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Hi, so I have been looking to purchase a Warpsmith on ebay for my Chaos Warband, but since I can't inspect it personally, how do I know if its a decent cast or not? Is there a certain manufacturing date or type of packaging to look for?

Cross your fingers - offer prayer unto the gods of whatever deity you can find and - that's about it.

There is no production date that improves; finecast even today still suffers the same issues it did in the past. The BEST thing is to ask the person listing how good the casting is and if there are any issues.

If its a retail sale through an ebay store of a new product (and the store is selling it as new not secondhand) then you can sitll use GW customer service (they will want the receipt).

However if its secondhand then its more risk, but in theory if the person listing is honest and replies you should get an accurate description of the condition.

For what it's worth, I bought a warpsmith second hand last year. It was a good cast. I don't see a lot of parts that they could mess up on this model too badly.

FWIW, I've bought recasts that were of more superior quality resin than real finecast. So YMMV.

Finecast is good. It's a urban myth due to some fails at the very beginning. You can buy it with closed eyes.

 godardc wrote:
Finecast is good. It's a urban myth due to some fails at the very beginning. You can buy it with closed eyes.

This absolutely does not match my experience of Finecast.

It depends largely on what you're making out of it. The issue with finecast is that it's very brittle, which isn't much of an issue when we're talking about thick chunky things like Space Marines, but becomes an issue if you try and make long flimsy Eldar weapons out of it.

 godardc wrote:
Finecast is good. It's a urban myth due to some fails at the very beginning. You can buy it with closed eyes.

What sample size have you experienced?

I've bought 4x squad boxes of rangers/dark reapers within the last 6 months and they were really garbage tier.. Cleaning took forever and then half the time I wasn't sure which bits were part of the model and which weren't as there were chunks of resin all over the mini as well as some little bubbles etc... The ranger rifles continue to bend in the KR multicase trays I store them despite having grooves cut into them to make them as snug a possible with absolute minimal pressure.

@ OP I switched to second hand metals/Plastics strictly. Gets more expensive but its worth it.

The main issue with finecast is it's not actually a suitable material from which to make minatures.

It warps, it bubbles excessively, it has a low melting point, it is brittle and it has excessive flash but other than that it would be fine.

I have 4 Fine Cast pieces (all WHFB/AoS/LotR)
1) The Jabberslythe
2) Cockatrice
3) Goblin hero on giant squig
4) The Cave Drake - forgot all about this guy when I 1st posted. He just sits quietly there in the display shelf....

All are perfectly fine. No excessive warping*/bubbles/etc to report. Though the slythes tongue is really spindly & all 3 are brittle/fragile as Hell - I've no problem envisioning damage to the wings during transport (and have taken extra steps to prevent that) .

*The slythes tongue might be slightly bent (I've seen pics of others with straighter tongues). But it's at a downward angle that looks great on the tabletop. Had it not come that way I might have bent it like that myself if I'd thought of it.

Finecast is false advertising. Every one I have ever bought from GW has been Crapcast with exception to 1 model - my Nightbringer, who was Decentcast

The problem with Finecast is its unreliable.
When it works its really rather nice; it hold fine crisp details really well (better than plastic); its fairly easy to clean and work (softer than metal) and it looks good once painted up.

When it fails it fails in a very epic fashion. Bubbles are not uncommon with resins, however in most other resins when I've experienced a bubble its one bubble, maybe two. So the area affected is very small. Furthermore the bubbles are nearly always random placements so if you get a bad cast with a bubble in a high detail area that you can't just fill you can get a replacement with a very good chance it won't suffer the same issue.

With finecast my experience is that if you get bubbles you get a cluster - sometimes quite large. So it obliterates a large area. Furthermore the clustering bubbles will often repeat in castings. I've got 3 cockatrice and all 3 have the same cluster of bubbles problem in the same area.


Early versions of finecast even had bits of rubbery mould trapped within the cast.


So yes you can get perfectly good finecast, its not EVERY model that fails. However its a significant number to the point where many people do experience problems and where replacements sent by GW can display the very same problems over and over again. Remember when GW sends a replacement they aren't custom packing it for you; they just place a zero cost order and pluck another off the production line to send out.

