Tuesday, August 19, 2008
GF9 Magnetic Basing System Review
A while back, I purchased a bag of GF9 Magnetic Basing System, specifically 25mm Round bases w/ insert, item number GF9 04125. Gale Force 9 also produces a similar product for square bases of various sizes. These are discs of plastic and a magnetic rubber component, glued together prior to being laser cut, accompanied by a flexible sheet to which the magnets will ahere. As I was at GenCon, I saw their demonstration of the magnet strength holding a Games Workshop plastic Ogre to the wall of their display booth. Not bad for a magnet of that size, but I wondered about the strength as appropriate for a 25mm base holding a 25-30mm metal model.
First notes-- The instruction sheet specifically mentions the use of cyanocrylate glue (superglue), and discourage the use of PVA glue. It specifically says that PVA glue will eventually peel away from the textured plastic of the topside of these bases. Ouch. That kinda sucks, as I usually use a PVA glue to attach preliminary coats of sand and gravel to the base. Perhaps if I give the top of the base a thin coat of Super Glue (not the gel I normally use for attaching components), then let it dry, that dried surface might provide more tooth for the PVA to attach to...
Secondly, the difference between the basing material and the magnetic material is pretty apparent by the touch and texture. It looks and feels almost as if it were an actual sandwich. There is the matter of the resolution of the laser cut circles. On my batch, the circles were not as smooth as I would have liked. In order to fix these issues, I first tried filing the edge of a base, but the difference in material consistency made it a bit difficult to get a smooth edge. I then covered the offending edge with a layer of Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty, which I was later able to sand, file and smooth the finish to something I found more acceptable. I hope that this is a more permanent solution as well.
The problem with this is the fact that I would normally buy these bases with the intent of saving time. By the time I go through such measures to fix the appearance flaws, I've spent more time on each base than if i were to stick a magnet in the bottom of a GW base... These might be ideal basing solutions for some gamers that want to hold their minis to a metal component or affix the included flexible ferrous sheet piece to a movement tray, but sadly, I don't think these will work well for me. IMHO, it's a good idea, but the execution is somewhat lacking. This is a big disappointment to me, but I'd give these a D rating if I were into that type of system with my reviews. I think this is the first product that I'd give such a rating. :-(
First notes-- The instruction sheet specifically mentions the use of cyanocrylate glue (superglue), and discourage the use of PVA glue. It specifically says that PVA glue will eventually peel away from the textured plastic of the topside of these bases. Ouch. That kinda sucks, as I usually use a PVA glue to attach preliminary coats of sand and gravel to the base. Perhaps if I give the top of the base a thin coat of Super Glue (not the gel I normally use for attaching components), then let it dry, that dried surface might provide more tooth for the PVA to attach to...
Secondly, the difference between the basing material and the magnetic material is pretty apparent by the touch and texture. It looks and feels almost as if it were an actual sandwich. There is the matter of the resolution of the laser cut circles. On my batch, the circles were not as smooth as I would have liked. In order to fix these issues, I first tried filing the edge of a base, but the difference in material consistency made it a bit difficult to get a smooth edge. I then covered the offending edge with a layer of Bondo Glazing and Spot Putty, which I was later able to sand, file and smooth the finish to something I found more acceptable. I hope that this is a more permanent solution as well.
The problem with this is the fact that I would normally buy these bases with the intent of saving time. By the time I go through such measures to fix the appearance flaws, I've spent more time on each base than if i were to stick a magnet in the bottom of a GW base... These might be ideal basing solutions for some gamers that want to hold their minis to a metal component or affix the included flexible ferrous sheet piece to a movement tray, but sadly, I don't think these will work well for me. IMHO, it's a good idea, but the execution is somewhat lacking. This is a big disappointment to me, but I'd give these a D rating if I were into that type of system with my reviews. I think this is the first product that I'd give such a rating. :-(
Labels: product reviews
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Reaper Chronoscope Minis
Happy birthday to me! All right, my birthday was a couple of weeks ago... For my birthday, I decided to gift myself with Gale Force 9's 12 piece sculpting set. A very nice kit that includes several tools that have already proven useful in my sculpting endeavors, as I had to try them out right away. Good, well-made tools with a nice little carry case, with 2 extra slots in the carry case for other tools. (Although I already have more than enough sculpting tools in my arsenal to fill the extra slots...) I hope I can manage to keep these tools from walking off from my desktop in the future! I may need to figure out a quick way to mark them as mine.
