I mentioned earlier in the week, about my disappointment with my Forge World order. So many different items and yet so many miscasts, which in my eyes show the speed vs quality ratio of Forge World taking a plunge as their Horus Heresy range expands. Anyways here are the photos in all their 'glory', tomorrow I should be contacting Forge World and will be very interested to see what they say. Previous attempts to get a Finecast figure replaced with Games Workshop had failed due to hoop jumping, so I am more than a little jaded about Forge World sorting this out.
*Sevatar*
Huge casting slip is the main culprit here. Fixing this would require me to hack and re-sculpt the majority of the leg details. Not exactly what I would expect from a £32.00 miniature. To make matters worse, look at the pipe, which is so totally misaligned that it would require complete replacing. One thing to note, the left leg looks like it has been pre-cut or sheared during the packing process, so someone must be doing some form of post cast check before packing.
The top shoulder bone/spike arrived broken, with no sign of the piece in the box. Even if the piece was in the box, I would still be angry, as in my experience, breaks at fine points like this will be a constant issue, especially if the piece is being used for gaming purposes.
The above, again shows the extent of the slippage. It would simply require too much hacking and rebuilding on my behalf and that is frankly time I do not have. The concept of 'some assembly required' is not a suitable defense for such a poorly cast model like this, if it were a re-caster I would expect some problems, but from what I have been told, re-casters are actually doing a better job than the creators, and at discounted costs too!
*Deredeo Dreadnought*
Although I was not prepared for the extent of the poor casting on Sevatar, I was content in the fact, that the dreadnought would be fine. Man was I wrong...This is the hip joint for the Deredeo Dreadnought, as you can see, again massive slippage. The details are horribly mangled and misaligned, much like Sevatar entire body! It seems lightning has indeed struck twice with this order.
The torso was actually a decent cast...but had a much more insidious problem. The resin in the picture is still tacky, if you expand the picture, you can clearly see my finger marks in the softness of the resin. This miniature has been soaked for 24 hours, washed and scrubbed, but still produces the same weeping resin result. Basically this piece did not cure correctly, probably due to poor mixing of the resin or not enough catalyst to cure properly, which is a shame as it was the best cast bit out of my entire order...
The rest of the pieces of these models were actually fine, very crisp casts with limited release agent etc However the key parts, like the bodies all have issues, even the Master Of Signals model is not without sin, but at least it is workable compared to Sevatar. I think what irritates me the most, is the fact that this order was delayed by almost two weeks, meaning everyone was getting their Sevatars and Deredeos except me. And of course once mine do finally arrive - well pictures tell the story don't they.
Now the last time I had an issue serious enough for me to complain about, I was required to send the item back before a replacement was sent out (this was GW though), if Forge World demand the same of me, I will not be impressed as quite simply my experience with this order would be the following - delay with no explanation until chased > poor product quality > reluctance to replace item.
As an ex GW employee, I do understand how things go, but sometimes, a situation - like lack of quality - is so very obviously poor, that any excuse is simply indefensible. I will be genuinly intrigue to see how I am handled tomorrow and of course, even if Forge World do replace these components, there is no guarantee that the replacements will be any good either...
Thanks for reading,
DiStudios
Send The Eighth!
I wish you the best of luck. I've had two orders in a row for FW with the 'weeping' issue. All they said was read their FAQ which says to buy "Fairy Spray". Too bad it's not available in the US. I'm still washing, rinsing, leaving in bags of rice a year later. It's sad from a company that considers themselves premier.
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed they resolve your issue. Please report back whatever they say!
ReplyDeleteThanks Greg! Some good news, I managed to catch them nice and early today. Basically the photos (same as the ones seen here) were sufficient to warrant replacement parts.
DeleteIt was stated that the exact parts would be cast separately and sent out to replace the damaged/miscast items, and would take longer to process: 7 - 10 days. I am fine with this, as long as the replacement items are decent casts
All I have to do now is wait as they say!
Glad to hear! Use your busted parts for terrain and base pieces :).
DeleteFunny you should say that, both Hellstrom and I are having a 'meeting' tomorrow to plan some terrain for our upcoming games. We both have a variety of junker and (in Hells' case) miscast vehicles, which we think will look impressive on the table.
DeleteNo rest for the wicked as they say ha!