FW Macharius Chassis Tank Quality

[duz_]

I've heard varying opinions on the cast quality of the FW Marcharius tanks

 

Since they're a sizable investment I was wondering if anyone had any experience or knows someone who's purchased on recently and what their thoughts were?

 

I'm hoping between the new 9th ed tank rules, PA rules and hopefully some decent revised FW rules they might be somewhat useful on the table as they are amazing tanks

 

[calgar101]

I've got two FW tanks a Fellblade and Typhon. Very little issues. I did have 2 warhound titans many years ago and again no issues. I have heard and read the bad stories though.

Be prepared to right some wrongs and spend time on the pieces, it's not as 'perfect' as plastic. Once its built though it will look great.

[duz_]

Yeh I know FW has its ups and downs

I've mostly been spared bad casts

These tanks in particular though I've heard questionable reviews

 

Which is odd since they're a recent ish kit?

[Gederas]

One of my friends has that exact Macharius pictured.

 

Only issue he had was warping on the gun barrels. Because the model itself is basically four pieces really: Main body of tank, tracks, turret. When resin is that large of chunks.... yeah :lol:

[Dark Legionnare]

It has the vanquisher barrels.  I could not, for the life of me, get the warping to leave my Leman Russ' vanquisher barrels entirely without fearing the breaking point by starting to see stress pulls/fractures even heated up decently. They are WAY less now, but still noticeable.  Also had to putty the muzzle breaks which had decent missing segments on two of the three.

You can always get a good roll of the dice, and not have any warping, or at least less than me. 

On the flip side I have a buddy who wanted some krieg too, but bought from an Asian recaster and his came from them Immaculate without a trace of imperfection. No bubbles, missing chunks, and straight as an arrow.

It's a freakin' gorgeous kit, and I really hope the full index work on Krieg will make them usable, and also make them bleed over to being usable by normal guard too.

Here's mine after all the work.

Edited May 29, 2020 by Dark Legionnare

[m0nolith]

Couple of things to understand when it comes to FW.

 

Recently (in the last year or so) quality has increased significantly at FW. Warping and miscasts are a lot less common and generally speaking the models are a lot more crisp. That being said tho, you will still occasionally get it, so be aware of that.

Second, given the fact this is an older vehicle, It's not going to come together as well as any of the modern vehicles. You're may have have an issue just by the fact that older FW models don't come together as more modern ones.

 

That being said, I love this tank!

[Dark Legionnare]

Couple of things to understand when it comes to FW.

 

Recently (in the last year or so) quality has increased significantly at FW. Warping and miscasts are a lot less common and generally speaking the models are a lot more crisp. That being said tho, you will still occasionally get it, so be aware of that.

Second, given the fact this is an older vehicle, It's not going to come together as well as any of the modern vehicles. You're may have have an issue just by the fact that older FW models don't come together as more modern ones.

 

That being said, I love this tank!

Shame I apparently missed the boat with my huge krieg order last Summer! If I'd just waited a few months... Damn, haha.

 

What "monolith" said, for sure. I have heard the malcadors and machariuses are infamous jigsaws that need a lot of TLC at their intersection points.  I saw it with the mars leman russes a bit, I can only imagine what it's like scaled up to their tier.

 

This whole thread is making me want to finally pull the trigger on one of each, though.

[Noserenda]

Depends on the kit i find, some are much better than others, though they do tend to drop or redo the real clunkers. I build a Mach Vanquisher years ago and it went together fine, the barrels needed straightening but ive done a Tigershark which is waaaay more annoying :P 

[plaguedroneofblight]

I got the Vulcan one earlier this year and it was absolutely flawless.

The Krieg army I've bought over the last five years has had quality up and down, especially at the end of a kits lifetime... Grenadiers were awful, then disappeared a few months later. Riders I got just after they got a repair done and they are rhe most gorgeously crisp resin kit I've seen. Platoon command was unusably bad on parts, and I got a replacement, equally bad, so I expect that one to go away any time now... They did send me replacement parts from another kit though, its that amazing FW customer service...

Edited June 1, 2020 by plaguedroneofblight

[Dark Legionnare]

I got the Vulcan one earlier this year and it was absolutely flawless.

The Krieg army I've bought over the last five years has had quality up and down, especially at the end of a kits lifetime... Grenadiers were awful, then disappeared a few months later. Riders I got just after they got a repair done and they are rhe most gorgeously crisp resin kit I've seen. Platoon command was unusably bad on parts, and I got a replacement, equally bad, so I expect that one to go away any time now... They did send me replacement parts from another kit though, its that amazing FW customer service...

Yeah. I got a couple Krieg commissars who were basically "Melt-man" from that old cartoon.  How they got their QA sign off is beyond me...

 

Sent them the pictures and PoP and they sent replacements right away.

 

Overall, the krieg kits I had most issues with was the weapons teams and Mars tanks. Everything else was pretty good, even my grenadiers. So I guess it depends on what batch that was in storage everyone gets.

 

Like you said though, cavalry were absolutely flawless.  Those reigns though.... damn, they are so fragile... I have a phobia of anyone's hands touching anywhere on that model other than the rider's head, or the base itself.  I cracked a few with the SLIGHTEST pressure picking them up.