it's me or ?

[lou passejaire]

i received this month minis from a lot of manufacturers .
with half of the minis , it was some kind of "return to the 80's" 
Nothing changed , still a lot of molding lines, bases ... ehmmm needing a lot of work just to be able to glue the base on a plastic base, rifle barrels broken and so on .

My problem is that half of the minis are perfects ( tsuba miniatures, perry, empress ) .

who can explain what seems like a mistery for me ?

[Vermis]

From what I hear (and from the couple of metal packs I bought), the Perrys are legendarily good sculptors with legendarily bad casters.

[lou passejaire]

i have buy some perry minis, and have not had any bad cast ones ...

[Cubs]

A few years ago Foundry sent me some of their (then) new Zulu War range. A lot of them were badly sculpted and badly cast! Do I win a prize?

[Andym]

Yeah.....some more badly cast/sculpted Foundry minis!

[Captain Blood]

I'm afraid it varies a lot. I've had good sculpts and bad sculpts from almost all of them at one time or another. Worst offenders being Perry and Artizan. Lovely figures. Often very bad casting... I have a batch of Musketeer figures which are amongst the cleanest casts I've ever seen though, so that's good...

[King Tiger]

Best figures I've had are Perry and Artizan, always beautiful and clean casts.

Worst are easily warlord and GW, warlord having terrible quality metal and GW poor casting.

[Captain Blood]

I have a batch of Musketeer figures which are amongst the cleanest casts I've ever seen though, so that's good...

Okay, I take it all back. The character figures are indeed squeaky clean, but I've just opened a pack of armoured thegns who are hideous with socking great mould lines right down the middle of their faces, and swarming with worm cast tendrils... The latter, forgivable, the former, fairly catastrophic 

My conclusion: quality control in casting wargames figures is variable and often poor, and almost all of them are capable of producing bad figures from time to time... 

[Conquistador]

<snip>

My conclusion: quality control in casting wargames figures is variable and often poor, and almost all of them are capable of producing bad figures from time to time... 

Sculptors making bad figures - we are all human and the internet pictures sometimes can be (unintentionally I am sure) misleading or (because of size, technique,) "detail free."  So bad sculpts do exist and one should be under no illusions that a "name" means that a sculptor is always going to create miniatures that I like. 

Plus there is the artistic thing - I don't like 3D cartoon figures for historical games for example but others go all googly  eyed over them - by which I mean the figures are supposed to look like "that" (whatever "that" is) so just because I don't like the pose or style only means it is a "bad" figure for me to buy.

Now large mold lines, large amounts of flash, or bad casting... that is another matter IMO.

First, I find most of the companies I have dealt with are very good to superb in not letting this happen (at least my orders... so far,)       

Let me be blunt about this though.   

With small [hell any size but especially smaller] companies it is a "management decision" to maintain molds and 'quality check' figures before shipping.  No buck to pass if it is just a couple of guys/gals running the business.  I acknowledge that some times sales success puts pressure to "get it out the door" (all size businesses) but if you want to be known as quality producers, in any business, then crap doesn't go out under the company label - ever.

I am amazed we (including me in the past) put up with some of the stuff we do when if we were another business we would send it back and find a new supplier.

Again, I have seldom (as in never) had a bad casting problem like this a third time.  First time I expect replacements at the seller's expense (if it is bad, don't ship it,) or there won't be a second time.  If it does happens a second time, I get a different source.  These are hobby figures, not lifesaving drugs, so you want (or should) my money at a reasonable profit for you which is fine as long as you do meet your end of the transaction.  I pay you for an appropriate quality product at the price you need to make a profit and you supply it.  Or I don't buy from you anymore. 

Gracias,

Glenn

[Gary Peach]

I get a lot of figures in from makers, Perrys seem always full of worms...  Thin flash and worms are OK but miss alignment is not o,n or thick lumps (naming no names).  When it happens take a picture and email them.  At least an offer of a swap or replacement should be made.  I had the problem of early miss-shot plastics from Victrix...  Brilliant service with either new parts or whole box in the post.  If the makers dont know, or are letting it happen, and get away with it then it will carry on.  And I dont want to spend time filing or filling.

As for lumpy castings on the bottom of bases...

[knoxville]

I bought some Foundry WW2 brits years ago with some horrible miscasts. Called them up for a replacement and they were like "no probs, we'll replace them, but the replacement will be as bad as yours because the mould is worn out". Got my replacement in the mail a few days later for free, but they quality was equally bad. +1 for customer service, -1 for casting.

[gamer Mac]

Perry were the worst ones.
Lovely figures but had to spend ages trying to clean off the mould lines.

[Vermis]

The character figures are indeed squeaky clean, but I've just opened a pack of armoured thegns who are hideous with socking great mould lines right down the middle of their faces, and swarming with worm cast tendrils...

Mind goes back to photos that our parasitology lecturer used to troll us with.

I ordered a few minis from some guy(s) who sold individual chunky-32mm Dark Ages 'characters'. When I got 'em I figured they or their casters weren't up to the task. Very noticeably flattened from front to back, which I guess was caused by excessive mould pressure. And then there was the single mounted character... advertised with a rearing horse in proportion, but supplied with a standing horse that I guess was at most 28mm (might've been a licensed Ebob), and with the same casting problem but this time from side to side. So the combined pair didn't look good from any angle, but at any more or less than directly side-on, it looked like Gregor Clegane mounted on a pony so gaunt it should've starred in a tear-jerking advert for the RSPCA.

No matter. The characters just needed a quick lick of paint for a small saxon army that I abandoned after the next game. (Gripping Beast plastics are cheap but I decided to pay extra for metal minis that aren't a torment to rank up and don't have gaping holes through their shoulders. On that note, anyone know what Renegade casting is like, and when they might reopen? )

[FramFramson]

Casters who make mold lines that run right across faces ought to be shot.  

I can MAYBE understand it SOMETIMES if it's a large unit and one or two of the rank and fodder are cast this way, but... oh who am I kidding, I always hate it.

[Mitch K]

Casters who make mold lines that run right across faces ought to be shot.  

I can MAYBE understand it SOMETIMES if it's a large unit and one or two of the rank and fodder are cast this way, but... oh who am I kidding, I always hate it.

I say, steady on!

I do struggle with how anyone would think there was any merit in doing it this way, though. It must be obvious that having spent time and money on getting the face right, the mould seam really isn't going to bring anything good to the party.