matty1001 Posted August 27, 2007 Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 Don't worry i'm not giving up the hobby or anything but... ...I'v spent 7 hours today prepping a miniature (Hasslefree's Alice FU:UK version), scraping, filling, sanding then brush priming, then repeat with the sanding and filling, then brush primer a bit more, then more sanding, now I'v just noticed ANOTHER mold line which need taken off (of course, it's very faint, but why leave it in the chance somebody might notice it?) so there's another hour or so fixing that. So is there ever a point on a mini where you start but just say "ah feck it" either there's to much cleaning or painting it is just taking to long i.e to much filligree etc... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hinton Posted August 27, 2007 Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 Yep; all the time. I'll spend hours going over the entire mini and think I've removed all of the mold lines only to find several when I'm painting it. Sometimes I'll do like you did and try again; sometimes I just say "screw it" and concentrate on the paint job. Now, if it's a competition piece, I'll spend the time to fix it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wristaction Posted August 27, 2007 Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 Know someone who ended up binning the figure as the mould lines were so bad and in bad places too. If i spot it while painting i try to hide it with paint myself and if for a comp I search twice as hard to spot them and then again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricJ Posted August 27, 2007 Report Share Posted August 27, 2007 there have certainly been times where the mould lines made me set aside a mini for good before I even started! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valloa Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Yep. The longer I have to spend prepping (which for me is very painful) the less likely it is that I'll paint that mini sometime this century. I have minis on my shelves that I prepped many years ago, but the 6+ or so hours to get them to the where I'm happy with paintable stage pretty much killed the desire to paint them. Some I eventually get around to, but I often have to make myself paint it at that point and generally don't bother. Maya~ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
matty1001 Posted August 28, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 there have certainly been times where the mould lines made me set aside a mini for good before I even started! Know someone who ended up binning the figure as the mould lines were so bad and in bad places too. If i spot it while painting i try to hide it with paint myself and if for a comp I search twice as hard to spot them and then again. I had a Rackham piece where the mold must have distorted slightly during casting. The entire left side of the face was slighty pushed up, which was alright except for the mouth, it ended up looking like a sideways U so the edge where the lips meet had no join or definition. I tried my best to paint the detail on but it always looked like he had a wierd sneer. So that had to go in the bin. So £7 and about 6 hours wasted. Shame really, as I liked the figure alot. But glad I'm not the only one that loses momentum whilst prepping. It's 2am now and I started prepping the figure at about 3pm and I'v just got it to a paintable stage. So 11 hours on and off just prepping, I'v primed it about 6 times! (though there was a slight conversion aswell, nothing major though, just a limb change) Hope I don't lose to much momentum though, I have high hope's for this figure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vytis Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Oh, man, if prepping happened quickly..some figures I'm able to use a set of diamond tipped grinding bits on, hoping the pewter won't distort. That makes it easier. Otherwise, I'd be with you there saying 'next'. Or finding a way to not have that part show. Hope the figure turns out great, though! Looking forward to seeing it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi6ers Posted August 28, 2007 Report Share Posted August 28, 2007 Know someone who ended up binning the figure as the mould lines were so bad and in bad places too. I think you might mean me, TBH if I get a mini and the mould lines are in impossible to reach places or on the face then I'll generally bin the mini and never order from that company again. Also if a multi-part mini has been badly cut and I'll need to pin tiny parts then it will never see a paintjob from me. Prepping minis is the least enjoyable part of this hobby. If I have a choice I'll just buy one or two part minis no matter how much I like the sculpt. the one thing that has made it easier is a set of mini diamond files from Heresy. They reach the parts that other files don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darklord Posted September 14, 2007 Report Share Posted September 14, 2007 right with you on this matty, although i prefer spotting them before i paint it than after its finished Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callumrice Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Primings a bitch. Thats why most of my minis look like I havent bothered spending much time on it, cos I dont. I hate priming and it ruins the hobby experience for me so I just dont bother. Ill remove major lines, glue certain parts but I have NEVER filled in join lines, spent 7 hours priming or binned a mini for poor lines. I just dont do it. Im happy if my mini has a good paint job, even if you can spot mould lines. People can criticise the sculpt then, rather than the paint job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EldinTux Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 You tell 'em Callum - the manufacturers ought to clean up their own mini's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblyn13 Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Some of them just need better standards of what's shippable. the one and only time i ever bought a rackham mini set i bought the brotherhood of bronze box, because I thought that thy looked spectacular. out of that box I had the Fengar Ironhand(sp?) mini was so bad that i spent about an hour with a dremel in order to be able to put the wheels onto his wheelchair, and another hour in order to even get the two Thermo-Warriors even close to being able to be joined. But I can say the same for all the "major" manufacturers, where as in all honesty most of the "boutique" miniatures I've bought I've never had that much of a problem, just a few minutes with a file. