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.

Its fine. No idea why folks are on about it being hard to paint, if its cleaned right and primed there is no problem. As for a previous post about it offering zero customization lol for real... you can cut it, you can mold it, you can convert the high hell out of it

Finecast is literal garbage. The quality control is virtually nonexistent (bubbles everywhere, especially in the middle of fine detail), and even if you miraculously get a cast that can be salvaged without too much work the material is still awful. It's way too weak and crumbly so it breaks too easily, and it's soft enough to bend under its own weight. Every single finecast or FW "we swear it's not finecast even though it's exactly like finecast" model I've had the misfortune of encountering has ended up in the trash. I've learned my lesson now and just won't buy anything in finecast, which is a shame because some of those models are theoretically very nice.

And of course none of this applies to proper resin, which is the ideal material for miniatures when it is done right.

 Peregrine wrote:
Finecast is literal garbage. The quality control is virtually nonexistent (bubbles everywhere, especially in the middle of fine detail), and even if you miraculously get a cast that can be salvaged without too much work the material is still awful. It's way too weak and crumbly so it breaks too easily, and it's soft enough to bend under its own weight. Every single finecast or FW "we swear it's not finecast even though it's exactly like finecast" model I've had the misfortune of encountering has ended up in the trash. I've learned my lesson now and just won't buy anything in finecast, which is a shame because some of those models are theoretically very nice.

And of course none of this applies to proper resin, which is the ideal material for miniatures when it is done right.

Maybe you should buy better kits... for the only problem i have seen in NZ is that they break easily...

Wait Peregrine:Why did you throw them in the trash?You do know that they give you a new one if its got a problem right?And unless FW switched to finecast or sometimes its like finecast your signature kinda doesn't look like won't buy finecast.

From here in australia atleast, FC has dramatically increased in quality. The past 30 kits haven't had a single bubble or defect and only one has one piece of flash on it's helmet.

Da krimson barun wrote:
Wait Peregrine:Why did you throw them in the trash?You do know that they give you a new one if its got a problem right?

Because after getting replacements that are just as bad as the original and then replacements for the replacements that are still just as bad it isn't worth dealing with it anymore. Even if I finally get enough pieces to make a complete model it's still a terrible material, so why spend weeks/months trying to salvage a bad kit when I can move on to something more enjoyable and consider it a lesson learned?

And unless FW switched to finecast or sometimes its like finecast your signature kinda doesn't look like won't buy finecast.

FW used "we swear it's not finecast" for a few kits, apparently as a test. There are certain kits that I've blacklisted until I see evidence of better casting (for example, the Vendetta conversion parts), but most FW stuff is cast in proper resin and doesn't suffer from the same problems as finecast.

Plus, my signature is about rules, not model kits.

That explains it.I was talking about the superheavies bit in your signature.Not the first part.

I personally don't have a problem with any of the Finecast kits I've bought. I much prefer it for Tyranids. The Tyranid metals all suffer from various issues in metal - Zoanthropes are far, far, far too top heavy, and will fall over on a flat surface with a slight nudge. Venomthropes need to be pinned, but the arms are small enough to make that a hassle. Hive Guard need to be pinned, but the arms need to be perfectly placed to line up properly at the wrist. Lictors have the same problems as Venomthropes.

Short of them going plastic, I'll take them in Finecast in a heartbeat over metal. I actually want to hunt down one more Finecast Hive Guard, to complete the brood of 3 before the new plastic are released. And another Zoanthrope, but there's no rush there.

Well, I for one HATE (with extra RAGE) metal miniatures. In my experience they are prone to misscasts, fit horribly, are impossible or very hard to customize and especially the larger ones (Bloodthirster, I'm looking at you, and I see you hiding behind him, SAG-Bigmek) just don't hold together when glueing them without lots of trouble.

I don't think GW made any useful IG models in finecast other then coteaz , I did have problems with him the first 4 I opened were all warped the same way in the same place . The next shipment that came had the same problem , so in the end I got the metal one . he may fall down because of the eagle , but at least his face and armor look ok . Besides that I never bought finecast .

Da krimson barun wrote:
That explains it.I was talking about the superheavies bit in your signature.Not the first part.

Oh, yeah. The models I'm interested in are all old ones from before the finecast disaster.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kosake wrote:
Well, I for one HATE (with extra RAGE) metal miniatures. In my experience they are prone to misscasts, fit horribly, are impossible or very hard to customize and especially the larger ones (Bloodthirster, I'm looking at you, and I see you hiding behind him, SAG-Bigmek) just don't hold together when glueing them without lots of trouble.

