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Hey guys,
Is it just me or are the things that forgeworld does in comparison to the plastics that gw makes, far superior?
For example the contemptor dreadnought is an awesome model and i love most of the variants that FW make. but the plastic one looks stumpy and rigid, and i dont like it at all.
Also the mk3 marines, for some reason the forgeworld marines look to have much more crisp details and are better proportioned.


Maybe thats just me assuming that it must be better because it costs more, has anyone else noticed any difference?

Resin offering superior detail than plastic? Whoda thunk it?

While I do think they produce a lot of great looking models I find that 2 things always persuade me not to buy them;
1) The type of resin they use. I find it too much hassle to try and paint over it,even after numerous washes in detergent etc.. the resin is always shiny and not paint friendly!
2) The cost. I wish they'd realise that resin is not a precious material like gold or silver! I worked for a resin manufacturing company and it was always the case that the more product you sold the cheaper it became to produce and sell.Never understood how they can charge something like £15 more for a five man squad than the cost of a ten man squad made from plastic! Maybe they should be smaller like Kromlech,Anvil,Puppets War etc.....
Good stuff but too many downsides.

Forgeworld CAN make nice stuff, but their quality control is very inconsistent. I've ordered a number of things from them over the years and find that more than half of what I've ordered has had big enough issues to warrant a call to customer service. Plastic kits very rarely have issues. For that reason, I'll pick the plastic option 99% of the time over FW resin.

Uh... that is kinda the point. It is the reason FW exists, it's a premium product version of GW, using a more expensive but superior single cast material.

That being said, the gap has vastly closed over the years and now they largely complement each other more than anything else.

But yeah, it's kinda like asking 'does anyone thing Audi's are better cars than Volkswagen's?'

Yes. I'm not sure why you even need to ask this question. Look at the FW Castellax compared to the GW Kastellans.

To me, the desings FW does generally (Normally the Space Marines) don't use at the 100% the capacity of Resin to offer crisp detailed miniatures. Others, like the Krieg range, to me are much better, but in like 80% of the HH models and space marines in general, don't really merit the use of resin and the hike in price to so little difference. I have bought pieces from Mierce and other resin manufacturers like Kingom Death,or even Infinity, and they really use Resin and Metal to their full potential.

And the Contemptor of GW, I think is crappy for that same reason, to don't canibalice the resin ones.

Slipstream wrote:

2) The cost. I wish they'd realise that resin is not a precious material like gold or silver! I worked for a resin manufacturing company and it was always the case that the more product you sold the cheaper it became to produce and sell.Never understood how they can charge something like £15 more for a five man squad than the cost of a ten man squad made from plastic! Maybe they should be smaller like Kromlech,Anvil,Puppets War etc.....

Resin is hand cast from material that costs more than plastic which is for all intents and purposes free.

So where GW can pump out tons of frames quickly and automatically for virtually no material cost FW has to handcast the models which a) takes longer b) requires more human work.

Benefit is moulds cost far less so expense is not as front-loaded. The cost per model to produce isn't as dependant on how many copies they sell like plastic which requires tons of sales to even break even but after that is very high rate profit.


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 Galas wrote:
To me, the desings FW does generally (Normally the Space Marines) don't use at the 100% the capacity of Resin to offer crisp detailed miniatures. Others, like the Krieg range, to me are much better, but in like 80% of the HH models and space marines in general, don't really merit the use of resin and the hike in price to so little difference. I have bought pieces from Mierce and other resin manufacturers like Kingom Death,or even Infinity, and they really use Resin and Metal to their full potential.

Big advantage resin has to offer there is ensuring it's even viable. Would many of the smaller things really sell enough to justify plastic sprue? If they aren't sure resin allows to sell smaller quantities profitably.

 MajorTom11 wrote:


But yeah, it's kinda like asking 'does anyone thing Audi's are better cars than Volkswagen's?'

Fair point, redundant thread is redundant.

As mentioned, as mediums resin and plastic offer different properties to model creation. Resin tends to have crisper definition but is more fragile than plastic. In addition, the molds are cheaper than plastic but also wear out faster with resin. This makes it a pretty good medium to use for Forge World stuff.

