I just got my kickstarter from Archon (Dungeon and Lasers: Encounter) and their quality is excellent. They're in Poland and a great value. They're the ones making the current Conquest mini's for Parabellum. Main thing of course is that Corvus Belli is a production company, so they need to actually make the stuff so it depends on what it costs THEM to make. Atomic is China-made I think? Either way, I've had good luck with Siocast, but I'm probably not buying many big things soon anyway. Mostly curious for quality when it comes to Warcrow.
Even more impressive considering the quality of the packaging and the fact that Disney makes companies pay so much to use their license (both in royalties and in conditions that add many extra production costs) that even with the recent cost increase to their minis it's affordable.
Oookey. So we have totally different view of "broadly reasonable prices". IMHO their stuff is rather pricy and the Shatterpoint boxes with 4 minis are going to be hilariously priced. About CB - I'm definitely not happy with seeing some minis produced outside of their homeland. And the price of ITS 14 special pack doesn't look too nice for me. PozdRawiam / Greetings
I fail to see the argument about the prices of Atomic Mass Games. Magneto & Toad - 4 miniatures $44.95. Black order - 4 miniatures $59.99. Riot Grrls - €44.95. Corregidor Fireteam Pack Beta, the most expensive 4-man box by CB - €59.95. These are exactly the same price ranges. For a material that requires more front time and bigger initial investment, which means it'll be more inconvenient for a relatively small company. And if, indeed Atomic Mass produces in China, instead of at their own facilities, this just adds more issues.
They definitely help control the cost per model by bundling multiple models per box. It’s not as efficient in that regard as, say, buying a unit box with 10 models in it, but it’s a better ratio than GW’s single plastic character packs.
So far I've spent 2 hours cleaning up the Shakush torso parts and one leg, that leg has a hole in it I need to fill with greenstuff because the material didn't fill all the way and when I trimmed the flash it revealed a small void. Otherwise tons of mold lines, through details and in hard to clean areas. It has all the issues of old Siocast, but doesn't bend well and is oddly brittle. It's awful. Why would I keep paying for a low quality material like Siocast? And no, it's not worth the time or hassle of dealing with CBs customer support to get a replacement. It will take less time to fix their model.
100% agree, it's absolutely not worth it. And now CB are going for an even worse material, PVC, with the heaped-on issues of importing from China. What can possibly go wrong...
OK, seriously?! How do you know it is even worse?! We haven't seen one model made from it and Koni didn't tell us what it is exactly?! Really guys?! I too would be pissed off if my TAG came with holes before turn 1, so to say, but please, let's stay in the realm of reasonable and just not make random assumptions.
There's a limited number of technologies in the market. CB and their partners are not reinventing the wheel. Anything that contains or is straight-up only PVC is the absolute worst to work with, at holding sharp detail, etc. Simple as.
it's not like a mold line across detail in metal is as unsalvageable as in Siocast or PVC it's not like there are unexpected voids in spincast metal miniatures it's not like we've had so many complaints and horror stories when CB was making only metal minis it's not like the entire fame of CB as a miniature maker was made on high quality, sharp-detailed miniatures in the single technology aside from hysterically expensive GW-style HIPS that can achieve that - spincast metal it's not like we've all been warning CB and everyone that going to Siocast was a mistake it's not like CB doesn't listen and keep trying to Rackham themselves into oblivion
I am thinking negative about resin, but I am waiting. Also I am not going to buy new resin miniatures, but I am waiting for someone in our community to get it... (those person’s sacrifice would not be forbidden!) So, it is ok for some of us to release some steam here, but I calm myself for a while. I was more disappointed when it was siocast release. Now we see, that CB are still looking for proper material. So far... My be one day metal work would be back? (A little of optimism among my pessimism. Why not?)
From spanish warcor Graviton, showing the contents of the ultra-limited ITS pack. Marut and Ayyar - We test the new Unicool! Transcription:
Hmm, the Ayyar seems to look really nice. Sharp details, very good 3D in the armour holes et cetera. I'm positively intrigued. Still not happy with CB making minis outside their fabric, but maybe the quality won't be bad. PozdRawiam / Greetings
Uh, my poor Spanish needs some exercises. This was an interesting video, the material behaves more or less how I'd expect a pvc piece to behave. Details seem crisp, bent details fix themselves as expected. The reviewer is a bit lenient here and there, however, for example on 10:16 we can clearly see a vent/injection port on the rim of the cloak, just as he had said that there is no defect or mold line anywhere.
What I'm afraid of with this new switch to yet another material: mini company that tends to produce to China are often working on tight schedule and stock, meaning many shortages of supply. We also don't know the whereabouts of CB current production costs, but a lesser material is always expected to be less expensive, for obvious reasons, which for now is not the case (comparing old vs new ITS super-pack). So if not, then the change is not relevant to any parties. At least, for what people showed for now, unicool minis seems better than siocast ones for now.
The vid is a bit blurry, but the minis look surprisingly OK. Definitely better than siocast. It seems to cut/drill/file more like resin than PVC but bends with heat as PVC does. I don't think it's actual PVC after all, just a kind of a resin that has similar heat-bending properties, like a lot of resins already do. If it's as resistant to breaks on thin elements as PVC is, it could be a win after all. I'll wait to see more vids, Koni should've led with something like this instead of "resin / PVC".
That’s a trivial fix with a knife, though, compared to somewhere that would obscure detail or be difficult to smooth.
