GW RUMORS: Sayanara Finecast…
When finecast arrived it was heralded as the bright new material of the future with crisp amazing detail that left old-school metal in the dust. It hasn’t quite worked out that way.
Finecast was rolled out by Games Workshop with much fanfare in May 2011. Here is what they had to say back then:
The Citadel Finecast miniatures are all made from a unique resin formula. For us as hobbyists, this is great news. The resin is easy to work with and quick to cut off the sprue, making assembling a miniature easier than it has ever been. Not only that, but it’s incredibly light too, which means pinning wings and other heavy components will be a thing of the past. So, quick and durable, that’s a good start. But of course, one of the main reasons for this change to resin was quality. One thing you’ll notice immediately when you pick them up is the exceptionally sharp detail on the model, which can only be described as staggering.
It was obvious from the start that the new material had teething problems. It’s launch was plagued with widespread reports of twisted and warped parts, multiple product returns, and the ever-present bubble holes.
Now metal certainly had it’s problems and which was a better or worse material considering their pros and cons is a different discussion. But I think we can say that overall the material has always had a dark cloud over it. It has been two and half years now and the following reports are coming to us from multiple channels:
Lots going on behind the scenes at GW – Look for a public announcement in Q2 of 2014 regarding Finecast:
-GW Proper gets out of Finecast entirely.
-Forgeworld will take control of all remaining Finecast character models.
-These character models will be the only non-plastics in GW’s line until they are replaced.
-These character models will be moved over to plastic (and GW control) in time with plastic clampack resculpts.
-There are internal tests taking place to cast some existing Forgeworld resin kits in a new plastic material.It looks like the resin material is on its way out, and GW is sprinting as fast as it can to replace any Finecast non character kits from their entire range – leaving them as a 100% plastic manufacturer.
If you look at the past few releases, you can see the pattern.
My next question is WHY?