As for higher quality Forger World vs. regular Games Workshop, I can't really say. The Forge world stuff looks nice, but I haven't seen it person. As for regular Games Workshop, some of my CSM is good (much of the contents of Dark Vengeance minus push built and maulerfiend/forgefiend), but a lot of it is really mediocre (CSM, Terminators, Rhinos, Land Raidiers).

Ultimately, there is nothing in my GW collection (all regular GW stuff) that is of higher technical quality than much of my latest Bolt Action stuff (both Warlord/Italeri and even Rubicon) nor my Games Foundry American Revolution stuff. It is a darn sight better than my Mantic Games stuff which is all early Dreadball and Deadzone stuff.

@tneva82
Yeah, it makes me feel a little better knowing I have a handcrafted KV-2 finally finished only month or so after Warlord Games put out a plastic kit. Of course, I am going to probably get the plastic kit to make a KV-1 though.

Better is too ambiguous, tbh. Most (not all) of the sculpts are beautiful, and the detail is crisp, but the resin they use is incredibly soft. I remember I ordered a set of Chain Axes from them several years ago for my Berzerkers. They looked absolutely gorgeous, but the axe heads attached to the haft in a very weak, oddly designed connection and most of them ended up breaking. I was -incredibly- unhappy. FW wouldn't replace them, and I remember spending like ~$35 USD on 14 chain axes that w/ in like 8 months, all the heads had broken off the hafts.

However, I have been very happy with the quality of the Shas'O Ra'lai kit that I use as my Tau Commander. It went together well, and after soaking over night in mild detergent and water, it painted up just fine. I would have a hard time justifying a full army purchase through them (even though I really want to build a Night Lords 30k legion), simply because of the price. They're nice, but I don't think they're -that- nice, ya know?

The plastic Contemptor is indeed a bit poop. The posing is off, and the design on the arms is inexplicably set so you can't buy different weapons from Forgeworld to upgrade it.

But other than that, the very few kits which have transitioned (from memory, Tau Piranha, MkIII, MkIV, Tartaros and Cataphractii armour? Might be missing a couple) are all better off in plastic, simply because the difference in detail is negligible to non-existent, and it's so, so much easier to work with.

As for warping of FW kits, I've noticed (purely anecdotally, it's not like I've done actual research) that most concerns come from the Colonies - so it could be conditions during shipping that are causing the issues. Certainly of the many and various kits I've bought, none have really had issues. Only one that springs to mind was the Emperor Dragon arrived with a snapped wing. One photo and email later, FW sent me a replacement pair.

Show your wife you love her with the gift of Forge World.

Depends. Some models are better, I definitely like their Imperial Armour books better, but I think regular GW is catching up

I think the Forgeworld narrative materials, product designs and aesthetic are far superior most of the time. The products they put out however (quality of the finished resin pieces) is really sub-par compared to most resin I've seen from other manufacturers and this is further reason that I find their prices hilarious.

They are exceptionally "cool", but the quality I've seen has not endeared me to ever really purchase from them again.

Just look at Imperial Knights. FW allows you to pose toes, ankles, knees, groin and pelvis. GW Knights none of that, unless excessive conversion is done.

I also really like FW books. GW ones seem cheap.

 STG wrote:
Hey guys,
Is it just me or are the things that forgeworld does in comparison to the plastics that gw makes, far superior?
For example the contemptor dreadnought is an awesome model and i love most of the variants that FW make. but the plastic one looks stumpy and rigid, and i dont like it at all.
Also the mk3 marines, for some reason the forgeworld marines look to have much more crisp details and are better proportioned.


Maybe thats just me assuming that it must be better because it costs more, has anyone else noticed any difference?

Your issue here is that the discussion you presented here is not really a conversation.

Your comparing apples to oranges. Now if you were to compare Forge World resin to Victoria, or Black Scorpion, this would be a valid conversation. I mean, you are already stumbling out of the gate with the GW discussion in the first place. Some of the highest cost products on the market. THEN to add in the specialized "Forge World" stuff.... yeah, your not being a snob, but you have a little way to go on delivery of a discussion on it. Your points are valid, and you have a right to your opinion, but...

I would discuss OLD Forge World quality to NEW, Different resin companies products, and which is better quality, Comparison of army type to price range....

