ozmo Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 This topic has probably come up before but I wanted to put in my 2cents. Some of the plastic sprues have a crazy amount of parts. Wyrd models have always been a little thinner than PP and GW models and the need to remove large amount of parts from a sprue and clean up the connections greatly increases the chance of damage to one or more of the parts. The plastic Vanessa model comes in 8 parts! three, maybe four I could see but 8 separate parts seems silly. new Hoffman avatar, 18 or so parts, it just doesn't seem necessary. Is this a new industry norm? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mehter Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 You're getting more parts for your money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forar Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 I originally thought this topic would be regarding the extra pieces some sprues have (like the alternate arm for McCabe), but yeah, having finally assembled my Riflement, McCabe's box and the Pathfinder/Traps, there were definitely a few that I was surprised were their own pieces. The riflemen in particular have some absolutely tiny fiddly bits that were rather trying in terms of cutting, trimming and gluing, all while praying I didn't sneeze them off into oblivion. Seriously, one wrong gust of air and kiss 'em goodbye. Maybe it was just part of getting over the learning curve from Pewter where, outside of particularly large figures (Peacekeeper, Steampunk Cyborg, etc) most of the ones I worked on were 1-3 pieces. Assembling the Traps was... an interesting production line approach to things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cats Laughing Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 The steamborg was 8-9 pieces, iirc. Privateer Press made 15 piece cavalry models in metal for their game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forar Posted May 15, 2013 Report Share Posted May 15, 2013 (edited) Uh huh. And Abuella was 1. Perdita was 2, I think. Santiago and Francisco were like 1-2 apiece. I think Nino was 3. All 3 of the Riflemen were 8-10 apiece. The Steamborg is a 50mm base and hefts a solid ss price. Riflemen are 4ss apiece on 30mm bases. It's not exactly an A to B comparison here. As noted, there are outliers. The Peacekeeper felt like it was in 25 pieces (it wasn't, but it felt like it), and both the Peacekeeper and Steamborg have large pieces. Which does present different problems, but man, the little pack on the back of one of the Riflemen is like a couple mm across. Edited May 15, 2013 by Forar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decker_cky Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Large steampunk arachnid are 11 parts for 5 SS each aren't they? Aren't steampunk arachnids quite a few parts too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nothingatall544 Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Maybe it's just because I've been playing with plastic minis for most of my gaming, but I love the new plastic models. I got Venessa yesterday and assembled her last night and I love the detail in the model. I ended up dropping her hand twice and almost lost it in the carpet, but I learned to start doing my work over a box that would catch any of the small pieces that I dropped. Even after that though I am much more happy to be working with plastic again, rather than metal or resin. Personally I would rather take the extra care up front in building my models than be left with a model in a static pose for months, if not years. So I'm good with the new plastic models, even with all the tiny pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forar Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Large steampunk arachnid are 11 parts for 5 SS each aren't they? Aren't steampunk arachnids quite a few parts too? Haven't built an LSPA, but SPA's depend on the version. The 'regular' version is 3 pieces, and can be a bit fiddly to put together. The alternate sculpt is a single piece. I built 6 regular. I'm glad I didn't have to build anymore. With a little magnetizing I have any combination of SPAs and Swarms up to 9/3 respectively that I might require. Edit: for the record, I think the detail on the new minis is amazing. But as someone who has only been playing miniatures games for under a year and a half, and working with plastic for a few months, some of them come across as almost needlessly complicated. "Why wasn't this just part of that piece!?" may have been said a few times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fetid Strumpet Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 The d6 generation did an interview with Eric last summer/fall where he commented on how the molds get made. The company who makes the molds "Theoretically" determines where the cuts are made. The company doesn't care about the modeling or aesthetics from what I can remember of the article, they just care about maximizing the ease of creating the mold. Eric mentioned that they needed to start monitoring where the proposed cuts are so that issues like the multiple parts to Miss Terious' head don't happen again, but I would assume that while ridiculous cuts will be avoided the amount of pieces, for now, is going to be hard to cut down on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forar Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Huh, interesting to know. And more importantly, vindication! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozmo Posted May 16, 2013 Author Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Dropping the Oiran hand on the floor for the 3rd time tonight was awesome.. well not really Posability is great but trimming the excess of a piece which is 2mm^3 is driving me crazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yardeg Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 The d6 generation did an interview with Eric last summer/fall where he commented on how the molds get made. I listened to that episode a couple of weeks ago, very interesting. I actually would advice anoybody who's slightly interested in this topic to give it a listen, it's very insightful. Link: D6 Generation EP 112 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mehter Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Francisco was just a solid piece. ...just thought I'd clear that up from last page. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yazza Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 to be honest, the more parts the more detail, so i dont mind, (no ugly fill seams which are unnatural looking but what we as figure builders gotten used to and compromised) and its plastic so they stick together beautifully. if they did the same parts in metal we would have problems. and the fact they connect the pieces to the sprue on the surface where you glue or dont see is genius. i work in a modelbuilding store and know of no brand that does that. you cut it of from the sprue and always get a flat/broken spot which you need to sand , fill etc... the new plastics take getting used to for people who are used to metal or gw plastics. but to be honest i wish more brands would go this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyW Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 I built Vanessa a couple weeks ago and it took nearly 20 minutes to glue her hand on. Piece is so small I can't pick it up easily, or get a good grip on it when I do, so it gets dropped, then I have to look for it, where it is supergluing itself to fluff in the carpet... You can't change the posability of it, I can see no reason for it to be seperate, so I _really_ wish that there will be no more models with seperate minute pieces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mehter Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Also, Yan Lo's beard. That thing needs to be labeled. I almost threw it out as i thought it was flash on the sprue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pox Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 not so many problems putting the new plastics together, but have spent the last hour putting liquid greenstuff onto the Hungering Darkness and Ama No Zako just to fill in the horrible gaps between the joins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macgowan Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 The company doesn't care about the modeling or aesthetics . . . they just care about maximizing the ease of creating the mold. This is completely ridiculous, and I don't believe you for a second. Wyrd has the most detailed and dynamic sculpts I've ever seen in plastics. What you are saying amounts to "Wyrd doesn't care what their models look like, and they are happy to irritate their customer base." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forar Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Francisco was just a solid piece. ...just thought I'd clear that up from last page. Last page? We're still on page one. ;-) There's a settings feature that bumps it up to 40 per page or so. It is civilization. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dracomax Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 This is completely ridiculous, and I don't believe you for a second. Wyrd has the most detailed and dynamic sculpts I've ever seen in plastics. What you are saying amounts to "Wyrd doesn't care what their models look like, and they are happy to irritate their customer base." ...I thought he was talking about the company they go through to get the molds/production done. I got the impression it isn't done in house. In fact you left out this part, shich implies exactly that:The d6 generation did an interview with Eric last summer/fall where he commented on how the molds get made. The company who makes the molds "Theoretically" determines where the cuts are made. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pox Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 ...I thought he was talking about the company they go through to get the molds/production done. I got the impression it isn't done in house. I also got this impression since my plastic sprues for Ama No Zako clearly say on the spue "made in china" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adran Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 Or its a new highly advanced Porclain molding process Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jondoe297 Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 . . . . . . . that got a smile Phil, definately brought a smile Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grim Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 (edited) I agree, I rant about this all the time. The pony tail on my Vanessa just broke off... again. It is ridiculous. Yan Lo's beard as well is a pain in the arse. The females are unnecessarily skinny. I guess you can't teach the 3D rendering model program to not make it too proportional to the male models, huh? Edited May 16, 2013 by Grim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ozz Posted May 16, 2013 Report Share Posted May 16, 2013 I have to admit it would be nice if the new set of plastics didn't have those kind of pieces. Vanessa's Hand & hair i had issues with. The guild Rifelmen's bits on the back, lost one of the bags, but fortunately i don't think it will make a difference to the appearance when painted. Strongarms mouth piece, i couldn't figure out where it was meant to go until after i lost it. Yan Lo's Beard i couldn't find on the sprew and thought he just had a really stupidly designed mouth:P Ofc this wasn't the case, i was just stupid. But if the parts were not cut so small by the company molding the plastics, life would be so much easier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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