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So, like many others, I have a dream of one day purchasing and assembling my own Forgeworld centerpiece.

The problem is, I have almost no experience working with resin and all that goes with it. I can wash off some should pads with the best of them, but aside from that, not much to go off of.

So the question to those of who who have gone down this path already: what is a good FW beginner kit? Something that you still have to do a bit of work with, but not one that is going to make you rage quite every night for three months. For instance, problems with the Storm Eagle kit seem to be pretty severe, so I would want practice with another kit before I started that one.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

In my experience, the larger the elements, the more likely warping, slippage and shrinkage (ooh-er) will occur. Similarly, fine parts like gun barrels or blades can bend.

With that in mind, I'd recommend one of the mid-sized kits like a Sabre Defence Platform..

That's got all the elements that might give you some trouble (multiple parts, fine parts, mix of sizes) but on a manageable scale; and it will let you experiment with different ways of managing the issues. Plus, it's a very attractive and versatile kit. If gaming's your thing, it fits in nicely with many armies as an anti-aircraft gun or piece of scenery.

If you'd prefer a simpler kit, then you can't go far wrong with a Contemptor Dreadnought. Lots of big, solid pieces means that there's little chance of moulding problems.

Any of the conversion kits are easy to do. My FW chimera was easy to do, but it was mostly a GW kit with FW components.
I found the reaver titan easy to assemble, as long as I didn't make stupid mistakes (some finiky bits with the legs). I'd say that the medusa and other imperial tanks should be fairly easy. Some of their charactor models (like the techpriest from the reaver) are really easily damaged because parts are so small.

godswildcard wrote:
So, like many others, I have a dream of one day purchasing and assembling my own Forgeworld centerpiece.

The problem is, I have almost no experience working with resin and all that goes with it. I can wash off some should pads with the best of them, but aside from that, not much to go off of.

So the question to those of who who have gone down this path already: what is a good FW beginner kit? Something that you still have to do a bit of work with, but not one that is going to make you rage quite every night for three months. For instance, problems with the Storm Eagle kit seem to be pretty severe, so I would want practice with another kit before I started that one.

Looking forward to your thoughts!

The first thing to choose is what army you want to buy for.

The we can break that factions FW stuff down into easy, middling, pita and don't

@apologist: that's not a bad idea and right along the lines of what I was looking for: something that would be challenging for a beginner, but not impossible to do correctly.

@Aeroroot: Thanks! I'll keep the vehicle conversion kits in mind!

@Predakhaine: I play Ultramarines and Khorne CSM w/ Khorne demon allies!

Whats your budget?

Have you seen anything you like on the FW site?

Budget is tricky. For the first kit, I'd probably want to keep it at $100 or less.

And so far there has been very, very little I don't like on forgeworld, so pretty much wide open there.

Centerpiece as a piece for your shelf or centerpiece as a good looking and usefull unit in your army?
If a) then I´d take the Deathkorps of Krieg CCS.

Unique/cool things in budget for khorne

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer/Warhammer_Monsters/KHORNE-DAEMON-PRINCE-AND-HERALD.html

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Chaos/DAEMONS_AND__BEASTS/KHORNE-BLOOD-SLAUGHTERER.html

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Chaos/DAEMONS_AND__BEASTS/KHORNE-BLOOD-SLAUGHTERER-IMPALER.html

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/Warhammer-40000/Chaos/DAEMONS_AND__BEASTS/CHAOS_DECIMATOR_DAEMON_ENGINE.html

Then for space marines - I'd go for a contemptor for looks or for rules a relic predator with the triple plasma shot for that budget.

Personally, I'd go a little higher on the budget and get the storm eagle or the fire raptor. They're the best looking things FW do IMO

I've looked at the blood slaughterer/ impaled model before, and is like it.

Has anyone tried assembling one and how hard was it to do so?

I would suggest a Contemptor dreadnought. It is a fairly easy build that is still very pose-able. It will give you a feel for what it is like to clean up resin and it won't require much (if any) bending.

godswildcard wrote:
I've looked at the blood slaughterer/ impaled model before, and is like it.

Has anyone tried assembling one and how hard was it to do so?

I've built a few and they are easy to build, ideal first kits.

I would stay away from the Fire Raptor, Storm Eagle and Thunderhawk (outside your budget anyway) as those are a complete PITA. I would put the Raptor the easiest of those, then the Thunderhawk then the Eagle.

Maybe some alternate turrets for some of your pre-existing models, i.e. chimeras, or Leman Russ Tanks

Stay away from the spartan...

 CptCortez128 wrote:
Stay away from the spartan...

That's a shame, as the spartan looks to be a fantastic choice for my Berzerkers!

