|
|
Post by loyalist on Jan 8, 2016 3:31:20 GMT
I received a set of Armored Flivvers today and was not impressed by the resin components. Not one of the armored cargo areas had level bottom edges. It looked like a belt sander had been crudely applied, and also took off too much material. The lower part of the doors on two of three castings was sanded off, so the cargo boxes were 1.5 -2mm shorter at the rear. The third is salvageable but has a bulge in the resin at the front end; two have odd shallow grooves - not bubbles.
I can't be bothered wasting the time required to build frames around the bottom edges, add gelcoat to replace the missing material and sand the pieces level. I'll make replacements from sheet styrene. I might use the least objectionable piece as part of a generator trailer for a scratch built Tesla cannon tank.
No complaints about the metal components - very nice.
|
|
|
|
Post by Quendil on Jan 8, 2016 8:28:45 GMT
I received a set of Armored Flivvers today and was not impressed by the resin components. Not one of the armored cargo areas had level bottom edges. It looked like a belt sander had been crudely applied, and also took off too much material. The lower part of the doors on two of three castings was sanded off, so the cargo boxes were 1.5 -2mm shorter at the rear. The third is salvageable but has a bulge in the resin at the front end; two have odd shallow grooves - not bubbles. I can't be bothered wasting the time required to build frames around the bottom edges, add gelcoat to replace the missing material and sand the pieces level. I'll make replacements from sheet styrene. I might use the least objectionable piece as part of a generator trailer for a scratch built Tesla cannon tank. No complaints about the metal components - very nice. Yes their resin has been very variable but apparently that was one of the major issues they had. I found that the early BEF stuff I got from the kickstarter was a lot worse than the later releases. |
|
|
|
Post by scottwashburn on Jan 10, 2016 14:53:26 GMT
Yeah, the resin casting was one of the things that I think did in AoW. Ernie wanted everything made in the USA, but could not find a resin caster who could actually provide the quality and volume that he needed. After going through and firing about three different companies he finally started doing all the casting himself. Which took all his time. I imagine that a lot of flawed castings made it through QC and are floating around out there.
|
|
|
|
Post by loyalist on Jan 10, 2016 17:36:32 GMT
I've received more resin models: Mono-tanks and a Mk IV. There are no problems at all with the Mono-tanks and only a few with the MK IV, which had resin blobs between some of the lower tracks but only a few mold lines (easily scraped off with a dull exacto knife blade) and only 4 small areas that need filling and sanding. The funnel is missing but I have another MK IV kit coming and if it has it's funnel I'll make a resin copy. The resin Mono-tanks are gorgeous!
|
|
|
|
Post by wisercj on Feb 1, 2016 14:07:40 GMT
Having done an extensive amount of resin casting, it can be a challenging labor and time intensive operation. That said, when you are asking people to pay premium prices, there is no excuse for poor Quality Control.
I do agree that the Mono-tanks are very well made and are a must have as a theme item.
|
|
|
|
Post by loyalist on Feb 1, 2016 14:48:01 GMT
I've done a fair amount of work with resin and fiberglass, particularly making moulds and hulls for 1/144 scale RC warship combat models. A key factor is having the correct mix of resin and catalyst and allowing the items to remain in the moulds long enough to cure completely. if you fail to do either you can get distortions, 'crazing' of the resin surface and excessive amounts of bubbles.
All the armoured truck boxes were distorted to a minor degree (i.e. some bulging) but the major damage was done by unskilled sanding of the bottom of the castings, with no apparent care to keep the edges square and excessive removal of material. I was able to slavage 1 of 3 by careful filing and sanding and will be converting it to a BEF radio truck like the WWII Opel Blitz.
I've started replacing the unsalvagable armoured truck boxes with new ones made from 1mm styrene sheet, with two finished and 9 more to go. Since the original post I've received 3 boxes of covered and uncovered flivvers with distorted cargo boxes and canvas covers so am converting all to armoured flivvers with the styrene boxes. I was also concerned about the significant weight of the 'canvas' cover castings on the thin axles and wheels of the chassis.
The Mono-tanks are great - too bad I was only able to buy 3.
|
|