It should be noted that my regular Thursday evening game group bought me, as a birthday present, a set of GF9's diamond files, with which to clean minis. These are excellent files and I really enjoy them. Although the files are small, they remove material from minis very quickly! I'm surprised! Thanks Jay and Dawn!
While at the FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store), I also noticed a few blisters of the new Chronoscope minis from Reaper. This is Reaper's new line of figures that will encompass all sorts of genre's, including sci-fi, steampunk, historical and basically anything that doesn't fit into their "fantasy" or Warlord lines. As with the Warlord minis, these are tabbed to allow for fitting on round slotted bases, with which these figures are packaged. The bases seem to be a generic round slotted base, but I hope this means that Reaper are considering making the round variant of their plastic bases, as per their 1" square Warlord bases with the small lip around the edge. Of the new line, I managed to snag the mascot "time chaser" of the line and an Indiana Jones-styled adventurer.
Sasha DuBois, time chaser, was sculpted by the wonderful talents of Julie Guthrie and Bob Ridolfi as a single piece mini. She's holding a pocketwatch (perhaps it is actually a "chronoscope"?) and wearing a waistcoat. Unsurprisingly, this is a beautiful sculpt to start the line off with! Because of that, there isn't much more to be said about the figure. I can't wait to actually take the time to paint her.
The second of these minis, Jack 'Dodge' Harrison, is a multi-part figure that includes a choice of 3 different heads and 4 separate arms (2 left, 2 right) holding a variety of weapons. This is a great precedent for this new line! Of the arms, there are two holding pistols, one holding a whip and one holding a machete/sword. I'm slightly disappointed with the whip, as it seems a bit thick for scale. Well sculpted and fairly accurate, but a bit thick compared to the rest of the miniature. Jack was sculpted by Gene Van Horne, and the 3 heads include a variant wearing a fedora meaning that this figure can easily be transformed into everybody's favorite 1940's archaeologist. The other heads include one that has a buzz-cut hairstyle smoking a cigar, and another wearing a pilot's cap. As I recently completed a figure of Dr. Henry Jones Jr., I think my version of "Jack" is likely to undergo a slight bit of conversion, as I have another hero in mind, using the pilot's cap head and possibly a one-eyed dog on the base. (Bonus points to anybody who gets the reference prior to the figure being completed!) I could nitpick about a few details of this, but I think I'll just let that rest for now.
These two figures make me want to go out and get the rest of the Chronoscope line. Already, these minis are tempting me to put down other projects in the works, so that I can put paint on these! I will persevere and work to complete other figures though, with looming deadlines approaching. Still, it makes me think about other purposes that might be met by an adventurer and a time chaser... Hmm....
It should be noted that my regular Thursday evening game group bought me, as a birthday present, a set of GF9's diamond files, with which to clean minis. These are excellent files and I really enjoy them. Although the files are small, they remove material from minis very quickly! I'm surprised! Thanks Jay and Dawn!
While at the FLGS (Friendly Local Gaming Store), I also noticed a few blisters of the new Chronoscope minis from Reaper. This is Reaper's new line of figures that will encompass all sorts of genre's, including sci-fi, steampunk, historical and basically anything that doesn't fit into their "fantasy" or Warlord lines. As with the Warlord minis, these are tabbed to allow for fitting on round slotted bases, with which these figures are packaged. The bases seem to be a generic round slotted base, but I hope this means that Reaper are considering making the round variant of their plastic bases, as per their 1" square Warlord bases with the small lip around the edge. Of the new line, I managed to snag the mascot "time chaser" of the line and an Indiana Jones-styled adventurer.