I think I'll try my hand with a Blood Slaughterer for my Berzerkers and a relic contemptor dreadnought for my Ultramarines. After that I'll move on to a more complex kit like the Deimos predator or a spartan.

I think all of the larger tanks can be a bit of a struggle to the beginner, I find I have to straighten a lot of the parts out and make a few adjustments.
The dreads or conversion kits are best for the starter I think.

 Rayvon wrote:
I think all of the larger tanks can be a bit of a struggle to the beginner, I find I have to straighten a lot of the parts out and make a few adjustments.
The dreads or conversion kits are best for the starter I think.

With the larger kits do you find that your more fixing things like turrets or gun barrels or do the hulls themselves need to be straightened?

I'd try out the predator armour kits. They're a good learning experience - you'll need to think about model assembly, cleaning up properly, and also may need to deal with warping / shrinkage issues. The design is simple enough that you can fix a lot of things and/or learn how to deal with mistakes.

It's the last bit that I think is about the most important aspect of modelling - knowing how not to panic and mend something you've broken is invaluable in doing more complex things where something is more likely to do wrong (and you learn what to avoid!).

I put together this guide (and screwed up a bit along the way) and I think it's a pretty good example of what you may need to do. http://www.winterdyne.co.uk/maz/winterdyne_tutorial2.pdf

I would strongly suggest milliput rather than greenstuff as a filling putty though. It's VERY water soluble so it's much easier to smooth out, and it dries harder so it sands very well too.

I didn't find the Spartan that bad, it has big thick sections that do not warp and the rest can be flattened after soaking in hot water.

The chaos rhino extra armour kit could be a good start. Especially if combined with the world eaters doors and front panel. It's not too easy to assemble but won't leave you cursing for days. I did an iron warriors version not long ago. It's in my gallery, but ive included some pics. Trust me forge world stuff is well worth the effort.

Whatever you chose, make sure it can be used as a substitute for a regular 40k item or figure in case someone objects to the dreaded Forge World...

Forgeworld stuff isn't so bad compared to some of the stuff in the new codices. Just putting that out there.

godswildcard wrote:

 Rayvon wrote:
I think all of the larger tanks can be a bit of a struggle to the beginner, I find I have to straighten a lot of the parts out and make a few adjustments.
The dreads or conversion kits are best for the starter I think.

With the larger kits do you find that your more fixing things like turrets or gun barrels or do the hulls themselves need to be straightened?

The small fixings are normally fine apart from excessive flash, but that is easily removed, the problems I sometimes have with the larger tanks is that straight parts such as tank sides, long gun barrels and flat areas, tend to warp occasionally and it can be a swine trying to get a tight fit between edges.

 Zuul wrote:
Forgeworld stuff isn't so bad compared to some of the stuff in the new codices. Just putting that out there.

No you just di-n't!

 Aeroroot wrote:
I'd say that the medusa and other imperial tanks should be fairly easy

Absolutely not. The LRBT variants are pretty straightforward, but the Medusa is a nightmare to build. The whole back hull is all thin pieces of resin that have to line up perfectly (and, given FW quality control, may not all be the right size to line up perfectly), and they are always badly warped. If that had been my first FW kit I probably would have thrown it in the trash in frustration.

blood slaughterer impaler's are pretty easy to put together to be honest.

But with all FW kits, wash them, trim them up so they are clean and then assemble.
Never rush with them and always test fit parts before you glue them.

And being resin, i find the glue holds far better on them than it does on plastics / metals.

Just avoid any titan sized models until you are used to FW stuff as it may put you off.

Servo Skulls, odd bits, inignias for vehicles, they have about anything, so maybe just some bits to add to figures, and vehicles could be a great start.
If you have Forgeworld stuff to bring to the table I'd play against it man. Anything that FW makes as far as I'm concerned is good to go, just your preference. You can't lose when it comes to choosing their stuff.

godswildcard wrote:

@Predakhaine: I play Ultramarines and Khorne CSM w/ Khorne demon allies!

The Ultramarines Venerable Dreadnought is a good starter kit.
Make sure you pay attention to the bottom bit as weapon arms are sold separately. Pick and choose a load-out that you think will both look cool and be something you want to be 'stuck with'.

If you want to go the Chaos Marine route, I highly suggest Lord Zhufor.

Both of those ideas are going to be fairly simple builds which should not be too challenging, even if issues might arise.

Why is there a bunch of Chaos suggestions to an Ultra Marine player?

 Kelly502 wrote:
Why is there a bunch of Chaos suggestions to an Ultra Marine player?

godswildcard wrote:

@Predakhaine: I play Ultramarines and Khorne CSM w/ Khorne demon allies!