Wargaming ASKEW: How fine is FineCast?
A friend of mine made a snarky comment to me after I complained about a Finecast model he said, “Finecast is so 2011”.
Well while it may not be the hottest topic of the day (leave that to the fake 6th leak) I have noticed a recent spike in Finecast related “poop on stick” commentary around the net. One story in particular caught my eye when reading around Dakkadakka. The story was a link to a highly skilled hobbyist blog and his travails with many Finecast Necron Overlords. In the saga we get detail pictures and all the stages of grief associated with bad Finecast. Typically, this sort of story would elicit a response telling the poor chap to take his paint pot and cry himself to sleep until he came to his senses. Of course, ones sympathies aren’t tested when it is only one model at one time, but my empathy grows exponentially if you told me he was on his 9th Necron Overlord replacement!
As you can imagine the response to his story runs both positive and negative. Don’t worry links will be provided to the whole sordid affair later, but what I want to get to is the response he had for all the criticisms. In an odd way it really encapsulates the feelings and problems most of us have when dealing with Finecast. Without knowing the whole story you can get the idea… Here are the author’s thoughts on the matter:
1) This series of post is not an attempt to “get back” at Games Workshop. Although I’ve openly said that I do not agree with most of their recent decisions (mainly marketing wise), they never did anything against me personally, so I have no reason to be vindictive.
2) I am not a Games Workshop hater either. I grew up with Games Workshop various games and miniatures. I’ve always loved the various universes behind their games. They have some of the best artists in the industry, which always produce inspiring work. The quality of their plastic is incredible both in the level of details and the multi-part/kit options. Although I find the latest decisions and marketing strategies to back them debatable, I have to admit that a part of me is still a GW fanboy.
3) I love resin. I’m not arguing for the return of metal. Resin is simple to work with, fast to fix. Cyanocrylate creates a strong bond and there’s no need for pinning. Working in a gaming store, I find it way simpler to sell this products to kids than metal with all the tools required to prep them.
4) Yes I have experienced miscasts with metal, like everyone else but never at this rate. I always asked for replacement and always got it but never needed 9 more copies. Most of the time, the issues were missing pieces and not miscast.
5) I will repeat it once more, this series of post hasn’t been in the hope to find a perfect copy. Simply a copy which I do not need to re-sculpt. I have no issues with fixing mold lines. It’s pretty straightforward and easily done, especially with resin. I have nothing against surface bubbles either. I do agree that liquid green stuff is perfect in this case. Once again it’s a simple thing to fix. When a corner of a detail is erased by a bubble or any other situation where you need to re-sculpt the details instead of simply filling the surface is an entirely other issue.
6) Yes modeling and converting is part of this hobby but should NEVER be an excuse for poor quality products. No matter how much you love and support a company.
7) I would never stop a customer from buying any line of products because I personally think it is a lower quality than any other company. But I will stop a customer from buying a product which has a lower quality in the parameters of the company.
Advertisement8 ) As previously said I know that there are perfect Finecast copies out there.
9) GW customer service has nothing to be ashamed of. They keep sending new replacement copies without asking too much questions. At least on that level it’s an A+. But when you are more than a month past the initial schedule of a new army and that you are still waiting for an acceptable model for your HQ choice, well, no matter how good your customer service is… You’re still pissed.
10) Buying online shouldn’t be a “no-no” because you cannot inspect your copy before buying. In fact buying online should be an issue since you are not encouraging your local gaming store that takes the time to organize activities, provide tables and scenery and guide you for your next purchase. Obviously if you live in the middle of nowhere without any gaming store in a 50 kilometers radius, it is an entirely other issue. As an employee of a gaming store I should not have to inspect every Finecast blister being delivered to the store. As a customer, I shouldn’t have to inspect every copy before buying. I should simply walk in, buy my copy and come home. If in any case it is a bad copy I should positively hope that the replacement copy will be acceptable.
11) Finally, to all the GW Fanboys that are saying that I should shut up and simply fix the mistakes on these models since I’m so great… Well I’m sorry but no I won’t. As previously said, re-sculpting a model should be a personal choice to modify a model, to convert it, to make it better. Re-sculpting never should be to repair a badly cast model in order to get it as it should be in the blister. No matter how much you are fan of a company.
If you want to take a look for yourself and read about Mathieu Fontaine’s story here are all the proper links.
http://www.akaranseth.com/blog/some-finecast-rant.htm
http://www.akaranseth.com/blog/overlords-5-6-fail.htm
http://www.akaranseth.com/blog/7-8-fail.htm
http://www.akaranseth.com/blog/quest-for-an-overlord-conclusions.htm
The only point (rant) I want to highlight is this: GW usage of the word fine as an adjective for high quality, instead feels more like a fine for some penalty when breaking wargaming laws.
Games Workshop has every right to promote this “new” method for casting, but the promotion has been skating the edges of false advertising. Your company doesn’t really have a leg to stand on if you stamp Finecast on the bottom of your boxes while your employees open said boxes (without prompting) in front of customers to check for damage before purchase. You don’t have a leg to stand on if in the second hand market pays more for the old metal than Finecast. When I think of Finecast I like to refer back to the following press release on GW’s website.
Personally I still like Finecast over metal for no other reason than less paint chipping and ease of assembly.
So months after its rollout – what do you really think about Finecast? I want to hear about your experience good or bad! If you want to continue reading about this topic look no further:
Blood of Kittens Finecast Discussion
-Tastytaste
