Dear Strelets,

many thanks for showing us photos of the first test shots of these eagerly anticipated sets.

Can I please ask you to check these test shots. It might be just the images, but the figures seem much less crisp than the masters, which is something that I do not remember of the last few dozend sets. The shells held in front of the bodies seem to merge with the hands, and the faces seem molten. I would hate to have these versatile and expertly sculpted figures marred during production.

Also, given the number of WW1 and WW2 artillery sets you are now producing, you might want to re-consider producing boxes of figures only (without guns) since there are many collectors with unmanned guns. If you are concerned that 3 or 4 identical sprues in a box would not sell well, you could always bundle different sprues in themes sets like "Early War artillery crews" or "Battle of ... artillery crews".

Best regards, Pa

I would buy WWI American artillery crews. I like the ones you did already and would be happy to buy the American Army crew from the 8 Inch Mk VII Howitzer set in large numbers. I have lots of WWI American artillery without crews just waiting for help.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
Bunker Talk blog

I would buy Imerial German artillery men! I hope those Kaisers men get the same amount as the allies!

My thoughts too when I saw them, they have lost their nice crisp finish.

Agree with my friends regarding the difference of quality between the masters and the first test shots.
Patrice

Unfortunately, I must agree with the comments. It was quite obvious at first look at the pictures, but side by side comparison confirmed it. While I know that it's impossible to get the same amount of detail that the masters have (well, with the materials and mold production that you use), I know you are capable of better results than this. Please check with your mold maker/producer and try to avoid this mediocre/poor results. While it's probably to late for this sets, please save the future ones.

AP's side-by-side comparison shows something more significant than amount of colour mix losing details.

The bases on each soldier from the figures run shows them much thicker than on the Masters. Further, the Adrian Helmets and hands on the plastic figures have none of the nice, fine, sharp details of the Masters. The Adrian Helmets lost the sharp brim.

I don't think the plastic would be expanding that much. I'm also wondering why the figures produced from the mould do not replicate the finer details of the Masters?

Dearest Strelets:

Yes, it's true. I agree with Pa and others about the loss of detail. So, hopefully we can offer you a solution from the field from a customer's perspective.

If I were your Quality Control "QC" guy (and a customer), here's what I would tell you and show you.

OBSERVATION: The problem is "It has to do with the colour mixer." Not the actual plastic, but the colour of the "pellets" (or mixer) that gets mixed with the plastic that gives us Terracotta, Tan, Blue, Grey, etc. If you mix in too little colour pellets with the plastic, then the end result is a shiny, semi-clear, waxy looking figure, that the details get lost due to reflection from daylight.

What you want, is enough colour pellets, or more colour pellets to get mixed in that gives you the result of a nice "flat" colour in production so all of the small, fine details are more easily seen.

Why do I think so; what is my proof? Well read on ...

ORION: Just this week I unboxed my Orion Chinese Boxers run in a nice "Ivory" or "Bone White" colour to use as Chinese Imperial Navy or Sailors. "Authentic Colour" for Imperial sailors. This set comes in two (2) sprews of different figures per box. I could immediately see that the first sprew without Imperial Soldiers was run at the factory with "exactly" the right amount of colour so all the figures details show up nice and "crisp." Long brided hair in pony tails, Asian face details, belts with bullets, uniform/clothing striping details. So beautiful! But the second sprew with the only three (3) "Modern Imperial Soldiers" and other fine looking "Braves" look waxy, not crisp. You can see with a magnifying glass under a light, the details are there, but they are hard to see - simi-transparent.

Why? Lack of enough colour pellets in the second sprew but just the right amount of colour in the first sprew.

No secret here. Careless attention to detail on half the run. That simple obviously. When I opened my boxes, and I held up the two sprews to compare them, all I could think was - "What happened here?!" Six (6) boxes and all half poor quality. That second sprew should have been re-run and never put into the boxes.

STRELETS: All of your Terracotta sets from the Crimean War Range through to the Boer War Long Tom set with Terracotta Crew are perfect. The darker colour is (maybe) more forgiving when mixing clear plastic with colour pellets.

Your WWII set of Code: M103 "Union of South Africa" is a nice Light Tan colour, and is perfect. All the details show nicely in a Flat Tan colour.

I have the newest Code 177: Colonial "British 15 PR 7cwt BL Gun" in my hands right now, and wish I could see the fine, nice, tiny details more easily. Not bad, but compared to the WWII Union of South Africa, that set perfectly show up all the details being in a flatter Tan colour.

THEREFORE IN SUMMARY, As an "Arm-chair QC Guy" I would suggest try running whatever mould you have set up, with the same light colour you are using now for Colonials and WWI, but try adding "more" colouring to the plastic to see if the details show up better.

If the details do not show up better, as everyone in this thread is wondering why, maybe the problem is the type of colour mix product. Hopefully just more colour mix would be the solution.

REMEMBER: My example above with the ORION set of Boxers proves how important the amount of colour vs clear plastic mixed together makes on the final product that goes into the box. I am keenly aware of this because I am a "Playset" kind of customer likes to buy, open box, and play.

I hope this helps. I'm no expert in production. But with the Orion situation, I have already called the local WARHAMMER gaming guys in town and they are going to help me to paint the second sprew to look like the nice first sprew.

In your case also, the Masters look perfect, but the test shots look soft, so it must have to do with the plastic or colouring used with it. Too many of us in this thread are seeing the same thing. So, if you made it to this point, thank you for reading this far, and thank you for such truly wonderful products!

GC

You really cant compare the masters with the final product because of the type of tooling thats being used, theres always going to be some loss of definition no matter what... plus these are probably test shots intended to test the viability of the tool, some minor adjustment to pressure and temperature may well produce a better result..

Leave it to the Masters of short run...

Just my thoughts :wink:

I dont believe it says anywhere that this is the final product, but its clearly a "short shot" as theres one pose missing from the original line up, if its the case it cannot now be corrected and bear in mind the tool should survive about 10-12000 shots (based on Strelets own comments)and this is probably only the first few then that would be a real shame, I will put my faith in Strelets tool makers correcting the problem as these are really needed...

:wink: