The Warforge Miniature Modelling and Conversion

Armor(mis)cast

So, I'm dissapointed.

I recently purchased one of Armorcast's "Fuel Air Missiles" in the hopes that I could use it as the basis for an Ork Pulsa Rokkit for Apocalypse. It seemed pretty well suited for it from the picture - it's got a mean face that is, according to their web site, "scribed on the missile body for your painting pleasure", and it's just generally a big, chunky, ramshackle looking piece of hardware that is perfectly suited to be an Orky weapon.

Unfortunately, the reality of the product is vastly, vastly different than their advertisement. Here's some pictures of the model taken pretty much immediately out of the package, without any tinkering.

At first blush, it looks okay. The launching stand seems decent enough, and the detail on those parts is at least clean, although there's some pretty obvious flashing that needs to be removed. However, close examination very quickly reveals that the rocket itself is in absolutely miserable shape.

 

I strongly recommend clicking on the images to view them at full size, so you can get an idea of my issues with the product.

The 'scribed on' detail is nonexistent, outside of one poorly cast eye-lump on one side of the rocket. The wiring and mechanical bits on the back are extremely dissapointing, as it's one of the bits Armorcast did not really display in their preview pictures at all - for reasons which are now becoming apparent.

I like to consider myself a reasonably competent modeller. I can patch holes, I can fix mold lines, I can clean resin up. But the state this rocket is in is simply unreasonable - what wires aren't miscast are covered in flashing 2-3 millimeters thick and pitted with air bubble holes. I bought this product to use as the base for a conversion - basically, to save myself the effort of making the underlying structure - but looking at it now, it'd take more time and effort for me to clean, fix, and repair what they sold me, rather than making my own from scratch. The quality of the cast is what I would consider barely passable for use as terrain, and that's only if you're burying it under ballast and giving it a quick drybrush; there's certainly no "painting pleasure" to be had here.

I had, in past, bought some Armorcast terrain features that shared a number of the flaws I see present on this piece. In those instances, I was willing to give Armorcast the benefit of the doubt, simply because it was a terrain feature (specifically, a barricade) and I figured I probably just got a fluke. However, I'm sure now that this isn't the case - I'm positive that the general quality control at Armorcast is asleep at the wheel.

I can't, in good conscience, recommend anyone else buy these things because I know for a fact that the casts they're going to be putting out aren't going to get any better. How? Well, simply put, there's pieces of the mold stuck in the tight crevasses of the model I got, meaning they're tearing the mold apart as they're using it. This will manifest on models that are cast later as weird, misshapen resin blobs on the models they make. This isn't even a chance thing - there's a whole thread on the Armorcast forums discussing how to remove bits of their molds that are stuck to the model!

Shame on you, Armorcast. The guys at D6 Hobbies put out superior casts with a garage set-up, and you run a whole business around the production of these shoddy copies.