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Hi all,

So I've been thoroughly unimpressed with finecast (I'm sure I'm not alone) and I've been thinking about getting different models possibly forgeworld.
I haven't had much experience with them so I wanted to ask if the resin is good enough quality to warrant it?
Are there any third parties that have better quality?
I'm after Tau models if that makes a difference.

Thanks in advance

Finecast is not Resin. Don't make that mistake. It is some unholy abomination posing as resin.

Forge world resin isn't perfect but it's much better.

As a general rule a couple of bubbles here and there is to be expected, and Forgeworld resin falls into this category for the most part unless you're looking at the older kits, but other than that REAL resin is a beautiful material.

There are several different types of resin used for models. GW use finecast, which is "resin" in terms, but is more like a rubber plastic then actual resin. I've had a lot of nightmares with GW finecast, though some will argue that the later batches have been higher quality.

Forge World resin is a harder resin. Its still a little flexible, which is good, but nothing like the rubber GW uses. FW resin may come warped and or it may have some bubbles. I have had a couple pieces unusable, but most of it is fixable or just call them and they will send you a new piece no questions asked. Warp is to be expected with resin. Easy way to fix it is to place the piece under warm water and work it into the shape its supposed to be, then run it under cold water to set it. FW resin is by far my favorite model material besides good old oop pewter.

Chapter House and most other third party resins are similar/same as FW resin and come with the same goods and bads of it.

Other than GW related resin, Battlefront uses yet another type of resin, hard resin. In my experiences this is the best and worst resin in the world. Its the best becasue it does not warp and does not bubble. However, if the mold is not right/bumped/old, you can get a lot of miscasts like half my resent models have had. Plus it is very brittle, if dropped it will break and peices will fly.

My terms for resin are not actual. I just call it rubber plastic (GW), good resin/harder, flexible resin (FW), and hard resin (BF).

Edit: Another side note. If you need to drill or file resin, it is normally advised to wear some form of mask when doing so. Some resins are none biodegradable and if inhaled will remain in your lungs. I have heard, and maybe someone would like to back this up, that most model resins are in some form different and will not cause bodily damage.

another dakka page on this:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/296149.page

To be honest the best resin I've ever seen was the one used by chinese recasters. And I'm not kidding. Hard as plastic, much less rubberish, doesn't bend, is much more durable than even GW's plastic. But in a package full of recasted minis there were like 6 different types of resin with even different colours - some more like finecast, some more plastic-ish, but overall every single mini was of much better quality than finecast models and there was no drop in detail fidelity.

I do not encourage buying recasts, but if you want that particular model, just without air bubbles and much more durable, that's your best option.

The worst "resin" I've experienced has been the Games Workshop and Kromlech resin. They're both the same absolute trash.

Slightly higher on the scale, I find Forgeworld to be "ok."
(But my dkok's hot shot lasguns were about 50% of them broken because of how flimsy they are)

Next is the "really good, but has some bubbles and slight miscasts"-class which I find Puppetswar holds on to nicely. They do need a little work to fix up the slight flaws, but it's workable with little more than tiny specks of greenstuff and some warm water. Absolutely worth buying from.

Up in the "I can't find anything wrong with this!" class I put Scibor Miniatures. Now there's resin to be proud of. I haven't had a single miniature from them that wasn't flawless.

And then, at the gods damned apex, is Antenocitis Workshop, from which I got some of their Viper vehicles. They are some sort of hard black resin that has the feel and smooth surfaces of thick hard plastic. I've never seen anything like it before, and I couldn't tell you what the material actually is.

As for the Tau parts, you could take a look at http://www.madrobotminiatures.com
They sell what they call 54mm Tau parts which (as far as I understand) work quite well as weapons for the larger Tau suits and such. Fair warning though: I haven't tried their casting nor do I have a scale comparison.

Forge world easily the most trashiest out of the box resin I have ever worked with. More flash than Scibor, More warped than ANY MODEL MAKER and horrific mold lines.

Recasters have the best resin, followed by most companies. Id rather fine cast over Forge World resin anyday.

Which is a pity because FW has cool models.

 Swastakowey wrote:
Forge world easily the most trashiest out of the box resin I have ever worked with. More flash than Scibor, More warped than ANY MODEL MAKER and horrific mold lines.

Recasters have the best resin, followed by most companies. Id rather fine cast over Forge World resin anyday.

Which is a pity because FW has cool models.

adn we have a Dakka first someone who actually rate failcast.

i started hating failcast when the teeth off corbulos chainsword fell off with the flashing. and it didnt get better, those lovely FC models in the white citadel boxes with 0 instructions.

FW i found to be miles ahead

 ausYenLoWang wrote:

i started hating failcast when the teeth off corbulos chainsword fell off with the flashing. and it didnt get better, those lovely FC models in the white citadel boxes with 0 instructions.

I started hating failcast when my Tau Commander came with deformed front hull plate.. and when it started bending backwards at it's ankles due to the model's weight. Then came the bubbly Dark Apostle, which should bear mark of Nurgle with all those gas bubbles on it and my super fine Hobbit Thror finecast model whose very thin sword is flappy like he was holding a still living fish and no amount of hot water could straighten it out because it was too thin.

 ausYenLoWang wrote:
FW i found to be miles ahead

I am not sure what to think about FW personally - my Tau battlesuits were pretty but the surface was so rough it felt like the resin was not entirely molten while casting and resulted in grainy texture - couldn't bother to sand and polish it whole. And my fantastic DKOK miniatures came with all but 3 lasguns snapped in half(the remaining were bent) probably while shipping due to very low stress resistance of those thin bits. Overall I think I'll never buy anything made of resin from GW or FW because my first FW order was a failure and I didn't really feel like bothering with all the return crap while the only finecast model I do not loathe was my Dark Elf assassin, he's 109% perfect with crisp details and only one tiny bubble on the bottom of the mini.

Seeing how simply superior were those chinese recasts that some guys own in my area, I don't really feel like trusting the company without some mass positive opinion influx.

For resin casting any traditional modelling company will have much better casts than any TG casters. They've been working with the material for about 2 decades, so they obviously have a lot of experience with it.

I think Knight Models has worse resin than GW.

EDIT: I have little problem with FW resin, what I've bought has hardly any problems.

 ausYenLoWang wrote:

 Swastakowey wrote:
Forge world easily the most trashiest out of the box resin I have ever worked with. More flash than Scibor, More warped than ANY MODEL MAKER and horrific mold lines.

Recasters have the best resin, followed by most companies. Id rather fine cast over Forge World resin anyday.

Which is a pity because FW has cool models.

adn we have a Dakka first someone who actually rate failcast.

i started hating failcast when the teeth off corbulos chainsword fell off with the flashing. and it didnt get better, those lovely FC models in the white citadel boxes with 0 instructions.

FW i found to be miles ahead

Well the only FineCast I have has was the eldar ones. Never had a problem with them. I preferred them over plastic for a while. They where just too light so fell over very easily.

FW I started hating when I purchased my imperial guard army and wanted cool tanks. The bends on those models where huge. I had to scrub them so much (something I had never come across before) and it took forever to put together the most basic bits because the surfaces would not merge. Some models where fine I will admit, however some where awful. I just felt ripped off paying so much when they couldnt even be bothered making the products look professional or even standard out of the box.