Sure. Metal is awful, and there's no real reason to use it anymore. But that doesn't make finecast acceptable, it just means that companies should cast their models in real resin instead of metal or finecast.

karlosovic wrote:
GW has this public health and safety / liability issue because of lead being toxic, so they had to change the metal models to resin (which, btw, is also sometimes toxic).

You do know that GW stopped using lead well over a decade ago?

Much much lighter.

Have a big tray full of medium sized tyranids in metal - it was very heavy and since replacing most of them with finecast can now put into a foam tray that can be carried with one hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfoSAWgBYQ4

A lot of Finecast complaints are bs.

What is finecast resin even made of?

I like finecast, but only for specific instances:

Organic models only. Lumps and bubbles are easy enough to fill in on flesh, but that stuff stands out too much on smooth mechanical areas.

Big stuff that used to be metal. Greater daemons especially. The apparent frailty of finecast is less of a concern with thicker models, where the lightness of the material makes it even more sturdy. Also it's not metal and won't fall apart if you look at it wrong.

Over plastic? Little to none. Over the old pewter, the finecast models are easier to convert than the pewter ones. That's all I've found, if I'm going to use the full model as is I would rather find the old pewter one or use bits to make an as close as possible counts as.

I used to like it, but I never got a really messed up one.

I liked it at first because I only had gotten models that were originally made for metal, so they had large join areas and thick pegs that were great and went together well with a small amount of superglue.

Then I got a Valkia model for the heck of it. Needed to use a layer of Liquid Green Stuff to get the pieces to actually stay together, apart from the base and the head, which likely stayed on with gravity's assistance. The joins are tiny, like, only a millimeter or two across.

 Tyberos the Red Wake wrote:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfoSAWgBYQ4

A lot of Finecast complaints are bs.

they should have tried it with harlequins or that tyranid flying brain thing , Or DE wychs , my friend left them out to dry and Poland has no where near the temperatures shown then and after school 3 of them were face down .

I can't see the difference in painting FC and plastic it seems the same to me. It is more detailed but the old scholar in me prefers the feel of metal!

 Peregrine wrote:
Every single finecast or FW "we swear it's not finecast even though it's exactly like finecast" model I've had the misfortune of encountering has ended up in the trash.

sigh.. time to break out the meme:

I've only had 3 finecast models so far, but aside from a case of bent horns, they've been fine. I must admit I do prefer my old metal models though simply due to their weight

 thepowerfulwill wrote:
What it says on the tin, Does anyone know of any advantages that fincast has over plastic? or is it all just crap?

Easier to assemble than metal, less shrinkage too so parts actually fit together properly and little to no pinning required.

Personally I've only used Finecast when converting a Celestine model (she stole Sanguinor's wings) and had no issues. I've got a Warpsmith I've yet to build for my Dark Mechanicus project so that'll officially be the fiddliest model I've built but I don't forsee any real issues worse than the set of Krieg Lasguns ran into that were bent so bad they formed hoops (and that was regular resin, not Finecast)

Honestly I'd loved to see more Finecast when it comes to the Sisters stuff as Penitent Engines and Exorcists would assemble together a lot better than they do in their materials (metal and metal/plastic hybrid kits respectfully).

pax_imperialis wrote:
No advantages from what i can tell. A pain in the ass to put together though. Admittedly the warpsmith and sorcerer i got were pretty damn detailed, but you have to put them in the pose on the box, zero customisation. And the spindly bits like mechatendrils are really really fragile, you have to be very careful. Theres a reason old metals are fetching a hefty price on ebay

Metal models and the mono-pose plastic character kits have the same issue when it comes to posing them.

pax_imperialis wrote:
Oh and i also got a whirlwind hyperios from fw and it was made of some weird resin that was all warped and impossible to cut, dont think that was finecast though.

They use a different kind of resin. Or rather different kinds as they've been known to experiment with different kinds of resins over the years.

quote=karlosovic 570596 6384779 null]GW has this public health and safety / liability issue because of lead being toxic, so they had to change the metal models to resin (which, btw, is also sometimes toxic).
Their lawyers/accountants told them not to admit liability, so they spun some B.S. story about the "extra detail" possible in resin "Finecast".

Yes, it's rubbish, obviously.... but they kinda had to do it. They didn't have to be dicks about it though, but honestly, who's surprised?

 -Loki- wrote:
I personally don't have a problem with any of the Finecast kits I've bought. I much prefer it for Tyranids. The Tyranid metals all suffer from various issues in metal - Zoanthropes are far, far, far too top heavy, and will fall over on a flat surface with a slight nudge. Venomthropes need to be pinned, but the arms are small enough to make that a hassle. Hive Guard need to be pinned, but the arms need to be perfectly placed to line up properly at the wrist. Lictors have the same problems as Venomthropes.

