Finecast the truth - Please reply

[Arikel]

I was given a jump pack chaplain as a gift from a non gamer friend as gift. Haven't opened it yet but i can see that the left foot is essentially missing completely, as if that part of mould didn't get filled up with the casting material. No receipt and no idea where he would have bought it from as he lives several hours away, someday I'll muster up some time to call customer service and see if they can do anything about it.

[Warsmith Aznable]

I bought an Abaddon when they first came out. He had some little defects here and there but I was mostly OK with him. One friend in particular had a long run of bad luck with some Grey Knight and Dark Eldar models, but the Plague Marines he bought a month or so ago were good. I bought some Plague Marines myself yesterday, and it looks like all the holes in them are the ones that are supposed to be there. It's normally undercuts and extremities that come out bad, from my observations, but in my initial inspections of the pieces I bought yesterday I haven't found anything wrong with them.

 

For whatever that's worth to you.

 

I don't think it's over-reacting at all to send a defective product back, so long as you're not throwing a tantrum while you're doing it.

[maverike_prime]

I bought a Marneus Calgar plus Honor guard kit when they first came out in Finecast. I returned it right away due to the truly atrocious casting that was done. Details were missing from most of the models and the detail that was there was fuzzy. I bought a Sicarrius and returned him as well due to similar detail problems. Last week I bought a Logan Grimnar. Most of the model is alright. Lots of flash, but flash is good. That means the mold was completely filled. And the flash is easy to take care of on a finecast model. Annoyingly the details on the storm bolter arm is again fuzzy. It's not a model I would put on the table top. But then again I didn't buy it put on the table. I bought to use a study case for my plans to custom build my own Grimnar model.

 

Over all, I consider FineCast to be resounding failure. Based on the returns I've heard about from other hobbists that hit that shop, I see no possible way that particular store is turning a profit when it comes to finecast.

[CarbonCopy]

I've purchased exactly six models in Finecast.

 

One box of five Venguard Veterans was purchased right after Finacast was released. I should have returned it immediately. I was planning on using the models for extensive conversions anyway, so the amount of work I've put into them (and am *STILL* putting into them) is negligible due to how much I was going to chop/carve/cut anyway.

 

Bubbles, slipped molds, bent (and untrainable) weapons, more bubbles, thinning of limbs -- over-all, some of the worst casting quality I've ever seen, and I've been collecting miniatures in excess of 25 years.

 

I recently picked up one of the newer Urien Rakarth from the local GW. I scoured the rack for a good cast, but only one was acceptable out of the five they had on hand. I suggested the manager send the rest back, without exception. Of the one I actually bought, there is a lot of flash and a couple pinhole bubbles, all of which I can work around.

 

Of the ones I didn't purchase, some had bubbles that destroyed significant sections of detail. One even had mold slip so bad, one of his arms was doubled. And the casting of yet another was so bent, the body was bent backwards at nearly a 45-deg angle.

 

I have a lot of resin models in my collection from all manner of different companies from all over the world. If GW expects people to pony-up the same kind of cash for Finecast as limited run resin models from Studio McVey, they have a huge problem. Finecast is a huge liability as the quality control is an absolute fail. If only one good cast out of five can be found on a shelf, how is that going to inspire customer confidence, let alone customer loyalty?

 

I won't be buying Finecast again for a very, very long time. And only if I have absolutely no alternative.

[Arkkinite]

Bought 1 from GW store(Termie Librarian), 1 pre-ordered (25th Ann), 1 from an online store not of GW (Calgar honor guard with awesome banner), and one order on the way (wolf guard with wolf claw).

 

Librarian has around 15~ish small but noticable bubbles all over the place, which I repaired. His force staff had a split section (don't think it was intended) which made the headpiece wobbly. --- "ok"ish, but needs better quality control.

 

25th Ann Crimson Fist Captain I haven't assembled the thing yet, but as I can see it's near "perfect" (I'd say 96%). --- Awesome, though considering it's limited edition, to celebrate 25 years of 40k and it's price, it SHOULD be perfect.

 

The honor guard with banner has a distored faceplate, and the sword he has is chipped and bent. Surprising, there is near 0 bubbles on this guy, especially considering the guy comes in one big piece with nice details all-over him. --- Since i didn't buy it directly from GW, wasn't expecting much. Besides the annoying and possible un-repairable distored faceplate (fuuuuuuuuuuu~), it's "ok".

 

Obviously can't comment on the wolf guard one, so i don't know why I put that up.

 

Overall, as quite a number of brothers mentioning it, quality control!!! I trust in resin cast, it just needs better quality control.

[Venerable Jazzman]

1 Dante returned - picked up a metal one on Ebay for cheaper

2 Astaroths returned, major flaws in both, got my money back.

 

Vanguard vets, should probably have rejected 3 out of 5, 4 if I'm being really picky.

 

Haven't bought anything since.

[chaptermasters]

I think there is one person who hasn't had a problem that has replied. If you have had a perfect track record I really want to here from you!!!!