Sasha DuBois, time chaser, was sculpted by the wonderful talents of Julie Guthrie and Bob Ridolfi as a single piece mini. She's holding a pocketwatch (perhaps it is actually a "chronoscope"?) and wearing a waistcoat. Unsurprisingly, this is a beautiful sculpt to start the line off with! Because of that, there isn't much more to be said about the figure. I can't wait to actually take the time to paint her.
The second of these minis, Jack 'Dodge' Harrison, is a multi-part figure that includes a choice of 3 different heads and 4 separate arms (2 left, 2 right) holding a variety of weapons. This is a great precedent for this new line! Of the arms, there are two holding pistols, one holding a whip and one holding a machete/sword. I'm slightly disappointed with the whip, as it seems a bit thick for scale. Well sculpted and fairly accurate, but a bit thick compared to the rest of the miniature. Jack was sculpted by Gene Van Horne, and the 3 heads include a variant wearing a fedora meaning that this figure can easily be transformed into everybody's favorite 1940's archaeologist. The other heads include one that has a buzz-cut hairstyle smoking a cigar, and another wearing a pilot's cap. As I recently completed a figure of Dr. Henry Jones Jr., I think my version of "Jack" is likely to undergo a slight bit of conversion, as I have another hero in mind, using the pilot's cap head and possibly a one-eyed dog on the base. (Bonus points to anybody who gets the reference prior to the figure being completed!) I could nitpick about a few details of this, but I think I'll just let that rest for now.
These two figures make me want to go out and get the rest of the Chronoscope line. Already, these minis are tempting me to put down other projects in the works, so that I can put paint on these! I will persevere and work to complete other figures though, with looming deadlines approaching. Still, it makes me think about other purposes that might be met by an adventurer and a time chaser... Hmm....
Labels: product reviews
Friday, February 01, 2008
Heresy Miniatures Review
Okay, my latest pile of swag arrived in the mail yesterday, some of the sci-fi goodness from Heresy Miniatures. Andy Foster and his friends do some great sculpts. Andy's sculpting style captures great caricatures of heroes from tv or movies. Easily identifiable as to who the mini resembles.
A long time back, I snagged one of his initial Thrud the Barbarian figures. One of these days, I'm going to actually have to PAINT all the Thrud minis I've accumulated. Hopefully, I'll be able to do the sculpts justice, as Andy's is beautiful and captures all of the "thrud-ness" that is Thrud.
Although I didn't order any of his fantasy-themed miniature in this particular pile o' swag, I really like the approach Andy has taken to some of the fantasy miniatures. Many of the characters are sculpted with the heads or arms separate, allowing for multiple options when assembling the figure. This makes these ideal for building role-playing characters. I wish more manufacturers would take a hint from this concept.
Overall quality control is superb. ALL of my figures were excellent castings, with very little cleanup on each. The mold lines were minimal and there were NO instances of mold mis-aligning. Maybe I just got lucky with this batch, but I'd prefer to think that the gang at Heresy was just doing a great job.
Dr. Hugh McCrimmon
Okay, I'm not a big Dr. Who fan, but this representation of David Tennat was just too good to pass up.
Captain Nathan (Macolm), Haylee and Rev. Shepard (Book)-
I really hope Andy can get around to doing the rest of the Serenity crew, as these first three sculpts are great.
Ellie Mental and the Major-
Great likenesses of Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich from The Fifth Element. I'm going to have to put that movie in the DVD player while I'm painting these minis.
Vincent B. Ruddock, wanted criminal. Armed and dangerous with his... teacup.
