On Saturday, I popped in to GW Fair Oaks to check out this “Finecast” thing that might have been mentioned on the internet a few times.

As expected, the doom-and-gloom hasn’t really born out.  It’s not death-resin, for which I’m thankful, and the kits seem decent enough.  I’ve read about some serious casting issues, but nestled in the concern-trolling in that thread, there seem to be about as many okay experiences as bad ones.

I know a lot of people read Kirby’s early review of “they’re just as meh as expected,” as “this stuff’s terrible.”  That’s not how I read it, or how my experience has been; it’s meh, not because it’s bad but because it’s meh.  Neither terrible, nor great.  I imagine that could be read as a failure, I guess.

I’ve got to admit to being extremely annoyed by people bitching about Finecast in terms of their Forgeworld experiences well before actually seeing any of it.  I’m all for complaining about legitimate stuff but, when you don’t know actually what you’re talking about… you don’t know what you’re talking about.  (Never mind that that’s what the internet’s for.)

Anyway, I picked up Queek.

As you can see, there’s a ton of flash.  Soo much flash.  There were also a few bubbles; some immediately apparent, some revealed themselves as I trimmed away flash.

It felt like there was a considerably more work to be done in prepping this mini than there would be if it were metal… but that all of that work was much, much easier.

All of that flash came up very, very easily.  All but one set of bubbles filled in with super glue without any hassle.  There’s a bit of spine on the trophy rack that really just needed some green stuff, but it’s still less green stuff than I normally need to use on a metal mini.

I’d say that, in terms of assembly, it’s roughly break-even between Finecast and metal.  More to do, less trouble doing it.  I hate working with metal, though, and the lack of a need to pin makes me feel like I’m coming out ahead.

Those Canis defects do look pretty horrible, though; it’s definitely worth checking out the casting before buying any Finecast.  On the bright side, GW’s always had great customer service: I’m sure they’ll take care of shitty Finecast minis the same way they’ve taken care of mispacks and warped sprues.

I’m definitely going to have to go back and pick up a Finecast Skulltaker: the immense weight of that bastard has been a big obstacle in my making progress on the Skulltaker Chariot.  This stuff’s really light; a Finecast Skulltaker won’t weigh anything.