There's a reason GW is no longer using it for new army sculpts; there's a reason they have invested so much into higher end plastic detail and have shifted over to it as their main material even for heroes and leaders; which once they'd have kept all metal/finecast.

I've yet to see a Finecast mini without casting errors. Imo it was the worst thing GW ever invented, replacing the perfectly fine metal minis with that rubbish. Finecast minis are the worst miniatures on the market, if they sold them for half the price of the metal minis I would've considered them, but costing MORE for worse quality is ridiculous. It's really baffling how the largest company failed in making a proper resin that all the little garage companies are perfectly able to produce in decent quality.
I have failcast minis mainly from lotr/ hobbit, but also saw some for 40K and AoS, they were all crap, basically. If you have any way around that stuff, don't buy it. Or be prepared to send in your mini about 3 times before you might get a mini without casting errors.

I only have one Finecast model, which is the old Black Orc Boss, which came secondhand with a bag of already assembled plastic Black Orcs from Gencon (so it was essentially 5 bucks considering what the whole batch cost me in total). The casting is really quite good, with no discernable casting flaws.

However, at the two local stores I shop from, I have NEVER seen a blisterpack of Finecast that I would be willing to pay retail for. No way am I paying through the nose for all the warping, bubbles, and just plain missing detail that can plainly be seen in the package, even by my non-gamer wife.

God forbid a box where I cant see the models. I went through Ebay for my Aspect Warriors specifically to get the old metals to have quality models.

Honestly I suspect that finecast cast fine for test samples. It was when they scaled up to mass production that issues with it became apparent. However I think that they also rushed it out to try and overcome a cashflow issue regarding metal prices. In short it was a rapid bandage being slapped on an issue which proved to have problems.

Metals were jumping all around (and mostly jumping up); though yes it was another marketing fail for GW to introduce a "new cheaper material" that also came with "a price rise for consumers".
A bit like their "cheaper postage for forgeworld overseas" which came with a massive "we change how we currency convert which results in higher prices"

UPDATE!: I have pictures, what do you guys think?

That axe handle is seriously warped & there's a lot of general clean up needed, but overall not bad.

Well, except for those goofy looking smoke stacks on his back/shoulders. Metal/plastic/FW resin or Finecast, whatever the medium I'd be removing those ASAP if this were my model. But this being a dumb looking sculpt feature isn't a Finecast problem.

So far myself only issue with finecast has been having to occasionally boil water to straighten spear etc. Couple minute extra work. On flipside less pieces to cut and glue

Looks about right for Finecast. Pretty bad.

I once ordered Lucius the Eternal from a FLGS. When I saw the box I let out an exclamation of shock. FLGS owner immediately asked what was wrong with it and I pointed out the sword was 'actually straight and not deformed'!

I bought the Warpsmith the day it became available. The problem with Finecast is how it warps over time.

It's been a few years, the axe handle is bent back to the point where it's almost touching the head of the model. The tendrils are bent out of shape, one touches the floor and one seems to be reaching for the sky.

This isn't the only finecast model that has deformed. My Dark Apostle's Crosius is bent out of shape, my Daemon Prince of Nurgle is mostly intact but I can see horns bending when I look close.

I don't expect models to last forever can still use them in games. It's just that I don't have the same problem with plastics or metal and this really stands out.

I had a similar issue with Astorath's axe. I could bend it back to the right position with hot water, but it never stayed 'put'.

EDIT - Also Dante's axe, now that I think of it. It bent towards him and leaned forward.

I ended up cutting that off, replacing it with sword and making him a Librarian.

I say avoid fine cast. I took a chance on deathleaper recently and the detail sucks and his leg came bent. I fixed the leg with hot water, but even with only a light coat of grey seer primer he still looks blurry and vague in a lot of places.

I had a similar issue with the resin Cryptek - staff was wonky with 2 good changes in direction showing.

Heat gun and a metal ruler I got it straight again but then spent another 2 hours just cleaning up the rest of the model.

My other Cryptek on foot is a kitbash of a warrior and leftover praetorian parts. Looks nicer, all plastic and no wonky staff!

Largely depends on the model in my experience. If the model is fairly solid (as in, no small bits that stick out such as banners, cables, weapons etc) then you're pretty safe.

Best case you get something that only requires some minor adjustments in warm water.