Security team and pilots-
The separate pistols are great, allowing you to put whichever style of gun in the character's hand that you prefer. This would even be helpful if you decided to use other manufacturer's weapons. That might be handy (pun intended) if you were going to use the minis in a GW Necromunda gang or such. Many of the minis in the security detail and such seem like there would only need to be a small amount of modeling needed to have some characters reminiscent of the original Battlestar Galactica colonial warriors and pilots. It will certainly be on my mind whenever I get to the point of painting these figures. It also makes me consider ordering another batch of these guys to model with different weapons to make a greater variety of sci-fi characters... I think that idea might have to wait until the the bank account is a little healthier.
I also snagged a whole mess of 20mm plastic round slottabases, and some new 30mm round bases. The 20mm bases I intend on using for several hobbit-sized figures, as I think they'll be the most appropriate, without using a full 25mm base. I'm still not quite sure what I'll use the 30mm bases for, but I'm certain that something will eventually come up for that use. As the Heresy site allows you to order the individual figures with your choice of base for each figure, I selected the 20mm bases for each of mine. Surprisingly, many of the figures I ordered would probably look pretty good on either a 20mm round OR a 25mm standard round base. For the most part though, I'm likely to use standard-sized GW 25mm bases for these figures I ordered this time around.
Overall, theses are beautiful minis that I hope I get the opportunity to sit and paint sometime soon...
A long time back, I snagged one of his initial Thrud the Barbarian figures. One of these days, I'm going to actually have to PAINT all the Thrud minis I've accumulated. Hopefully, I'll be able to do the sculpts justice, as Andy's is beautiful and captures all of the "thrud-ness" that is Thrud.
Although I didn't order any of his fantasy-themed miniature in this particular pile o' swag, I really like the approach Andy has taken to some of the fantasy miniatures. Many of the characters are sculpted with the heads or arms separate, allowing for multiple options when assembling the figure. This makes these ideal for building role-playing characters. I wish more manufacturers would take a hint from this concept.
Overall quality control is superb. ALL of my figures were excellent castings, with very little cleanup on each. The mold lines were minimal and there were NO instances of mold mis-aligning. Maybe I just got lucky with this batch, but I'd prefer to think that the gang at Heresy was just doing a great job.
Dr. Hugh McCrimmon
Okay, I'm not a big Dr. Who fan, but this representation of David Tennat was just too good to pass up.
Captain Nathan (Macolm), Haylee and Rev. Shepard (Book)-
I really hope Andy can get around to doing the rest of the Serenity crew, as these first three sculpts are great.
Ellie Mental and the Major-
Great likenesses of Bruce Willis and Milla Jovovich from The Fifth Element. I'm going to have to put that movie in the DVD player while I'm painting these minis.
Vincent B. Ruddock, wanted criminal. Armed and dangerous with his... teacup.
Security team and pilots-
The separate pistols are great, allowing you to put whichever style of gun in the character's hand that you prefer. This would even be helpful if you decided to use other manufacturer's weapons. That might be handy (pun intended) if you were going to use the minis in a GW Necromunda gang or such. Many of the minis in the security detail and such seem like there would only need to be a small amount of modeling needed to have some characters reminiscent of the original Battlestar Galactica colonial warriors and pilots. It will certainly be on my mind whenever I get to the point of painting these figures. It also makes me consider ordering another batch of these guys to model with different weapons to make a greater variety of sci-fi characters... I think that idea might have to wait until the the bank account is a little healthier.
I also snagged a whole mess of 20mm plastic round slottabases, and some new 30mm round bases. The 20mm bases I intend on using for several hobbit-sized figures, as I think they'll be the most appropriate, without using a full 25mm base. I'm still not quite sure what I'll use the 30mm bases for, but I'm certain that something will eventually come up for that use. As the Heresy site allows you to order the individual figures with your choice of base for each figure, I selected the 20mm bases for each of mine. Surprisingly, many of the figures I ordered would probably look pretty good on either a 20mm round OR a 25mm standard round base. For the most part though, I'm likely to use standard-sized GW 25mm bases for these figures I ordered this time around.
Overall, theses are beautiful minis that I hope I get the opportunity to sit and paint sometime soon...
Labels: product reviews
