How is the sturdiness overall? Is it "floppy" What would be a common analog? Stiff like Lego? A little more flexible like a gundam toy or model..?
Doesn't flop around, it's hard rubber kind of stiff - it can be bent and it will mostly bend back on its own, can easily be returned to proper straightness - unless you overdo the strength and it crumbles at a weak point.
As another data point the pack I received had the separate head and good cast on body and shields but not great legs. The main improvement they need to make in my opinion is mold seams and vents down the center of the leg panels, these really don't clean as easily as metal or HIPS. On the underside the seam on the tracks/feet has been very hard to cleanly remove but at least it is hidden.
I'm disappointed with the quality. One of two leg pieces was snapped in half. I considered requesting parts, and took pictures with the codes. But decided I didn't want to wait for the replacement pieces so I just pinned it. Also the rubbery plastic does not sand well which makes cleaning annoying. What I have to ask myself though is do I like assembling the Vostok more or less than the Rudra. And at least at this point I think I prefer the Vostok. The Rudra is so heavy it requires extensive pinning and really wants to fall apart, at least with the Vostok, it's light enough that I am not worried about my model falling apart. So I am hopeful that as they get more experience that the quality will improve and work better than the metals for larger kits like these.
I'm really disappointed. Mine arrived, I opened my Jackbots first which are brilliant. Apologies to those who have seen this info on WGC. The Vostock is a mess. And the very clear inconsistencies we're seeing in the manufacturing are really worrying. Especially as they're reaching the consumer. If there was a bad keep rate but QC was catching them then fine, but that's clearly not the case. I don't see how CB can feel this material is ready for mass manufacturing. The main problem is the attached head and washed out detail at the base of it. Where the shield and gun attach to the body has broken through to the other side so you can see the holes towards the rear of the model and underneath. Another issue throughout the model is that the depths of indents vary, some are okay, others are deep then shallow, some have excess material in them you can't get out due to the nature of the material. One is shallow enough that it comes level with the non-indented face next to it. The gun's mould lines are horrendous and run straight through the long holes towards the front of the gun, there's mould slippage here and a droopy barrel as well. On one leg there is a lot of excess material surrounding the detail, this will be impossible to remove. For those interested in how the material is to work with. It's okay, not being able to scrape with the scalpel is hard. But it does slice easily, very easily, you'll need to be very precise. Sanding sticks and paper both work okay but as most sanding sticks don't go to a very low grit (coarse) you can be around for a while. Tight places are very hard, I have access to some 3mm regular sticks and some pointed rods as well, but they wear out very quickly. This face took me about 5mins to get to this point and remove the mould line. I'm not convinced it wouldn't be visible still after priming. Something like Mr Surfacer would probably be helpful. It clearly has potential, the jackbots and their S2 testing prove that, but it seems to be really inconsistent at the moment.
The mould lines are really bad. I'd got used to well hidden mould lines on their metal miniatures. My gun has two pairs of mould lines, one along the top/bottom and one running down each side. The legs and body have them straight through every face, the slight concave nature of some of the moulding makes them hard to remove, and anywhere where they go into tight recesses it becomes really difficult to do cleanly.
People shouldn't be sent this version of the model, CB already admitted it is faulty and said customers will be getting the "fixed" one with detachable head. @Koni @Bostria can you guys please look into it?
Hello everyone, We're sorry for those who are receiving bad pieces of the Vostok. Please, email us to our mispack service at mispack@corvusbelli.com and they will help you fixing any problem you have with the pieces. Thank you for your patience and understanding and sorry for the inconveniences.
Hi Koni. Thanks for reaching out. Unfortunately we're getting out of office emails from your mispacks email till late October. Is there really no-one else at CB who could help out till then?
Hello Billy, I'm afraid you'll need to wait until then. But I'll be sure to let know the people at mispack to take care of any Vostok complaint as fast as possible :) Sorry for the inconveniences and thanks for your understanding.
Guys, I have a question regarding the Vostok: does plastic glue work on it (I use Revell Contacta)? Or should I use CA glue, like with the metal minis?
CA glue, "plastic" glue only works on a specific type of plastic, most commonly for modelers it's polystyrene cement. The plastic being used by Siocast/CB is a polyamide.
my Vostok is ok, but could be better. I got the version with the head attached, the details that may be lost are not worth complaining about. However, The barrel of the rifle is soft, slightly bent upwards. I fear it will break off easily and then will either get lost or will be hard to glue back on. I tried the trick that worked on the Aristeia! models to put the bent parts in hot water and then bend them correctly. It didn't work. Is there any other way I can fix this problem? Overall, I am not angry, but also not impressed with the new material.
Send it to mispack to be replaced. You deserve a good quality product and you deserve the corrected separate head version, not yet another unibody they weren't supposed to send in the first place.
how on earth did so many of them get into the general populace if that wasn't intended? I get if they started releasing it, decided hmm we can do better and changed their procedure. But having so many out there seems like a big QA issue. I'm literally holding off until because I don't want to get a poor unicast and then have to wait for a replacement.
For the record (since @Koni frequents this thread), I'm holding off primarily because Vostok is hidden behind a paywall: boxed together with 5 other models, of which one I don't really need (I own all of the older Tomcats), and the other four I don't need at all. I guess I'll have to give it a year till it apears in a non-shared Beyond box. I sincerely hope the quality issue will be ironed out by then. That, or I'll get myself a proxy of one sort or another.
Yeah thats my reasoning for not buying a Vostok yet. Will make to with using a Tsyklon as a proxy for now.
