Informal Petition: Please sign if you agree....
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Triggy said:
I would not expect a single of this miniatures as "ok". If the rest of the box is ok thats fine but that isn't the point.
If someone pays the full amount (price) for a product he/she can expect to get a proper and complete product. In this case it doesn't look so ...
I have to agree, the quality really needs to be improved. To their credit, Mongoose are very helpful if you get miscasts etc but the number of posts on the subject shows there is a problem. If nothing else, it must be costing them an arm and a leg in extra shipping costs that they shouldn't have to pay.
I am just off to open my new Marathons and see if they are up to scratch.
I am just off to open my new Marathons and see if they are up to scratch.
timberwolf a
Mongoose
I have to agree about the bad castings. I have a Victory class ISA Destroyer that took 4 hours to get it to go together. I had to drill out two holes just so one of the wings could be put on the ship. Nevermind filling the really lousy bad holes in the main body and the amount of flash that I had to shave off to get the ship to go together. I don't want B5 to go by the wayside but please improve the QC.
LordClammy
Mongoose
mongoose is too busy on the Battlefield: evolution forum to even comment. I bet they wont even see this for some time. :x
Gray Dagon
Mongoose
saw your pic of minbari ships- ouch. I thought my vree with flash around entire saucer were bad but fairly easy to clean. I've been a gamer for 15 yrs and barring the really bad odd figure here and there mongoose has the worst Q.C. Ive seen. Incls excessive flash, mold lines, deformities, and incomplete figures. I really enjoy the game but dont want to invest in more ships or a new fleet(all I have now is Vree) until/unless their figs get better. 
angelus2000
Mongoose
Out of curiousity, has anyone from Mongoose ever replied or made an announcement about what the actual plans are for the moulds and minis?
This would clear up a lot of the mystery in their customers eyes(myself including) and go a long ways towards restoring good faith. If we the community got the pronouncement from on high that X fleets minis Y,Z,A and etc were being recast and new models would be ready for shipment beginnign on date X, they wouldn't have to deal with as many irate customers as im sure their customer sevice has to deal with currently.
This would clear up a lot of the mystery in their customers eyes(myself including) and go a long ways towards restoring good faith. If we the community got the pronouncement from on high that X fleets minis Y,Z,A and etc were being recast and new models would be ready for shipment beginnign on date X, they wouldn't have to deal with as many irate customers as im sure their customer sevice has to deal with currently.
angelus2000
Mongoose
God I hope not. I dont want some underpaid asian painting my miniatures, I want to do it myself. Now if they want to hire some underpaid Asians to drill, file and glue together my minis, I'm all for that.
Locutus9956
Mongoose
Well I cant say Ive ever had any problems personally but then again aside from one Marathon I havent actually ordered any minis for some time and none of the minis I HAVE ordered were old moulds (I think Ive only ordered s few recent things like a Delphi and some Chronos from Mongoose, all my other ships I had from B5Wars before ACTA even existed )
Actually come to think of it I DID order a posseidon box that needed a fair bit of green stuff and trimming to fit together fully but I wouldnt call it wasnt miscast really.
As for those Tinashis, well.... that is ALOT of flash I'll grant you but its not actually that bad as far as I can see, and nothing that couldnt be fixed with a modelling knife and 10 minutes. Of course it would be nice if it didnt happen bu Id hardly call it grounds for panic
Anyway Im not actually going to vote here as I havent ordered that much off mongoose themselves in terms of minis so cant really judge but what I have ordered has been fine (if a little delayed at times...)
)Actually come to think of it I DID order a posseidon box that needed a fair bit of green stuff and trimming to fit together fully but I wouldnt call it wasnt miscast really.
As for those Tinashis, well.... that is ALOT of flash I'll grant you but its not actually that bad as far as I can see, and nothing that couldnt be fixed with a modelling knife and 10 minutes. Of course it would be nice if it didnt happen bu Id hardly call it grounds for panic
Anyway Im not actually going to vote here as I havent ordered that much off mongoose themselves in terms of minis so cant really judge but what I have ordered has been fine (if a little delayed at times...)