You have a valid subject to discuss, I just think that you hamstrung yourself into an either/ or proposition.

tneva82 wrote:

Slipstream wrote:

2) The cost. I wish they'd realise that resin is not a precious material like gold or silver! I worked for a resin manufacturing company and it was always the case that the more product you sold the cheaper it became to produce and sell.Never understood how they can charge something like £15 more for a five man squad than the cost of a ten man squad made from plastic! Maybe they should be smaller like Kromlech,Anvil,Puppets War etc.....

Resin is hand cast from material that costs more than plastic which is for all intents and purposes free.

So where GW can pump out tons of frames quickly and automatically for virtually no material cost FW has to handcast the models which a) takes longer b) requires more human work.

Benefit is moulds cost far less so expense is not as front-loaded. The cost per model to produce isn't as dependant on how many copies they sell like plastic which requires tons of sales to even break even but after that is very high rate profit.


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 Galas wrote:
To me, the desings FW does generally (Normally the Space Marines) don't use at the 100% the capacity of Resin to offer crisp detailed miniatures. Others, like the Krieg range, to me are much better, but in like 80% of the HH models and space marines in general, don't really merit the use of resin and the hike in price to so little difference. I have bought pieces from Mierce and other resin manufacturers like Kingom Death,or even Infinity, and they really use Resin and Metal to their full potential.

Big advantage resin has to offer there is ensuring it's even viable. Would many of the smaller things really sell enough to justify plastic sprue? If they aren't sure resin allows to sell smaller quantities profitably.

Uh, do you really believe that polystyrene is free??????

It's actually one of the more expensive plastics. And it is what GW uses for their models.

There's no such thing as a free plastic, no matter the type or grade.

[MOD EDIT - RULE #1 - Alpharius]

The plastic cost of a GW kit is tiny, down into the pennies, that is what he was alluding to.

 LemanRuse wrote:

Uh, do you really believe that polystyrene is free??????

It's actually one of the more expensive plastics. And it is what GW uses for their models.

There's no such thing as a free plastic, no matter the type or grade.

[MOD EDIT - RULE #1 - Alpharius]

Nice try. I didn't say literally free but cheap enough it doesn't consist of major size of expense. Margin for sprues is pretty damn high. There's reason they can be viable despite ridiculously high sprue design cost....Like 5 digits(without even talking about equipment needed!) compared to 2 digits resin/metal sprues have.

And just because it's most expensive of plastics doesn't make it expensive compared to say resin/metal.

I prefer crisp plastic models with fine detail over FW flimsy warped oily clip prone resin crack.

But I buy FW when I have no other option. (Read: selection/exclusive )

Also currently FW infantry models seem a bit on the 25mmish size. (IG). Weird.

 Byte wrote:
I prefer crisp plastic models with fine detail over FW flimsy warped oily clip prone resin crack.

Uh, what? GW's plastic kits have nowhere near the level of detail and sharpness of FW resin kits, because plastic is a medium that just doesn't allow the same level of detail. FW kits may require more cleanup work before you can use them, but it's ridiculous to suggest that they have worse detail.

Also currently FW infantry models seem a bit on the 25mmish size. (IG). Weird.

That's because they're true 28mm scale with normal human proportions, not the warped "heroic" 28mm of GW's plastic kits, where the proportions are exaggerated to cartoonish levels (and/or the sculptors are too incompetent to get it right).


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 Azreal13 wrote:
The plastic cost of a GW kit is tiny, down into the pennies, that is what he was alluding to.

And, more importantly, the labor costs of injection-molded plastic are much lower. Everything is cast by machine that can run off piles of sprues once the operator sets it up, while resin is hand-cast and requires a lot more labor per kit.

Try to imagine this in resin.

No thanks.

 CragHack wrote:
Just look at Imperial Knights. FW allows you to pose toes, ankles, knees, groin and pelvis. GW Knights none of that, unless excessive conversion is done.

A lot of us see this kind of thing as unnecessary. The reason I don't own a resin Warhound is because it has more parts in the toes/feet than anywhere else combined.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Byte wrote:
I prefer crisp plastic models with fine detail over FW flimsy warped oily clip prone resin crack.

Uh, what? GW's plastic kits have nowhere near the level of detail and sharpness of FW resin kits, because plastic is a medium that just doesn't allow the same level of detail. FW kits may require more cleanup work before you can use them, but it's ridiculous to suggest that they have worse detail.

The point is... did the models FW made, use the detail capacity of resin to their maximun?

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Tartaros-Pattern-Terminator-Armour

With all the spam they do of marines, that by core desing are very basic and with a big lack of fine detail, I think in many cases the resin ones is just a waste. Comparing them with other models with really fine detail like the Krieg range, Mierce, etc...

To me the marine-related models (In general) of FW, really don't worth the price and the material for the marginal difference in detail they offer, not because the material is worse, just because by desing, they don't use it properly.
Obviously, YMMV

Forge World in a nutshell: Great designs, excellent customer service, mediocre resin castings, & poor pricing.

 H.B.M.C. wrote:
Try to imagine this in resin.

No thanks.

I don't know, sounds like a great idea to me. It would cost a little more, but it would open up the options for making more realistically scaled walls/floors instead of the incredibly thin stuff on GW plastic terrain that is limited by the maximum thickness of injection-molded parts. And with the FW design aesthetic it would probably look nicer than those terrain kits, which are IMO not all that impressive.

A lot of us see this kind of thing as unnecessary. The reason I don't own a resin Warhound is because it has more parts in the toes/feet than anywhere else combined.

Sure, some people just want cheap and easy gaming pieces and don't care about whether the finished product looks nice. But for many of us the creative part of the hobby is important, and a kit with lots of posing and conversion options is much more interesting than a monopose kit that takes a little less time to assemble.


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 Galas wrote:
The point is... did the models FW made, use the detail capacity of resin to their maximun?

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Tartaros-Pattern-Terminator-Armour

Yes, the detail capacity of resin is used just fine on those kits. Skulls per square inch is not, despite the "main GW" art team's apparent beliefs otherwise, not the only way of judging detail quality. It's visible in things like the detail on the bolter barrels (hollow tips instead of flat cylinders), free-hanging cables instead of raised half-cylinders on top of other surfaces, deep undercuts for the hollow area behind the helmets, etc.

Some of FW's sculpts are wonderful, I can second the comments on quality though.

The big sticking point for me is the vehicles though - "better detail" be damned I want a Sicaran I can put together without hours of work. Big flat pieces and interlocking areas just don't work in resin.

 Peregrine wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Galas wrote:
The point is... did the models FW made, use the detail capacity of resin to their maximun?

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-CA/Tartaros-Pattern-Terminator-Armour

Yes, the detail capacity of resin is used just fine on those kits. Skulls per square inch is not, despite the "main GW" art team's apparent beliefs otherwise, not the only way of judging detail quality. It's visible in things like the detail on the bolter barrels (hollow tips instead of flat cylinders), free-hanging cables instead of raised half-cylinders on top of other surfaces, deep undercuts for the hollow area behind the helmets, etc.

I wasn't discussing that in fact those models have more detail that the plastic ones (They have!) or that the only way you can add details is by putting skulls in everything. All of those points you have made are accurate, but my point is if the difference, that is at least to me, minimal, is worth the material. I will not say the cost, because the plastic Terminators are overly expensive and the difference is not that big. But I just pick that kit at random to make a generalistic point. To me in general, the space marine kits of FW aren't worth it the difference in detail vs the material and price.
I prefer my resin with more detailed kits and quasi-exposition pieces: Kingdom Death (The Owl Knight* is maybe my favourite miniature in history), Mierce, etc... where the you can see that model and say "You CAN'T do this in plastic", and not just a "Yeah, you can have it in plastic with a little less of detail"

 Crimson Devil wrote:
Forge World in a nutshell: Great designs, excellent customer service, mediocre resin castings, & poor pricing.

Agree 100%. This sums it up for me as well.

I have a ton of FW. Im simply not a fan. Im tolerate.

Im way into HH so it gets weird.

 Crimson Devil wrote:
Forge World in a nutshell: Great designs, excellent customer service, mediocre resin castings, & poor pricing.

This times one thousand.



I can get better quality resin kits/parts from companies like Verlinden, Skif, LZ, etc, with the same level of detail at a better price range. And on top of that, you get the standard plastic kit extras like transfers and better detailed instruction sheets. Something you don't get with the more expensive Forge World kits.


The only reason I would buy Forge World in the first place is the kick-ass designs (they look less goofy), and the good customer service to take care of any problems.