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Cool. You don't have to buy them. You could go find something you enjoy.

 warboss wrote:

 minionboy wrote:

The models I own, and the ones I've seen, I haven't seen anything beyond what I would consider normal. Just like any other kit you buy from nearly any other manufacturer. Yes, the big guys will replace anything, often without question, but they also have it in their operating budget to do so and can afford/need the write off. DP9, while they may have been around for a long time (in name) are nowhere near as big as the big players, nor are they in a position to burn money over things which are really, at the end of the day, pretty standard in the hobby.

I don't consider dimples on a flat featureless surface to be returnable either but I do consider having to gap fill that kind of casting error in a plastic kit to be indicative of BELOW average quality. In 25+ years in the minis game hobby, I've never had to bondo a dent (to use the earlier analogy) on plastic kits from any manufacturer... Seams? Yeah... Gaps... occasionally... but actual depressions or cavities? Never. I've had to do it moderately frequently with resin and ocassionally with metal but never plastic even going back to late 80's early 90's model airplane and starship kits. YMMV.

In any case, your pic palming three gears on your sig link blog might be the first time/angle I've seen the plastic gears actually look nice (as opposed to just meh).

Thanks for the kind(-ish) words, haha. I've been at this for 20 years myself, and I feel like I am filling dents any time I get a plastic kit with thick, flat parts (as I've mentioned regarding Tau), and basically any time working with big resin kits. It's just part of model prep to me, like any other correction. It's definitely true that the black plastic doesn't flatter the minis, and just from looking at my Jäger kits that seem to have the same issues mentioned above, I can say the enlarged photo with light emphasizing the imperfection goes incredibly far to exaggerate the flaw. I actually think the dent on the Hunters head is more noticeable (but incredibly easy to fix).

Here are a few others I built, sorry about the picture being blown out, I was trying to lighten it up a bit so you can see what's going on with the black minis:

Heh, I can just imagine a Grizzly holding a Cheeta at arms-reach.

Did the relative scale/size differences between the classes get even wider? Those scout gears look even smaller next to the slimmed down grizzlies than I remember the metals being. I might be mistaken though due to working last on RAFM scale stuff for several weeks.

 warboss wrote:
Did the relative scale/size differences between the classes get even wider? Those scout gears look even smaller next to the slimmed down grizzlies than I remember the metals being. I might be mistaken though due to working last on RAFM scale stuff for several weeks.

I actually never owned much north before the Kickstarter, but I can say the Ferrets aren't any smaller, though the cheetahs might be a tiny bit smaller, but seem about the same size. It might be an optical illusion because the grizzly are slimmer making them not look as stout as before. What I really know is that only having 6 cheetah might not be enough for me, haha. I've decided to go the artillery route and focus on RC squads backed up by a pair of Verders.

It's kind of interesting just how much the perspective changes the perception of size if you look at the bases relative to each other.

Okay. This is not an official competition run by Dream Pod 9, however, after reading some comments in the Terra Nova DMZ, I wanted to make an effort for everyone to get their painting skills sharpened, and also to show off Heavy Gear a little to the wider wargaming community.
With that in mind, I will be holding a painting competition in the Terra Nova DMZ, and share the news in the DP9 forums, and elsewhere, though I would appreciate it if everyone could see their entries within the Facebook group.

Rules of the Competition:

1. One model per entrant. These may be Gears, Frames, Mounts, tanks, or striders.
2. All entries must be Heavy Gear miniatures. The model can be plastic or pewter.
3. Conversions and scratch building is allowed, but must fall within the scope and atmosphere of the Heavy Gear Universe. Third-party parts and bits are allowed within reason.
4. Bases may be dioramas or playing bases.
5. The second and third-place winners will be able to choose which miniature(s) they will be awarded after the vote has been cast and final decisions have been made.
6. In the event of a tie vote, I will adjudicate as tiebreaker.
7. All entries must be submitted before midnight of November 5th, 2016.
8. Entrants are able to use whatever paints or primers they desire, and brush or airbrush styles are entirely up to the entrants.
9. The winning entrant will also be presented as this Group's cover Photo for one month following the event.
10. All entrants will submit their pictures (limit of 5 pictures per entrant) to the following e-mail: thanatosstorm357@gmail.com

So, with that in mind, I hope everyone will share and get the word out, and that you get those brushes cleaned off, because we're in for a ride.

