Casting quality - time for new moulds?

[Talisinbear]

an exacto knife to clean off minor flash is all I've needed for WARMACHINE and Confrontation


Yesterday I near wore out a set of batteries drilling holes on centauri. and had my files out, and the knife and still swore like a starship trooper

Talisinbear

 

[animus]

I just looked through my 3 era earth boxes I got for X-mas. I am officially no longer a Mongoose apologist. I have some seriously lame castings here. I can clean some up with a dremel tool and epoxy putty, but it'll take weeks to prepare these ships. I'll take a closer look later, but on first blush I'm horrified to see that the reputation of poor quality EA ships is well deserved! Even the new designs and dripping in flash are goobers.

Mongoose - Get you act together! Fix the current lines before you make new models. YOU HAVE SOME SERIOUS PROBLEMS. :evil: :x

 

[JoeSmokem]

Has anybody had significant problems with any of the EA ships in the "starter" box? I'm looking to buy it in early in the new year but it would put a dampener (sp?) on my enthusiasm to get a flawed product.

 

[Goldritter]

I´ve not the Starter Box, but I´ve got my two Marathons on Thurstday.
In one Box there was only the Warlock like Top and the Weapons, but no "Machine sections" and the Missile-Rack like thing on the top of the Miniature.

The other Box has all pieces, but I´ve to file a half houre so that the Warlock Like Top can be positioned on the "Machine section" piece.
And after that time it don´t fit 100%. But it´s enough to play with it and if you don´t look to the front it will not stand out so much.

 

[Raxonika]

Opened my Christmas presents to discover that the Neshatan was missing from the Minbari Fleet box......not just bits of it, a whole missing ship. In addition, there were gun sprues missing for the Sharlin. I opened the Narn reinforcement box to check that and two rings were missing for the G'Karith and I had and odd mix of stands.

Lots of flash on the Sharlin Fins, but the Narn are not too bad.

I have written to Mongoose about the missing bits and in fairness was surprised to get a reply on Xmas day saying they would deal with it ASAP on their return. They do have a reputation for being quite good at the recovery, but this must cost them !

 

[Court Jester]

aye, my Minbari fleetbox was missing a whole ship and the guns from the Sharlin.

 

[Obsidian]

I have written to Mongoose about the missing bits and in fairness was surprised to get a reply on Xmas day saying they would deal with it ASAP on their return. They do have a reputation for being quite good at the recovery, but this must cost them !

Oh it does cost them, but it isn't in all the shipping expenses. The cost is in the sales they don't make because of these problems. To date, the only miniature purchase I have made has been a single Centauri Fleet box and I don't ever plan on buying any more. I simply don't have the time to deal with all the headaches.

The sad part is that I love this game. The system is fantastic and I continue to try and add to the community with projects like the shipviewer and combat sim. Unfortunately, I know these things don't make any money for mongoose and if there isn't any money being made there soon won't be a game anymore. Despite knowing what the ultimate result of my decision will be, I just can't bring myself to buy any minis. I know a number of the more enthusiastic hobbyists out there don't like it, but I am all for pre-painted plastic minis. WizKids, with the exception of them being random collectible packs, has it right.

 

[Gray Dagon]

I saw this and I thought I'd throw my cents in.

Ive had Vree ships with 2 saucer halfs that woundn't fit together without major filing/cutting lucky for me this is on the inside when put together so when the ship is done it can't be seen. I dont even want to talk about flashing and mold lines. If my next few vree ships dont improve I think I'll just use the counters.

plastic pre painted figs seem like a OK idea but I dont want my figs to look like everyone elses.

 

[angelus2000]

Toss my two cent in here as well. Much as I love the game, the models are a huge obstacle for the average gamer. I've done demos with an EA and Narn fleet at an LGS and had quite a few interested in playing the game.

Then I told them about the models and every single person walked away. Painting a mini is one thing; that supposed to take some time and effort in order to look good. Spending and hour per model just to get them to fit right is simply to much for others. I'm done buying minis from mongoose myself until these problems get fixed.

If the actual moulders companys fault, yank thier contract and give it to the same people tha GW goes through. I know Mongoose doesnt have the actual casting facility, so why the frak are the putting up with this?

 

[Undecided]

I know Mongoose doesnt have the actual casting facility, so why the frak are the putting up with this?

Chances are....because they're the cheapest. I hate to say it, but this has been allowed to get this bad and go on for this long, either becuase of two reasons....

1. The facility Mongoose goes through is the cheapest, and they are interested in cutting corners to meet the bottom line. And take it from someone in the auto industry....cheapest cost up front, doesn't mean cheapest cost in the long run. They may be saving money in production, but I've only been playing this game for a little under a month, and even I have met people that won't touch Mongoose minis because in all honesty ....they're crap.

or......

2. They just are too damn lazy are too damn preoccupied with BF:Evo to even worry about this. Hell, if I had a problem like this in my office, and I let it go on for this long (see Drakh mothership issue). My butt would be on the street in a New York Minute...it's embarassing.

Whatever happened to work ethic or quality? Come on guys, these problems could easily be fixed. Take some pride in your work fella's and stop spittin out horse dung for product. <sigh>

Anywho, I geuss I get so worked up, because much like many other people out there I LOVE this game and hate to see it go down the tubes because Mongoose can't get it's crap together.

 

[angelus2000]

or 3... Too many projects and not enough people. Ever taken a look at how many different game systems Mongoose puts outs? Dozens, literally.
One of the reasons GW became the EE in the first place is that they truly only concentrate on a few core products, everything else tends to be one shot or barely supported. Mongoose has dozens of revisions and updates, which prolly consumes the lions share of thier personnell, time, and money.


Which leads to problems 1 and 2, which are effects of problem 3.

 

[High Sierra]

it does make me chuckle that mongoose say ACTa is their most succesful figures range to date.

If that were true, why does there appear to be this complete lack of concern regarding mould quality?

I have considered that perhaps due to staffing issues and sheer demand for these mini's mongoose cannot spare the time to fix whats going wrong. Instead they choose to 'firewall' by replacing parts etc. which doesnt really resolve the core problem - that of mould quality.

However I personally would be happy if Mongoose were to suspend sales of new ACTA mini's for a month and spend that month getting moulds replaced and resolving their after sales queue which must be huge.
if they coupled this with an announcement on this forum to that effect I am sure alot of people would be very happy.

If the ACTA are so succesful then surely it is important to mongoose to look after that customer base!

 

[Shadow Queen]

I beleave that the customer is right, i just want to know is why not have a back up foundery here in the uk

 

[Undecided]

However I personally would be happy if Mongoose were to suspend sales of new ACTA mini's for a month and spend that month getting moulds replaced and resolving their after sales queue which must be huge.
if they coupled this with an announcement on this forum to that effect I am sure alot of people would be very happy.

Heck, I'd be fine if it took 3 months to pull this off. It seems to be the only hinderance in my area to ACTA taking off, is model quality. And I'd applaud the decision, it would show us that Mongoose has recognized an ongoing problem and is owning up to it. It may cost sales the in the short term, but in the long run they'll maintain they're customer base.

 

[timberwolf a]

More than maintain their customer base, it would expand it due to Mongoose showing that they CARE about their customer's satisfaction with their purchases of Mongooses products. The best way to sell a product is to keep your customers happy with good quality product available for sale. If your customers can get the product and more importantly don't have to fight said products to assemble them then you get more customers via word of mouth.


Heck, Battletech metal minis don't have this much flash or missing parts issues. Maybe once in a blue moon. Most figures that I have seen need only light filing if that to be ready for assembly. The ships of ACTAs if you are lucky are that good. Please improve the molds.