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Made in dk
Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries




Denmark

Hi forum

I was just wondering about something. I'm a beginner and don't own a lot of models, only one other, so is this kind of quality on a sprue normal? Like little thin flaps of plastic, maybe from overflow or something in the manufacturing? I compared it to some Ultra Marines on a sprue in a shop, and they were all very clean without anything to trim away. There's also some plastic sticking out of one of the noses does not belong on the model, and one of the breastplates has a flat area on the left side that should be round. It's not a big problem, I'm just curious if this is the be expected when I buy now sprues in the future. Thanks







This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2021/04/14 13:57:11


 
   
Made in no
Longtime Dakkanaut






Yes this is common, and not only on plastic, but on resin and white metal aswell.
Why flash exists, i dont know, i just know after doing this for 4 years, that it does. Cleaning flash and moldlines from every single part is a normal thing to be expected to do. And yes, older kits are worse.

The worst flash i have seen spesificly on plastic was on some GW guardmen. The least amount i have seen was on SW Legion B1 battledroids, only flash that exists on them are from the pints they are connected to the frame, not even a moldline.

darkswordminiatures.com
gamersgrass.com
Collects: Wild West Exodus, SW Armada/Legion. Adeptus Titanicus, Dust1947. 
   
Made in de
Shrieking Guardian Jetbiker






Hmmm, yeah that's mold flash https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_(manufacturing) which is not uncommon - but I haven't seen it since ages on GW kits - the newer ones even don't have substantial mold lines.

So at least judging from my experience with recent GW plastic kits, it's *not* normal - and the defects on the nose etc. also point towards something being wrong with the casting (but then maybe I was just really lucky with my GW purchases in the last years ...)

~~~ I Love The Power Glove. It's So Bad. ~~~ 
   
Made in gb
Longtime Dakkanaut





Hmmmm indefinitely have had a mixed experience. The newer models tend to be pretty good. But I bought a tech marine and what a mess, like you I wasn’t sure if it was right. And the stuff that comes from forge world can be a real pain in the bum.

GW sell a mould line remover which is a gentle admission that you need to remove mould lines from models and trust me if you don’t you will be annoyed when you come to paint. But what they don’t do is make this obvious front and centre in the model assembly instructions, or anywhere.

The fact is that you will need to clean up any model you buy from GW to some extent, mould lines, flash (just learned that word in this context on this thread!) and filling gaps in your model (where you stick bits together).

Of course that depends on how good you want your model to look but for the price we pay I think a lot of people/newbs want to get the models assemble them and paint them and want them to look as cool as they do on the box. So painting is the focus, to the player and the and GW.

But the extent that people go to in the assembly and sub assembly phase is quite extensive. Read these forums and you will see that many people wash thier models before painting, GW don’t tell you that. And the really great paint jobs you see on the front of boxes have all been through a pretty solid preparation process before painting.

I hope this doesn’t seem discouraging but it’s just good that expectations are set and if you aim is to one day paint models to a high standard these are things that you will need to consider at some point.

The last thing is your consumer rights, if you think you’ve been sold something sub standard take it back to GW, at least in store they can get another box out and show you it’s the same as another spruce and that yours isn’t defective.
   
Made in dk
Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries




Denmark

Thank you all, that's good to hear.

I OK with cleaning the plastics, and I did this with my other model as well (Callidus Assassin). But there was none of this so called "flashing", just mold lines.. those are annoying too btw

On the spruce it says 2017 so, not that old? These are the females of Escher

   
Made in no
Longtime Dakkanaut






Ohhh it is a gap in sprue casting quality from GW in a short time frame as 4 years.

I know nothing of necromunda, but i think the escher gang was the first gang of the re released game, so you got som early production line models there, and they dont improve their molds until they are forced to.
The newer the kit is, the better the sprue quality is. The titanicus sprue quality is the best i have ever seen from GW.

Miniatures is like every other hobby, there are hidden information everywhere that only experience will unveil, thats why some humans makes guides.

(aka, that nose flash could be painted to look like shrapnel, and that flat section on breastplate can be scuffed up with a knife to represent battle damage)

darkswordminiatures.com
gamersgrass.com
Collects: Wild West Exodus, SW Armada/Legion. Adeptus Titanicus, Dust1947. 
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut





The molds used to make those sprue frames are two parts that come together like a sandwich. Every time a frame is made, the machine closes the mold halves, heated liquid plastic is forced into the mold, and a second or two later the machine pops the mold halves back open and the plastic frame is ejected.

Flash comes from the liquid plastic seeping out of the channels in the mold into the teensy space between the mold halves. This can either be from operator error (plastic temperature/pressure too high, for instance), or from wear and tear on the mold. After thousands and thousands of cycles, the surfaces of the mold will wear down a bit, creating more space between the sandwich halves for plastic to seep out.

Here's a basic demonstration of the process:
https://youtu.be/dueHwlQP4Es


   
Made in us
Stealthy Grot Snipa





Atlanta, GA

Kclement wrote:
Thank you all, that's good to hear.

I OK with cleaning the plastics, and I did this with my other model as well (Callidus Assassin). But there was none of this so called "flashing", just mold lines.. those are annoying too btw

On the spruce it says 2017 so, not that old? These are the females of Escher



It happens. You can also email GW with those pictures and basically go "Hey there I'm new to the hobby and noticed this stuff around some of the heads, is this normal? Can this sprue be replaced?" and if they think it warrants a replacement, they'll send one out to you.
   
Made in dk
Neophyte Undergoing Surgeries




Denmark

 FrozenDwarf wrote:
Ohhh it is a gap in sprue casting quality from GW in a short time frame as 4 years.

I know nothing of necromunda, but i think the escher gang was the first gang of the re released game, so you got som early production line models there, and they dont improve their molds until they are forced to.
The newer the kit is, the better the sprue quality is. The titanicus sprue quality is the best i have ever seen from GW.

Miniatures is like every other hobby, there are hidden information everywhere that only experience will unveil, thats why some humans makes guides.

(aka, that nose flash could be painted to look like shrapnel, and that flat section on breastplate can be scuffed up with a knife to represent battle damage)


Thanks that's some excellent advice FrozenDwarf, I will try and do my best to hide it under some battle damage if that's possible


Automatically Appended Next Post:
 Mr. Grey wrote:
Kclement wrote:
Thank you all, that's good to hear.

I OK with cleaning the plastics, and I did this with my other model as well (Callidus Assassin). But there was none of this so called "flashing", just mold lines.. those are annoying too btw

On the spruce it says 2017 so, not that old? These are the females of Escher



It happens. You can also email GW with those pictures and basically go "Hey there I'm new to the hobby and noticed this stuff around some of the heads, is this normal? Can this sprue be replaced?" and if they think it warrants a replacement, they'll send one out to you.


Hello Mr. Grey, I will try and reach out to Games Workshop, thank you for that advice.

This message was edited 2 times. Last update was at 2021/04/15 17:10:54


 
   
 
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