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I have completed building and painting my first fine cast model, Harald Deathwolf. And it was nothing less than hot garbage. Bubbles, streaks, inconsistent and gross rough texture. It's pretty bad that we still have to buy these for some models and even worse that they haven't reduced the price to match the reduced quality.

Thats why i converted mine out of regular twolf models.

Only ever bought 3 FC kits and each of them was in good condition.
Luck of the draw really. And if it was that bad, simply take it/send it back.
You've paid for a kit to be in good condition so.

I have had a lot of the same experience. I know they replace them but man is it a hassle to wait for a replacement each time.

Never had a problem with Finecast, and I've used a lot of it. If the cast is no good, get it replaced, GW have never had any issues doing this.

It's always worth photographing the faults and emailing or taking them in to GW in person.
They actually need to know, especially for severe cases. Plus you paid for it. You wouldn't eat a sandwich you saw someone drop on the floor whilst bringing it to you - don't suffer through building a model full of holes.

Very occasionally I've brought (admittedly obscure) figures back that were so bad they also had large bits of coloured mould still attached, and then noticed they've been briefly withdrawn from the web-shop for a week or so. It would appear that they do take it seriously. That or a collected amount of us all had the same issue (also likely).

I've bought about 15 finecrap models over the years, only a few have ever been decent quality. I avoid it like the plague now, I would rather use old OOP metal models from eBay.

I didn't return it because the model didn't look all that bad when I first inspected it. But the more time I spent painting it the more defects I noticed. I didn't want to scrap my work, and wait for a replacement that would likely be of similar quality to the one I have.

That would likely be of similar quality, meaning that it may or may not be and just as likely would be better. If it was the same or worse, you'd just pick up where you left off on your original since you don't have to send them back.

Complaining instead of doing something productive to fix the issue is your choice, but recognize you made the choice to complain and persist with the poorer model instead of getting a better quality replacement.

Out of the 25 fine cast models I've built and painted, I had serious iossues with 3-4 of them and out of those, only two needed enough rework to be mentioned regularly. This rate is much higher than GW plastics, and I'm not a fan of the material overall for durability and weight. On the other hand, either I've gotten extremely lucky, or I don't mind filling in a handful of bubbles.

There is a reason why it was called "Finecrap" and "Failcast". It's also why GW is moving away from it.

With the new upgrade sprues, you're probably now better off kitbashing your way to most characters.

Finecast always required "remediation" -- meaning carefully filling in and sanding down, and all that. They can still look great, but it takes a lot more work than plastic.

This guy was finecast, for example, but he easily took 4 hours of prep:

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:
If the cast is no good

There is no such thing as a good cast with finecast.

I have had the "joy" of working with Finecast for several of my Eldar units. Fortunately, possible due to unseen psychic support, the Finecast I have had the pleasure of using has turned out fine. It probably has something to do with the particular sculpts for the Eldar aspect warriors. However, I also prime the models immediately after assembly, as Finecast is one of the most brittle substances known to mankind and a good coat of spray primer gives the models something resembling structural integrity.

 TheNewBlood wrote:
I have had the "joy" of working with Finecast for several of my Eldar units. Fortunately, possible due to unseen psychic support, the Finecast I have had the pleasure of using has turned out fine. It probably has something to do with the particular sculpts for the Eldar aspect warriors. However, I also prime the models immediately after assembly, as Finecast is one of the most brittle substances known to mankind and a good coat of spray primer gives the models something resembling structural integrity.

It's possibly the thing I hate most about Eldar. So many single-pose finecast models, even on things like aspect warriors, which you must have many of :(

I have no idea how many times a dropped Eldar piece has broken some arm/sword/staff/spear/pistol/head... sigh.

 Talys wrote:

 TheNewBlood wrote:
I have had the "joy" of working with Finecast for several of my Eldar units. Fortunately, possible due to unseen psychic support, the Finecast I have had the pleasure of using has turned out fine. It probably has something to do with the particular sculpts for the Eldar aspect warriors. However, I also prime the models immediately after assembly, as Finecast is one of the most brittle substances known to mankind and a good coat of spray primer gives the models something resembling structural integrity.

It's possibly the thing I hate most about Eldar. So many single-pose finecast models, even on things like aspect warriors, which you must have many of :(

I have no idea how many times a dropped Eldar piece has broken some arm/sword/staff/spear/pistol/head... sigh.

The single pose is probably the best thing about the Eldar Finecast line; there aren't a whole lot of things to go wrong. But yeah, plastic aspect warriors need to be the next thing GW releases for Eldar.

Also, like I said, superglue and a thick coat of primer go a long way toward making Finecast somewhat durable.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Sir Samuel Buca wrote:
If the cast is no good

There is no such thing as a good cast with finecast.

They are plenty of good finecast casts out. Just plenty of gakky ones as well.

 sing your life wrote:
They are plenty of good finecast casts out.

No there aren't. The material is inherently bad even when it doesn't have horrible bubbles or broken pieces. It's way too fragile and crumbly, so even if you somehow get one that doesn't have any casting flaws (probably by divine intervention) it's probably not going to stay that way very long.