colour scheme. I have taken a shine [literally] to the Alclad II range recently, having bought their gloss black base, silver candy base, candy red, and one of their golds. I already have a bottle of a different [brighter] gold and have been working on a Dragon 1/9th scale Iron Man with them. Other than a slight problem with the temperature where I live and therefore not allowing the coats to cure enough between them and being too hasty to assemble [leaving one part somewhat dull, and another with an impressed fingerprint slightly visible] they are great. The new gold and the candy red are spot on, so the whole thing will look amazing.

I do plan on using Vallejo for the main part on the Valkyr, but may well use the candy silver base for the edge and end of the sword and may well use something on the underside of the base to pick out the logo nicely.

But I am at a loss as to what the rest of the model should be painted like, or do I just try and keep it as close to the box art as possible?

Any suggestions gratefully received.

Thank you.