I think you need to establish what the industry standard is, before asking us to compare - I now have quite a few Mongoose models - two SST armies, two ACTA fleets, and IMO the casting quality on all of them has been just as good as anything I've gotten from Ground Zero Games or from Games Workshop (mind you, GW do seem to produce more detailed metal minis going by my newer Eldar models).
Yes, there is flash - but there is on most models I've ever gotten. Some have dimples and small missing sections. But that's what milliput and a bit of sandpaper can fix.
Given the lower price and excellent parts service from mongoose, I think they're on par with anyone else selling models today.
That's not to say they shouldn't try to improve if they can, though.
Yes, there is flash - but there is on most models I've ever gotten. Some have dimples and small missing sections. But that's what milliput and a bit of sandpaper can fix.
Given the lower price and excellent parts service from mongoose, I think they're on par with anyone else selling models today.
That's not to say they shouldn't try to improve if they can, though.
Locutus9956
Mongoose
well I have to say there that the price for the mongoose lot IS somewhat lower than the GW minis but frankly the GW minis ARE better quality. Im not saying Mongoose minis are poor (though I still am not over fond of many of the armageddon ships...) but take BFG as a comparative example and the ships for that do cost more but the detail really shames the Mongoose minis, especially the newer ones.
As for ground zero, I would say they DO compare quite closely in terms of quality and detail (and in quite a few cases are actually somewhat nicer again especially when put up against the newer mongoose designs) but I dont know if youve looked at their site recently but pricewise they reallly blow ACTA out of the water. You can get a FLEET for about £20. (and thats a decent sized fleet too with ships you actually want as opposed to fleet boxes that in many cases are a good start but tend to contain multiples of ships your not likely to use more than 1 of and often lack certain key ships you would really want/need (and pretty much ALWAYS lack enough fighters).
Again this is not a dig at mongoose fleet boxes which are by and large very good value but also look at the price of INDIVIDUAL ships and you may notice that ACTA isnt actually THAT cheap compared to GW after all.... And it is actually VERY expensive when compared to games like full thrust or battletech. (both of which have miniatures of at least as good quality or better than ACTA). I still love the game, but Im not under any kind of delusion that it is amazing value for money....
As for ground zero, I would say they DO compare quite closely in terms of quality and detail (and in quite a few cases are actually somewhat nicer again especially when put up against the newer mongoose designs) but I dont know if youve looked at their site recently but pricewise they reallly blow ACTA out of the water. You can get a FLEET for about £20. (and thats a decent sized fleet too with ships you actually want as opposed to fleet boxes that in many cases are a good start but tend to contain multiples of ships your not likely to use more than 1 of and often lack certain key ships you would really want/need (and pretty much ALWAYS lack enough fighters).
Again this is not a dig at mongoose fleet boxes which are by and large very good value but also look at the price of INDIVIDUAL ships and you may notice that ACTA isnt actually THAT cheap compared to GW after all.... And it is actually VERY expensive when compared to games like full thrust or battletech. (both of which have miniatures of at least as good quality or better than ACTA). I still love the game, but Im not under any kind of delusion that it is amazing value for money....
Full Thrust Minis do tend towards lots of small details, it's true - but I wouldn't call that the mark of a great lot of model design - they tend to be highly modular and look very much alike IMO. Perhaps I'm just jaded with Full Thrust overall (I am a poor Kra'Vak player after all)...
I like the ACTA minis - yes, they are overall somewhat basic, but they follow the designs from the series. Perhaps it's just me, but I prefer those designs to the all the gothic frills on the BFG models (and the Eldar dragonships I've seen have done nothing to tempt me to buy a BFG fleet).
SST minis in my experience have been great (the only real bugbear I've had is the Brain bug)
Perhaps ACTA would do well to move into plastics/resin and prepainted models, and away from metal - but that's a big and expensive proposition.
