[ACTASF]Anyone else seeing a lot of problems with the minis?

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billclo

Mongoose
I keep running across a situation with the Fed metal minis in that the slots for engines are almost always either too shallow, or the hole isn't the right shape. Both require major work to get the engines mounted.

I've also seen some mold misalignment on the Feds such that the saucer doesn't go on well without significant fitting and having to use epoxy instead of superglue gel.

As for the Klingons, I'm seeing alot of D6/D7/C7 engine assemblies requiring substantial filing to get them to fit to the wings tightly so that I can use superglue gel. I then add epoxy to the underside of the joints for more strength.

The D5/D5W seem to be better shaped and few require much filing.

What's everyone else's experiences been?
 
This makes me nervous . . . I ordered a Fed and Klingon fleet box last week because I thought most of this was ironed out.
 
I got my fed and klingon squad boxes yesterday. I know what you're talking about. I have assembled my fed dreadnought, battlecruiser, old light cruiser, and working on the heavy cruiser. Of those 4, the only one I didnt need to do a lot of filing/drilling to get the engine nacells to fit was the old light cruiser.

I've assembled my klingon dreadnought (man this is big, no wonder its still in resin!), only one of the engines didnt fit perfectly into the slot on the wing (after trimming off the extra flash) and required some extra drilling and cutting to get it to fit. Havent tried any of the other klingon ships yet, but the F5 is complete in 1 piece all ready so I at least dont have to work with that, other than straighten out the head :D
 
Im finding it really hard to assemble my D6, D7 and C7, there is practically zero contact area between the wings and the engines that is solid enough to keep the engines from swinging around.
 
JohnDW said:
Im finding it really hard to assemble my D6, D7 and C7, there is practically zero contact area between the wings and the engines that is solid enough to keep the engines from swinging around.
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Yep, same here. I end up filing the heck out of it to get a tight-fitting surface. If the joint isn't really tight, I find the superglue gel won't bond it. Which forces me to use 1-minute epoxy (which really takes 4-5 minutes before you can let go of the parts being joined or they'll sag). :roll:
 
JohnDW said:
Im finding it really hard to assemble my D6, D7 and C7, there is practically zero contact area between the wings and the engines that is solid enough to keep the engines from swinging around.
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Yeah the C8 is good and the frigates are one piece but joining the wings to the engines looks horrible.

I know one friend is melting them together
 
I've got both a resin and metal fed fleet box.

The resin arrived first and had some major problems with mould slips on the engines and a few problems around some of the mould joins. However the fits between components was fine and of course the resin will give a little. All the pylons slotted in fine. A couple of spots of superglue and done.

Having the metal to compare to the resin is handy. The overall quality of the casts is certainly better (didnt have to stick tiny bits of plasicard onto the frigates saucer rim to replace all of the details like I did with the resin for example, or carve bits out of the saucer ridges). I did however notice a number of the metal components very slightly squashed compared to the resins, which I wouldn't have even noticed without them side by side! It is quite subtle but is probably the reason for some of the need to redrill base holes.

Yep I've had to dig a bit and file a bit to get the nacelles to fit. Seems to be the bottom of the holes have a few bits of extra metal in the deep corners that prevent a perfect fit, and the holes are a little narrower so you need to thin the ends of the pylons a little with a file.

The only saucer I had a problem withwas the dreadnought and only after I'd dropped it. Oops!

There was a bit of flash around some of the pegs on the top of the neck where it meets the saucer and some were a little too big but 60 seconds with a file and sorted!
I thought it was particularly clever all of the hull/saucer combinations have different size/shaped pegs and holes so if you mix up the components you can eaisily see what fits what!

My Klingons are all metal except the C8 of course.

I tried supergluing the engines onto all of the cruisers but they all fell off again at the slightest bump. I scraped off the glue and restuck them using 10 minute epoxy. I used 2 tiny spots of superglue gel at the ends of the joints and a glob of epoxy in the middle. the superglue holds them steady as the epoxy sets. None have come off yet!

If they had been all pure resin then the joint would have been fine. Looking at the design now, cast in metal it would probably be better to have the winglets attached to the rest of the hull and just the actual engines themselves to glue on.
But this means a whole new set of prototypes if they want to change them now.

Other than this the klingons were all good casts. I had to trim off some big bits of resin off the C8 but having built Forgeworld models I have come to expect the odd gates here and there. They come off fine and they were all on non detailed surfaces or flat areas so could be filed down with no loss of detail at all.

Thats what I've experienced.

Geoff
 
the first thing i do is dunk all of my parts in a cleaning solution to get the mold release off, the i use the gorilla super gel glue. I found that if you put a thin layer on hold for 30secs it sets enough to to fill it whatever cracks and imperfection in the joint with more glue. After it drys i sand or file it smooth wipe off dust and paint.
 
Didn't really have any trouble with the metal Klingons myself. Just ran a file over the contact areas of the wing and engine parts to roughen them a little (just be careful you don't file off the "lip" or you'll have trouble fitting the engines at the correct angle) and applied some superglue gel, holding them in place for about a minute until they stuck. Left it to cure overnight and then sanded/bent the wings as needed.
 
nekomata fuyu said:
I definitely know how you mean with trying to fit the nacelle pylons. Mr Dremel is fast becoming my best friend thanks to them.
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What dremmel bits are you using? I bought some fine diamond bits in a set, but they don't work that well. All the dremmel brand ones are too big.
 
I've got a small dremel bit that I'm using that works OK on expanding the engine slots on Feds and when combined with filing on the nacelle pylons is workable although the Fed Police Cutter is a major pain.

The D6 and D7 engines fit fine but there is so little contact and no reinforcement/bracing structure. As a consequence if superglued, they fall off with a cross look. I've taken to filling then filing with green stuff and then running a thick epoxy bead on the underside.
 
I also have a couple of small bits (head dia < 1mm) that I usually use for cleaning out small detailing, and which are helpful for clearing out small areas of the nacelle pylon slots. The model I found it just wouldn't cope with was actually the POL, as the pylon holes were just so much smaller than the pylons.
 
Did any one else run into missing parts in their fleet boxes. My Klingons were missing the shuttles, my Feds were missing one shuttle, the nacelles for one of the CLs and all the nacelles for the Burkes were Starboard. Waiting on replacements now.

However, the metal were much easier to assemble and clean up than the resin. Although super glue worked better on the resin, it still works on the metal... as long as you scuff up the area with a file first. If you don't the glue doesn't seem to hold.

Also, resin ships were taking me 1 to 2 hours to prepare for assembly!. Most of the metal ships took me about 20 minutes to clean and assemble. I've put all the fleet box minis together (minus the ones missing parts). I still have about 6-8 resin ships left from my 6 squadron boxes (and their replacements).

It's been a much bigger project than I expected, but my first ships turned out so nice that I'm really looking forward to paining the next 80 or so. Yikes!
 
The only missing part I have noticed was the deflector dish for my OCL in my fed squad box, but I think it looks fine without it.
 
I have found no missing bits with the Romulan Fleet Box at all. Then again there are quite a few solid all in 1 castings :D.
 
JohnDW said:
The only missing part I have noticed was the deflector dish for my OCL in my fed squad box, but I think it looks fine without it.
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I asked about that at the tourny. It turns out that they're not meant to have dishes on that model anymore - the painted ships on the site are prototypes or something.
 
I have had a small problem with them! Though I bought a fresh fingernail file in preparation of that issue. Just takes a little bit of filing to get them to fit in that slats on the main body of the federation ship.

My biggest issue was the Stand hole! Had to break out my power drill for that.
 
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