*Note: The HHT-90 will not be available as a grand prize, unfortunately, due to my lack of funds for it.

That's... not really news about the Kickstarter? I'd suggest you to open a new thread about it.

Also, those pics are not plastics KS

Brandon, are you personally funding the contest prizes?

Albertorius wrote:That's... not really news about the Kickstarter? I'd suggest you to open a new thread about it.

Also, those pics are not plastics KS

True. I'll submit a new entry. And yes, I needed a couple quick pictures for the poster.

warboss wrote:Brandon, are you personally funding the contest prizes?

That's personal, warboss. But yes.

Edit: I have someone who is offering to chip in for prize support, and another offer from one company that I'm discussing with.

That's generous of you and good luck with the competition. One suggestion that I'd make is asking folks to post a new pic of the model unpainted so that it's painted specifically for the competition. It's not really fair IMO to have someone submit a long ago professionally painted model done by someone else and have it competing against other models painted within the timeframe of the competition by the actual entrants. YMMV.

 warboss wrote:
That's generous of you and good luck with the competition. One suggestion that I'd make is asking folks to post a new pic of the model unpainted so that it's painted specifically for the competition. It's not really fair IMO to have someone submit a long ago professionally painted model done by someone else and have it competing against other models painted within the timeframe of the competition by the actual entrants. YMMV.

That was actually brought up in the group, and I did ask for an honor system in place for folks to paint only what they had available, or could reasonably fulfill within the time frame. One person has already sent me an example of what he is painting. So, I hope that others will maintain that same courtesy.

Well my stuff arrived today and.. well.. I think I will have to reserve judgement until I have assembled a few gears and put them next to my metal ones. However I wasn't impressed by the size of the box.. which turned out to be the size and - only slightly heavier - than my Project Z game box from Warlord. In other words, small and light. I sense a lot of the 'shipping fee' must have gone towards VAT and covering the cost of picking and packing..

Also, I must have misread the pledge rewards at some point as I added on a printed quick start guide and it seems one came with my pledge. So now I have two. Doh.

Got my kickstarter set, very happy with everything except the shipping cost so far, it's got me more interested in Heavy Gear than I have been for the last 10 years.
Long tale of woe and angst between myself and DP9 but I really loved that setting back in the early days.
If the rules suck (personal taste etc.) I'll just have to put my own together, maybe based on something rules light like Open combat.

It sucks that people aren't happy with what was delivered, but I guess it's my gain. Skipped the KS due to issues w/ DP9 except for a $1 pledge to get the updates, honestly wasn't sure that they'd ever deliver and was very pleasantly surprised as they made constant (if delayed) headway and kept people fairly well informed. I was even rather impressed with their handling of the money issues and how upfront they were about it (compared ot some of the KS' that just choose to fail to deliver ANYTHING instead, hello RRT) and was kinda sad I passed on the pledge manager buy in. But since some people are so unhappy I managed a full base pledge level for $86 shipped that came in yesterday, can't beat that.

I'm happy with it, figures aren't amazingly well detailed but they're detailed enough, a bit of paint and some decals will do them wonders. Certainly easier to assemble than the metals, I still have literally dozens of Jovian Chronicles figs sitting in blisters from the old Alliance distribution clearance sales, such a PITA to assemble :(

Now I just need to find the time to assemble and paint them all, already too much stuff on my painting table and Overwatch & WoW are SO good right now! Not enough time in the day