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gi6ers Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 It an interesting point that the mini in question was HF's alice, HF have probably the highest levels of quality control out there, it's just that smaller mould lines are harder to spot so it's a little counter-productive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblyn13 Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 And by that same note, its one of those that an inspection of the bare metal would likely make it impossible to see the tiny mould lines as they almost never show up until after they've been made to stand out by being primed. Which is not something you could blame on quality control, its sadly just one of the facts of life of miniatures paintings. No matter how much effort and time put into it there will always be that one itty bitty imperfection that 85% of the people would never even notice, 10% would notice and say nothing, and the remaining 5% would be the ones to vocally complain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
callumrice Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Agreed! And my main point is why do it if it sucks the fun out of it? I paint for a hobby, not for my income! Not to say that anyone spending a lot of time priming doesnt enjoy the hobby, but more that IF I did, I certainly wouldnt. I couldnt spend 7 or more hours priming and filing a mini just for me to cock up the paint job! I have just spent the last 20 mins or so priming my next mini, which I cant tell you about cos its in the up and coming rotten harvest (or rather I hope I get it finished in time!) but you guys can decide once I unvail it as my own whether I should have spent 20 mins or 10 hours priming. My final point is that I see any more than an hour as being overkill, on ANY mini. Why waste any more painting time, filing down silly mould lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewartoad Posted September 16, 2007 Report Share Posted September 16, 2007 Preppng is the worst. It's so true, when you think you have all the mold lines...you don't! I wish somebody could come up with a way to reduce mold lines...or make it easier to deal with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lono Posted September 22, 2007 Report Share Posted September 22, 2007 Prepping a mini is just the first of many hurdles that stops me ever getting anything done! It sometimes seems to be just as time efficient to sculpt my own stuff than to constantly work away mould lines. If I come across a mini that is relatively free of prep work I tend to get into painting it way easier. The big batch of Rackham stuff I got through the post recently is all reasonably clean I suppose, but all the little joints and whatnot, I know gluing it together is going to be hell. I just can't win. Oh, and the Cynwal Dragon, that bugger is going to take days and plenty of Green Stuff to sort out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R kid Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 yes i must confess iv put the odd model in the bin after finding a stray mould line half way through painting , it just f@~ks ya right off . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
demonherald Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 Preppng is the worst. It's so true, when you think you have all the mold lines...you don't! I wish somebody could come up with a way to reduce mold lines...or make it easier to deal with. I have bought and received models from all over the place at the minute and I have to say out of all of them Wyrd minis latest casts are the most mould line free I have come across... Lillith and the Golem had the tiniest of lines that were soon scraped off. I go though phases one day I cannot be bothered to build and clean the next I can't get enough of it.. Must admit trying a few different tools and whatnots a lately that really help.. stiff Dremel brushes , fine grade cloths etc.. I got a micro chisel that is great for getting mouldlines off and a dremel wire brush that works great on heavily textured areas... If in the mood I generally give my minis a light ink wash before undercoating to check for mould lines..still miss the odd ones though not a total disaster as long as you catch it after the first basecoat.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hinton Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 I have to say out of all of them Wyrd minis latest casts are the most mould line free I have come across... Lillith and the Golem had the tiniest of lines that were soon scraped off. Agreed; and I'm not just saying that because we're here at Wyrd. Some minis that I've gotten have had mold lines right across the hair and face, but I don't recall ever having that problem with Wyrd's minis. Switching to brush-on primer has helped because if I do find one after I start in, it's pretty easy to remove the line, brush on a little primer and continue painting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morf Posted December 28, 2007 Report Share Posted December 28, 2007 Pinning Lord of the Feast does it for me. A person who cut this one for production desires an industry award for Creative Cutting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewartoad Posted December 29, 2007 Report Share Posted December 29, 2007 I can hear all of your screams from here! I've had some great mini's over the years and just like EricJ, I've just tossed it aside or EBAYED IT!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThunderhawkerMinis Posted January 3, 2008 Report Share Posted January 3, 2008 Even the Wyrd minis I won were in great shape! As for binning one? I am too thrifty to even conscience the idea. It may get set aside for a few days/weeks/months, but it ends up back in the queue eventually. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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