About the axe wielder Praetor

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

Maybe you have noticed this much earlier than I, but I discovered that the Praetor with power axe has or had an another and different helmet.

Not very different, just a version of the same helmet but with a bionic eye/targeter on it. The miniature on the market right now  has a helmet without it, but in Liber Traitoris (pag. 19) there's a picture of the same miniature, but not the commercial one. The miniature has a helmet on with the bionic eye/targeter. And also the version of the same Praetor in the promotional trailers wears the bionic eye/targeter.

 

I really love the actual miniature, but the "alternative helmet" looks fine to me. Pity, is not an assembly option (yet...)

 

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by AGRAMAR

[lokkorex]

Nice find, hadn't noticed that myself!

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

1 hour ago, lokkorex said:

Nice find, hadn't noticed that myself!

Thanks. At fist time I didn't notice it. But after watching again that trailer I saw it. Then, I took my digital copy of Liber Traitoris and suddenly I realized it.

[lansalt]

This miniature also has librarian's codicier markings in his cloak and vanbraces despite being sold as a praetor. The pickelhaube in the beakie helmet is also odd, as it's suppossed to be a Death Guard design clue, but both this mini and Fafnir Rann have it.

[Cactus]

The picklehaube here is the central spike of an iron halo so I don't think it's really out of place.  It does present a slightly confusing silhouette though.

 

My guess it that the helm with bionic eye was a pre-production 3d print and the design changed before being finalised.

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

1 hour ago, Cactus said:

My guess it that the helm with bionic eye was a pre-production 3d print and the design changed before being finalised.

Indeed. It isn't the first timein GW miniatures' history that happens.

Probably, that model is owned by someone in the GW Studio. I mean, is physical one, not a 3D render. In that kind of photos they only use physical miniatures.

In fact, there must be more than one

But not in the commercial range, sadly.

[Gamiel]

5 hours ago, lansalt said:

This miniature also has librarian's codicier markings in his cloak and vanbraces despite being sold as a praetor. The pickelhaube in the beakie helmet is also odd, as it's suppossed to be a Death Guard design clue, but both this mini and Fafnir Rann have it.

Designs that we think of as design clues toward a specefic Legions have appeared on generic figures or characters not belonging to that Legion before. 

[lansalt]

21 minutes ago, Gamiel said:

Designs that we think of as design clues toward a specefic Legions have appeared on generic figures or characters not belonging to that Legion before. 

Yes, but I cannot see that as anything else than a mistake. It doesn't make sense that they specifically design visual clues for a faction, their silouette on the table, colours, etc. only to carelessly copypaste it on other unrelated models breaking their own apparent unwritten rules.

 

 

[Brother_Angelus]

There was a discussion of this phenomenon on the painting phase show, there were a batch of pre-production harlequin troupe models built with masks that didn't make it onto the final sprue. They might even be on the box art?

[Stitch5000]

Are we actually going to sit here and keep repeating the words "design clue"?

Design CUE guys, CUE. 

That aside, models need to be read to be painted and photographed a LONG time before they need to be ready for sale because that stuff takes a long time. They will have painted and photographed a pre-production version. 

[Petitioner's City]

4 hours ago, Stitch5000 said:

Are we actually going to sit here and keep repeating the words "design clue"?

Design CUE guys, CUE. 

That aside, models need to be read to be painted and photographed a LONG time before they need to be ready for sale because that stuff takes a long time. They will have painted and photographed a pre-production version. 

 

11 hours ago, Brother_Angelus said:

There was a discussion of this phenomenon on the painting phase show, there were a batch of pre-production harlequin troupe models built with masks that didn't make it onto the final sprue. They might even be on the box art?

 

Yes I think Peachy and the other GW vets on the painting phase mentioned this here:

 

 

 

 

[Spagunk]

Stair stepping on my recent FW kits proves they 3d print stuff in some capacity. It would not surprise me that their production cycles are a bit too quick to get the full plastic in the hands of their painters. Thus they may just 3d print off what they have to get paint on model in time for release.

[Xenith]

Nice find! Of course GW 3d prints to make prototypes, these probably get made and painted before a final design goes to mould making. My FW titan weapons have very clear 3d print lines on them, which is kind of disappointing. 

[Noserenda]

They definitely 3d print masters and some for the various painting teams to build, unfortunately some of the final casts of FW stuff have had 3d print flaws on the final resin which sucks as they obviously didnt check/repair the masters very well.

but yeah in this case id guess they 3d printed this mini before sprue cutting and some issue meant an alt head, or this alt head was dropped from production sprues.

[Stitch5000]

I can only think of one other method, other than 3D printing, by which a digital rendering can be translated into a physical object and that would be multi-axis CNC machining... So yeah. They 3D print 

[Agramar_The_Luna_Wolf]

1 hour ago, Stitch5000 said:

I can only think of one other method, other than 3D printing, by which a digital rendering can be translated into a physical object and that would be multi-axis CNC machining... So yeah. They 3D print 

 

I remember the last dwarves they made for WFB. The "rings" of 3D printing visibles under the paint coats 

[Spagunk]

I mean it's right there in the product photos. And I can personally confirm that at least the set I received had those marks.

[Valkyrion]

Is resin that is 3D printed different from resin that is moulded (cast?) and how would I know the difference between the two, assuming we're only talking about GW/FW products?

Might I have received 3d printed resin in a FW order, for instance?

 

e.g, I remember trying to be a Red Scorpion collector a decade or so ago, and sometimes the shoulder pads would be grey, sometimes they'd be quite yellow, other times they'd be really greasy, but I only ever bought direct from FW so never knew why they'd differ so much.

[OttoVonAwesome]

1 hour ago, Valkyrion said:

Is resin that is 3D printed different from resin that is moulded (cast?) and how would I know the difference between the two, assuming we're only talking about GW/FW products?

Might I have received 3d printed resin in a FW order, for instance?

 

e.g, I remember trying to be a Red Scorpion collector a decade or so ago, and sometimes the shoulder pads would be grey, sometimes they'd be quite yellow, other times they'd be really greasy, but I only ever bought direct from FW so never knew why they'd differ so much.

Very different. 3-d printed resin is prone to shattering if dropped unless an additive is used. It's photo sensitive rather than made from a mix that cures itself if you recieved a 3d printed model you'd know right away it would be harder glassier or if the additive is used more flexible and there would be zero releasing agent and a semi translucent quality even on the grey scale resins.

[Spagunk]

For clarity, normal resin is referred as an "Exothermic". It generates its own reactive heat when it cures.

3d printer resin uses UV reactant instead so it comes "pre mixed" nowadays with all the things to make it cure but requires UV light to initiate the bonds instead of it's own heat/bonding medium.

The UV light needed for 3d printers is a very finite range so sunlight or very specific wavelength UV LED's will cure the resin. Meanwhile normal resin just needs something that doesn't have problem with a little bit of heat.

There's a few really great videos on how 3d printer resin works and it is fascinating.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Spagunk

[Noserenda]

The resin is definitely different but the actual final product is much the same in my experience, individual brands and even batches of resin can vary significantly though, which is why FW stuff has varied a lot in colour historically. 

I wouldnt expect to see an actual 3d print from FW though, even if the master was 3d printed they will be doing resin casts off of that rather than printing to order unless something goes really wrong...