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

[viper1]

Hope you guy's can help me make an informed choice here.....

I keep toying with the idea of getting into acta starfleet and buying a federation fleet box, however all the comments i've read about quality control on the starline 2500 minis is giving me some concern.

I dont mind doing some clean up work (falsh isn't a concern for me) however i dont want to be spending an hour or two filling, dremeling and sanding per miniature. am i going to be better off just going for the older 2400 range?

not meaning to bad mouth or moan....just trying to make an informed choice about where to spend my cash

 

[Greg Smith]

The 2500 range has vastly better detail. The current metal miniatures are by and large problem free - but Mongoose stand behind their products and will replace anything that is sub-standard.

 

[billclo]

I've had the most issues with the Federation minis. The Klingons are easier to assemble, with fewer defects it seems.

I have had to resort to 1-minute epoxy far more often on the Feds, especially for the engine pylons, which are nearly all over sized as compared to the holes in the hull for them. They require filing and enlarging the holes before you can epoxy them.

The Feds, the way I did it was to use epoxy on the saucer, let sit 24 hours, glue on one of the engines, let sit 24 hours, etc. I wanted those joints really solid before proeeding. A Fed BCH/CA type ship took 3 whole days, but since I had other minis to work on, I could get a steady stream of ships ready. If I had to wait 3 days between minis and I had nothing else to work on it would have been more annoying.

 

[Rambler]

Okay a fair and straight foreward look at the 2500. First thing is make sure you get the metal versions and not the resin ones. Mongoose made a very brave decision when it decided to try resin unfortunately there is a learning curve to that Many of the quality complaints trace back to that experience.

That said when they moved back to metal things went a lot smoother. There are still a few issues, some parts get bent in shipping, some time there is a wrong part packed and yes there is some flash issues but none of these are earth shattering. The main thing I am noticing now sometime you need to do a little filing and sanding when mounting engines but even tbat is not just give up and throw the whole thing out the window.

I have a fair collection of ABDs 2400 minis and outside of going with a slight larger scale I would recommend getting the 2500s. They are just gorgeious once assembled and painted.

PS: Be aware that sp.e of the larger ships will still be a colle tion of resin hulls with metal parts but even tbe one I saw wasn't tbat bad.

 

[Greg Smith]

There are still a few issues, some parts get bent in shipping, some time there is a wrong part packed and yes there is some flash issues but none of these are earth shattering. The main thing I am noticing now sometime you need to do a little filing and sanding when mounting engines .

I have to say that I find all of those issues no better or worse than any other metal miniature that I have ever bought.

 

[Halfbat]

@viper1 - the comments I made above were for Klingons. The quality is better than some other metals and the flash, mould lines, etc, exactly the same. I have two Fed FFB's in metal and whilst, as billclo said, it's best to affix-and-wait, they end up looking great and easy to keep together at that level.

In other words, quality has improved.

On the big lumps at on the latest resin dreadnought - I had them, but didn't mention them, as they ended up being easy to remove with straight-edge clippers and anded down to invisibility. I'll post a wip, if that would help, of both. Hold on....

 

[Halfbat]

OK - the wips. It's worth noting that for almost 4 years I've been disabled with nerve problems in my right arm and these are the first minis I've painted - just 2 weeks after a corrective operation. So detail looks a bit rough!

They are wips - note that the Fed DDN (now a centrepiece for the Rescue! scenario) WAS a very early production version. The pieces hacked out show where severe bubbles were - and one nacelle was completely unusable, as well. It just needs some transfers now.

The C8/KC8R is one of the new resin castings. I can see one tiny bubble in it (others may not even see that). It needs lights and recovery of some colour/detail. There is, from any view other than directly underneath, no sign of the "big lumps" mentioned...

The BBF is one of the metal castings. It needs transfers but you can see it is clean - and with minimum effort. The only roughness comes from the shaky brush!

Overall, I'm really pleased with the new castings. But I've said that before. :roll:

 

[Greg Smith]

That wreck looks really good.

 

[rcbecker1]

very nice work on the paint jobs. i got mine, straightened a couple of Klingon necks and they look great now just to get them painted.