[Dosjetka]

I bought a Commissar Yarrick model a few months back and apart from a few bubbles and a bit of flash, it was quite good. Yes it felt quite light and strange, but the face details, for example, were very crisp. All in all, not too bad, but I'm not thinking of buying more Finecast (we don't have a GW here, only an independent stockist) due to the stuff I read. Sure, some people get lucky, but people shouldn't get lucky on this kind of thing!

 

And I believe that SubtleDiscord has given the single most informative and complete post here, so cheers for that :)

 

Ludovic

[Grimtooth]

I am worried about this with the new SW wolflord on thunderwolf mount. It is really the only model I want and am pissed that they dropped it in Finecast due to all the problems they have had with it. My main gripe is that GW almost seems intent on not addressing the issue.

[Something Wycked]

1 bought, 1 I should have exchanged. Coteaz' Psyber Eagle had a bubble on the tip of its beak, Coteaz had a bubble on the fingertips holding his hammer and another bubble that I can't remember off the top of my head.

 

Edit: @ Brother Ramses: For GW to address the issue, they have to admit that there is an issue in the first place. And they can never do that, because GW is the bestest hobby company ever, and Finecast is the bestest hobby material ever :D

[Messanger of Death]

I've purchased two Finecast. Both flawed.

 

1. The 25th Anniversary Model - Everything from the helmet to the base had a flaw on it. Some of the flaws were no different to what I'd expect from a metal miniature. Such as different sized lenses on the helmet. Others are unique to resin such as air bubbles. A replacement miniature is being sent out to me. Wait and see how it turns out.

 

2. The Emperor's Champion - Picked him up at my FLGS for 20% off. No serious air bubbles but detail lost due to slipped mould. Took him in to my local Games Workshop store and got an exchange. No loss of fine detail. However, there is a large amount of air bubbles in a few places. I'm also unwilling to use the Black Sword as I can imagine it warping from the Australian heat. So have cut off the left arm and will be giving him a two handed Grey Knight sword.

 

From my limited experience the product is not as good as GW plastic or Forge World Resin. On par with some of my metal miniatures that have had horrible mould lines as well as pitting. However, unlike metal miniatures it is easier to convert.

 

I will say that GW customer service has been excellent. No issues with exchanging or having replacement sent out. Took the time to show me how to use a hair dryer to fix up bent resin.

 

- Messanger

[Morollan]

2 models bought, 2 models sitting unused due to the monumental effort that is required to bring them to what I would deem to be an acceptable standard.

 

I'm working on Imotehk at the moment and so far I have spent over 6 hours cleaning him up to a point where I might just consider putting a basecoat on him. I've had to convert his head, retrain his staff, modify his cloak, clean flash and mould lines from pretty much everywhere and attempt to reattach a part that snapped off. I should have sent him back but I didn't open him for several months after purchase.

 

The other model was a jump pack chaplain and he is not quite as bad but still took a couple of hours to get to basecoat level.

 

I won't be buying any more Failcast.

[EmbattledSoul]

1 emperors champion, sword bent a little but honestly flawless. win!

4 boxes of sternguard... i eventually had a "good enough" version of each model in the box. win!

4 jump pack chaplains, gave up and figured i can either make it work/make a franken model with the good pieces of each blister. fail!

1 25th anniversary model: sent email with pictures of flaws the day i got it, still no response... will call tomorrow. pending.

 

all in all, i have to say for the lack of quality control, they are more than willing to ship you replacements without returns of the faulty models, making for tons of convertable pieces out of the scrap.

[Ah-a-nothepsis]

I have had problems with these items, enough to where I had to call GW and get them to "fix it":

 

3 boxes of Ushabti with Bows (missed parts or model issues)

1 box of Ushabti with great weapons (missing arms)

1 Apophas (no head. IN A CLEAR BOX! How does this get shipped?)

1 Hydra

1 Lord of Change

1 Sicarius

1 Liche Priest

 

The items I ordered and have not had a problem with:

Arjac

Necrotect

Changling

[Taliostro]

Bought 3 Models (Chappi with Jumppack, Sicarius and the 25th Ann model) and all three were in unacceptable conditions.

Mould slipping (chappi and sicarius), air-bubbles (all three), missing details that I couldn't fix without major surgery like missing fingers etc (all three) and warping (all three).

I returned them all and got refunded, the sad part is, I really wanted a 25th Ann model but the conditions of all of them in my local GW's were unacceptable for the price of the fig.

 

I can't understand either the attitude "oohh it's mostly okay, I keep it and fix it myself". No you shouldn't fix and repair models which cost 20-25$ (15-18€) per single figure. I do military modelling as a second hobby and have lots and lots of resin kits for tanks and vehicles or resin figures from various companies in this price segment. None of these kits have issues like finecast and I never needed to fix anything myself or rebuild details on them. All of this kits are flawless except for flash, which I'm not considering as a problem for resin casting.

 

Guys, wake up, don't accept the finecast figures like this. It won't get any better as long as the majority thinks "ah no problemo, I can fix that myself" and still pay this much money for a single figure.

