Mid-June Hobby Round Up

Lots of armies to work on and a moment to reflect. Gone are the old Range of GW paints and in ushers another set but I have a huge range of the Black flip top lid paints and wanted to just complete the set with a Goblin Green and possibly a Blood Red. So a mate said he could help and handed me a bottle of Goblin green... from another era. If anyone has an exact idea how old they are that would be great. I've been told these are circa 1998 or there abouts so that makes em about 25years old and because the caps are almost air tight they are like new paint when I opened them. Really like the nostalgia and the collector in me will have to hunt down the whole set now me thinks.

 Back when commercialism didn't matter and things were made to last forever indefinitely.

Feeling brave I ventured out and broke my Finecast cherry and it wouldn't be right unless I got myself a righteous massive Blood Thirster model. So I went to my local hobby shop and made my purchase of over 100 clams (NZ dollero's). I made sure I opened it at the store and under the not so good fluorescents the model didn't look that bad. It had it's usual mould lines and a few minor deformities but at first glance it looked good (buyer beware!). The detail on some of the model was spectacular and the reduced weight was a real boon, which meant gone were the days of carry a block of lead around.

 At first Glance in low shop lights the pieces looked good, but buyer beware and check again!

Upon getting home and ready with the trusty clippers and craft knife a closer inspection revealed all I feared about the "Fail Cast" range. So to save having to write a two page rant here is the summary of What I found disappointing and just plain terrible about the experience.

1. Paying $100+ for a miniature I expect quality and a product with little or no defects in its manufacture. Granted that as a hobby we have the skills and ability to fix minor mishaps and tidy up mould lines so a certain amount of leeway is given. The figure I got was moulded with little or no care and the mould lines were deep and interferred with alot of the detail.

2. Details interrupted by not only mould lines it most disturbingly had bubbles at crucial detail points.

3. The resin is brittle/fragile more than malleable so any attempt to fix with warm water or a hair dryer will be a intense test of patience and skills.

 Extreme and deep mould lines coupled with brittle resin has meant the tip of the horn has disintegrated.

4. The most worrying thing is that the wings are distorted out of it's original shape straight out of the box. It's probably because of the fact that the bad mould job has produce almost a paper thin surface at some of the places on the wings.

Wings are distorted like a limp old soggy leaf left to dry.

5. I persevered and went back to the shop to get a replacement. The best they could do was get me one with a less deformed wing with all the previous problems unsolved. I really want this model so will soldier on but I expect that the clean up job on the mould lines and the reshaping with warm water will take me at least a mountain of hours.

Rating of Fine Cast :  2.5 out of 10 no more "Fail Cast" for me.

**Why don't you just use plastic as you've proved that you can maintain a heap of detail on all the new plastic miniatures.**

It only get's good points as some of the model has amazing detail and the reduction in weight gets a big thumbs up. The use of low quality replacement resin and the fact the moulding engineers clearly didn't know what they were doing heaps huge disgrace on the company who chose to use them. Shame on you for increasing your prices to sell a inferior product, perhaps a better quality assurance could have been introduced some where before it got out to your customers.

Board Game of the Week: Nexus Ops

Action filled fast paced game where you pit yourself against your fellow players in a miniature packed title from Fantasy flight. With the huge amount of game pieces, tokens and cards you get from this game it means it's value straight up. With a fast and easy to understand dynamic of mine trillium and grow your numbers of troops and then conquer, it relies on some tried and tested familiars. Great for all ages and sure to be a good addition to your collection. Only thing that has me a little hesitant is that it may not be as replayable or has a broad enough appeal for some.

A mountain of plastic tokens and goodies, makes it great value.

 Rating out of 5: 3 out of 5.