Short of them going plastic, I'll take them in Finecast in a heartbeat over metal. I actually want to hunt down one more Finecast Hive Guard, to complete the brood of 3 before the new plastic are released. And another Zoanthrope, but there's no rush there.

We've had finecast 'Nids since their first release - a couple have been slightly sub-par, a Broodloard with rough texture, some bubbling on a zoanthrope vent, and a couple of minor bubbles on two out of six Hive Guard. the only really annoying issue was a zoanthrope bending after being left on the car back shelf. For the really small LOTR models, the metal is better, but for the most part, a lot of the complaints are standard internet hysteria, especially when you can get replacements so easily .

Given the choice of metal vs. Finecast, I'd pick Finecast every day. Why? Because in my experience, metal models tend to have pieces break off if you so much as look at them wrong, simply because the metal is too heavy relative to the superglue. I've basically given up trying to use my Terminator Njal (yeah, okay, aside from the fact that he's kind of mediocre as a unit) because every other time I take him out, his staff falls off. I've never had any sort of problems like that with Finecast.

Honestly, my only minor gripe with Finecast is that it's a bit flimsy with models that have a lot of spindly bits, but other than that, I'd rather have something that will actually stay together when I glue it.

 sing your life wrote:

 Peregrine wrote:
Every single finecast or FW "we swear it's not finecast even though it's exactly like finecast" model I've had the misfortune of encountering has ended up in the trash.

sigh.. time to break out the meme:

Do a search. There are multiple threads on Finecrap, all with accompanying horror pictures. Don't expect us to do all the legwork to fuel your skepticism.

I got a pack of Warp spiders and a Spiritseer in finecast. At first I noticed some defects and filled them in and filed off flash until they were good to prime. Then I primed them and noticed more holes that were hard to find on the bare model. So I filled holes and sanded them down and reprimed the model.

Everything was fine not that much work added really, time to paint. Oh. More holes. Yay.

I'm not really sure how much is my fault on that. A bare finecast model just didn't really show all the flaws when I looked at in average light areas. It wasn't until I started working in a brighter area trying to prime and paint that I started noticing all the flaws. Three Warpspiders were perfect, one has several bubbles including a very large hole in his gun that had to be filled. The Spiritseer was mostly fine, the only bubbles being in the jems located over every square micron on the model.

Honestly as much as I wanted to defend it and say it wasn't that bad, it was in no way worth the price I paid.

Any actual issues (A slightly bent Crowe sword, a couple of slightly bent Ranger rifles, a Ranger head with a weird shape on the head) were easily solved. I have a considerable amount of the models and they have been pretty fine.

Seems like hit and miss. I have seen a rather horrid Lictor of my friend's, admittedly, that lacked a head! But it seems the issues decreased over time.

karlosovic wrote:
GW has this public health and safety / liability issue because of lead being toxic, so they had to change the metal models to resin (which, btw, is also sometimes toxic).
Their lawyers/accountants told them not to admit liability, so they spun some B.S. story about the "extra detail" possible in resin "Finecast".

Yes, it's rubbish, obviously.... but they kinda had to do it. They didn't have to be dicks about it though, but honestly, who's surprised?

I remember painting my first miniature (mid 90's) and being told by my mate "Don't forget to wash your hands after painting" for this reason. I prefer assembling Finecast over metals, because I have put together some shocking metal miniatures before that had parts that were way too heavy. I can pin with the best of them, but certain miniatures are ridiculous. Prep-wise, both metal and Finecast are a pain. I have frequently, carefully, removed a mould line only to have the resin flake away and remove larger areas of detail. The detail they can achieve in Finecast, which IMO is only really an issue when it comes to faces, is often ruined by miscasts. The quality of every Finecast mini I have purchased has been below my expectations and no amount of liquid greenstuff makes that ok. I have never had an issue with plastics; they are easy to construct, convert and paint. They are capable of conserving high quality detail and will only get better.

In short: Finecast does not have an advantage. It could have an advantage if its quality was assured, but it isn't, so it doesn't

Cheers!

I remember being really unimpressed with the first few finecast models I got, due to how fragile it is, the messy flash and how staves, swords and such were bent. The Heavy Destroyer upgrade kit ($9 for a terrible flimsy heavy gauss cannon) would have to take the cake for the worst finecast kit I've used, due to the issues mentioned.

Some models are much, much better than others. I had no issues with Typhus, for example, and the extra detail finecast apparently permits is a plus.

Comparing it to pewter models, I think in general its an improvement, due to the lesser weight and ease of wanted modifications, although pewter is much more durable.