[Redemption2994]

Bought a Skulltaker. Sword was warped, probably repairable. Kept him. A friend of mine bought a set of Mandrakes. I saw those things and they were so mangled that I don't know how he sleeps at night for not returning them. So, 1 Good, 1 shoulda been returned.

[Subtle Discord]

I agree with you mostly but I think mould slip is a no-no. REALLY shouldn't happen with properly made and closed moulds. Nor should shape-warping (round things not being round, straight things not being straight), with very few exceptions (for things that are very easily fixed).

While on my 'travels' doing some research I just learned that GW is employing spin-casting for their resin casting process. I was wondering just how some of the defects that I've seen in Finecast were happening, and learning this explained much. With the amount of centrifugal force that spin-casting creates I can now understand why shape-warping, mould slip, and 'thinning' is an issue. Soft silicone moulds + G-force = Bad.

 

With regard to mould slip, I've been surprised just how easily it can happen, even with a very well 'locked' mould. That said, in my case it has resulted in a slight mould line and/or a bit of extra flashing. While I haven't been happy when it's happened, most times it's been acceptable. Certainly no worse than the mould lines I've needed to deal with in professionally produced miniatures.

 

Anything beyond that, however, I agree it's completely unacceptable. Especially at this price point. I'm stunned that it appears that GW did not do extensive testing of technique and materials before taking this product to mass market. Doubly so since it's a massive shift from their original product. Do you want your customers to accept the new product? (Yes) Than make sure it's up to a standard they will accept!

[Stuart]

I think there is one person who hasn't had a problem that has replied. If you have had a perfect track record I really want to here from you!!!!

 

5 bought (Jump Chaplain, Dark Angels Master, Dwarf Lord, Dark Eldar Archon, 25th Anniversary Captain), 0 defects, 0 returned.

[Elric the Silvercoat]

I have bought a good chunk of Finecast.

 

Tyrion

Cockatrice

Leith

Succubus

 

Of all the ones I bought they are the only acceptable ones. All were perfect other than an air bubble on the Cockatrice on the tail where it meets the base so you can't see it after it was put on the base isn't a problem.

 

Necron Overlord

Wracks

Vanguard Veterans

Rangers

Inubus

 

Were not acceptable. Replaced the Overlord, Vanguard Veterans, and Rangers. The replacement Overlord and Rangers were acceptable the replacement Vanguard were better than the first but was missing a guy, only four not five.

 

The Wracks had horrible air bubbles that destory anything with a point. I didn't want to replace them because I feared I would get the same. A buddy bought them off me and got replacements and stuff. Just didn't want wracks after that. First Vanguard Veterans has air bubbles, warps that couldn't be fixed and looked unfinished like the surface of the mold wasn't smooth. Got replacements had less problems still not up to what I would like and was missing a guy and they checked this one before it left. Wow. Necron Overlord had alot of air bubbles destroying details, fingers, and weapon. The replacement was perfect other than some thin spots on the cloak that make it look cooler like rust spots so works for me. Rangers were horrible with broken weapons and missing parts. The replacement were good but I broke the barrels and have to pin them to keep them on. Inubus were good other than warped weapons and air bubbles in the chin of the helms. Will be calling to replace the Inubus and second set of Vanguard Veterans. It was nice that I got to keep the bad one so I had parts to do something with them.

[chromedog]

Zero bought and zero problems.

 

I am quite capable of casting my own sub-par resin versions of metal models I already have and it won't cost me $37 per model to do so (even after taking into account mould and resin costs).

[Warbringer]

The one saving grace for GW is their customer service is fantasic and they have no issues in swapping models.

 

My Thunderlord with miscast backpack is now in the throws of being replaced and i believe with a whole new model even though i've only asked for the backpack.

 

Also in the email I've had confirmation that it has been inspected before being sent out.

[CarbonCopy]

As an aside, I recently received a rather large order from Forge World. In that order I had purchased the new Space Marine Tank Crew.

 

Much to my surprise, they are multi-part. Even more surprising, they are sprued and packaged exactly like a GW Finecast blister... Which worried me.

 

The good news after opening them in panic, despite a bit of flash, is that they are very nicely cast with almost no imperfections of any kind.

 

Further details, in case anyone wants to know, is that the MK IV Maximus armour marine's arms and bolter are separate. So you could conceivably use the normal plastic gunner arms with him, and his arms & bolter on another model entirely.

[Hyaenidae]

Further details, in case anyone wants to know, is that the MK IV Maximus armour marine's arms and bolter are separate. So you could conceivably use the normal plastic gunner arms with him, and his arms & bolter on another model entirely.

 

Damn, and I just made my Forgeworld order a few days ago. Next time, I guess. Still, thanks for the info, man, that's good to know.

[Ah-a-nothepsis]

I just made my Forgeworld order a few days ago.

 

Get back to work, bum! >:[

 

^.~

[Hyaenidae]

You get back to school, slacker! :)