WIP Critique Stampede

[Martin64]

Carl Reid is, without a doubt, a great sculpter but I just inboxed his "Stampede" ( bought at Frank's Miniatures ) and after a first attempt to fit some parts my first impulse was to throw it in the garbage-bin.
I truly must say this is by far the worst casting I have ever seen !!! For those who love to sand, cut, drill, grind and use at least a pound of putty this is a great box.
For those who love to paint......better buy something else.
A sculpturers talent can, in my opinion, be competly ruined by its caster.In this case, it did.

Thanks for the comments.
My own experience with casting is very limited to some home-spun castings for my own use to convert parts or copy a head or facial expression to use it for another figure. IMHO in the favor of the caster the level of casting such a dynamic vignette with the addition of the steel rods during the process might be a quite complicated one . This is not the first kit from Carl Reid that I tackled with visible tool marks and even finger prints from the sculpting process on it. I would say the the cleaning of the original parts might as well be a job to be finished by the sculptor himself.

In the end it is up to everybody if he wants to accept these shortcomings, just fill some gaps and paint away on it or if he will go a step further in preparing the kit. I liked the drama and motion of this sculpt too much to not buy and built it.

On a personal note this kit consumed a major part of my leave in 2017 and since then I was tasked job wise with tons of BS without any major breaks. After accomplishing my tasks at the end of last year I got a new unit in trouble to care for. That made me reconsider my job ethics and so I will be in charge of a tactical and firearms training unit in a short while which will allow more time in the man cave. So I am now just ahead of burning my leave of 2018 and hope to be back at the bench in a short while.

Cheers, Martin

 

[HansDig]

Hi Martin, thanks for the comment but I am sorry I can not agree. In this case the metal pins were sticking through the resin, chunks of resin had to be removed, louds of putty had to fill the misfits etc.etc.
If you buy a product, and then I mean ANY product, for a certain purpose (in this case "painting" ) but the product can not be used before you put a lot time and effort in it to "repair" it (or "make it ready for it's initial purpose" ) there isn't a person in the world that would accept that. Why should scale-models be any different? There's no "extra fun" in restoring the malpractice of the caster.
One spends good money on a product with the intention to PAINT it, not to "restore and build" it so one might expect a perfectly casted model. If the company that produces it can not deliver that quality it's best the close down the business.
If we accept work like this I do not see the problem in buying it at Aliexpress. That's lousy casting too but what's to expect for $10 including postage when you have you have to pay $100 for the same lousy job just because it is "original".
(Ps, I never buy fakes but just as an example). True artist should stand firm agains casters that make their great statues look like chinese rubbish and buyers should stand firm against it too.

 

[Martin64]

I see where you are coming from Hans - if it were so easy to cast this kit it might have been copied in China or elsewhere in the meantime. I agree that the price level does not reflect the amount of work and correcting of flaws that has to be invested in this kit.

 

[fogie]

In charge of a tactical firearms training unit ? What sort of excuse is that when we're all waiting with baited breath for the next phase ?

 

[HansDig]

I see where you are coming from Hans - if it were so easy to cast this kit it might have been copied in China or elsewhere in the meantime. I agree that the price level does not reflect the amount of work and correcting of flaws that has to be invested in this kit.

Well, perhaps there is a market for 'cast-it-youself' kits so you buy the casting-mould with a lump of putty and a 'good luck' card ..........
No seriously, let say you buy a new car, normal price, normal dealer but......before you can take it out for a ride you have to fix the wheels since they aren't lined up, rework the non-closing door and the non-closing front hood (? is that correct..) etc.etc.
Would you accept that......guess not. If sculpting is an art (and it is) then casting is an art too.
As for Martin64, this kit seems indeed not easy to cast so it should not be casted by those who aren't able to do a proper job. If they do the same lousy job for $100,- then tell me why one should't buy the same lousy job done by Chinese for $10 incl. shipment...

 

[Martin64]

To put an end to this - I accepted the flaws and the price and was able to mend the problems to my satisfaction. This thread is my unfinished WIP about building the kit, if you like to discuss quality issues and what to do about it in general - how about open a new thread?

 

[Martin64]

In charge of a tactical firearms training unit ? What sort of excuse is that when we're all waiting with baited breath for the next phase ?

Honestly - no excuses - but in 2013 I was tasked to rebuild a special team in trouble and did this most of the time with my deputy on sick leave what was the case throughout the entire last year. When I was just about to complete the last steps my bosses tasked me with another unit... Hobbywise I could hardly keep my eyes open when there was time at the bench...
In the next future things will change as the life with the training team will be more quiet but allow more time for hobby and jobwise I feel that I now have enough tales to tell on long evenings in winter...
So looking forward to take this thread and the kit a bit further.
Cheers, Martin

 

[HansDig]

To put an end to this - I accepted the flaws and the price and was able to mend the problems to my satisfaction. This thread is my unfinished WIP about building the kit, if you like to discuss quality issues and what to do about it in general - how about open a new thread?

I rest my case.

 

[Tony Dawe]

Great work Martin. I’ve only seen this amazing piece done once before (by Ben Flood) and I can tell this will be a beauty once complete.

 

[fogie]

Honestly - no excuses - but in 2013 I was tasked to rebuild a special team ...

It was just a gentle touch of irony on my part. Most of us, I imagine, aren't involved in your kind of work, we just do the garden, spoil
the grandchildren and stuff like that. We tend to leave the Gerard Butler stuff to others.

 

[Martin64]

It was just a gentle touch of irony on my part. Most of us, I imagine, aren't involved in your kind of work, we just do the garden, spoil
the grandchildren and stuff like that. We tend to leave the Gerard Butler stuff to others.

- maybe Gerard Butler and I do share some roles: "Bounty hunter" and "family man" going by the title - there are grandchildren to spoil over here likewise if I don´t hunt someone down and I envy Gerard for the fact that he never seems to be bound to a lot of office work in addition to all the glorious moments.... not to speak of doing the garden...

 

[custer760]

I do know that Carl cast all these kits for Frank himself,now the kit has been taken out of the Frank Miniatures range,as the Master is too badly damaged as to make more castings,so now it becomes an out of production classic,it was a great seller for Frank and a beautiful sculpt from Carl....r.i.p. Stampede.
Regards
Pete

 

[HansDig]

I rest my cast case. Time to pause and reflect
Cheers
Hans

 

[Martin64]

Before this goes on and on: I did not get Pete this way that the masters used for the available castings were already badly damaged before the current casts were made .... Hans, if you go back to the start of this thread the problems one has to deal with if he decides to give this kit a try are already well covered and now we all know that you had to face the same problems. If you still turned them into decent pieces that`s great - you are welcome to post some pics.

P.S.
Good to see that you have edited your post, Hans - I will leave my reply to the edited post as it is and hopefully your pausing and reflecting will last for a while.

 

[Edorta]

Great challenge, well done so far.

Military miniatures painted by Eduardo Garcia

 

[Wayneb]

Head conversion looks great Martin along with your progress. I think sometimes the pictures take things out of perspective thinking this is larger than 75mm. A lot of action and detail crammed into one small package. It's going to be an impressive piece when finished and one worth taking your time on.

Wayne