I like the ACTA minis - yes, they are overall somewhat basic, but they follow the designs from the series. Perhaps it's just me, but I prefer those designs to the all the gothic frills on the BFG models (and the Eldar dragonships I've seen have done nothing to tempt me to buy a BFG fleet).
SST minis in my experience have been great (the only real bugbear I've had is the Brain bug)
Perhaps ACTA would do well to move into plastics/resin and prepainted models, and away from metal - but that's a big and expensive proposition.
Greg Smith
Mongoose
The problems with ACTA ships (excessive flash, poorly cast, stands not fitting) don't apply to the SST minis in my experience.
angelus2000
Mongoose
Where the differences between the 2 then? Different casting facility? Different methods of casting? Different materials used?
Greg Smith
Mongoose
I don't know. As far as I am aware Mongoose has one casting facility. (and I only know what I have learned from these boards and speaking to Mongoose staffers in the pub after tourneys - and Mongoose's infrastructure isn't a major topic of conversation . )
The metal MI and bugs definiately did not suffer from casting, flash problems etc. (The brain bug was a pain to put together, but that is a whole other story).
I can only assume that there are several problems. One is with old AoG moulds, another is with the sheer size of the components of the new minis. Getting the holes the correct size for the stands is a third problem (and that seems to apply to both new and old minis).
Of course when multiple problems arise at the same time and take a while to get fixed, it makes Mongoose look very bad indeed.
. )The metal MI and bugs definiately did not suffer from casting, flash problems etc. (The brain bug was a pain to put together, but that is a whole other story).
I can only assume that there are several problems. One is with old AoG moulds, another is with the sheer size of the components of the new minis. Getting the holes the correct size for the stands is a third problem (and that seems to apply to both new and old minis).
Of course when multiple problems arise at the same time and take a while to get fixed, it makes Mongoose look very bad indeed.
High Sierra
Mongoose
I hope to god they dont go the route of prepainted mini's.
part of the enjoyment I get out of this hobby is building and painting the mini's myself!
However, the mould quality of the ACTA ships is very, very poor. the Centuari boxset I got required alot more work than I would usually consider necessary.
I even had to take a hacksaw to each Vorchan in order to cut the slot for the two pieces to go together.
I just got a Vree boxset and it was more of the same - far, far too much flash. tbh if you've got that much flash appearing on a casting then your mould isnt far off disintegrating.
to allow a mould to get that bad smacks of negligence and lack of care. After all its the moulds that are providing mongoose with their income. It does occur to me that perhaps Mongoose spend so much time replacing parts and sorting out issues that should have been dealt with before the models ever left their workshop, they havent got time to replace the moulds.
and the cynical side of me says they are letting quality fall so that when they release prepainted mini's (and the indications are that they will) everyone will say 'Thank god! decent figures!' and rush to buy.
It will be a shame if Mongoose go down the prepainted route for ACTA - it seems a bit of a cop out to me.
part of the enjoyment I get out of this hobby is building and painting the mini's myself!
However, the mould quality of the ACTA ships is very, very poor. the Centuari boxset I got required alot more work than I would usually consider necessary.
I even had to take a hacksaw to each Vorchan in order to cut the slot for the two pieces to go together.
I just got a Vree boxset and it was more of the same - far, far too much flash. tbh if you've got that much flash appearing on a casting then your mould isnt far off disintegrating.
to allow a mould to get that bad smacks of negligence and lack of care. After all its the moulds that are providing mongoose with their income. It does occur to me that perhaps Mongoose spend so much time replacing parts and sorting out issues that should have been dealt with before the models ever left their workshop, they havent got time to replace the moulds.
and the cynical side of me says they are letting quality fall so that when they release prepainted mini's (and the indications are that they will) everyone will say 'Thank god! decent figures!' and rush to buy.
It will be a shame if Mongoose go down the prepainted route for ACTA - it seems a bit of a cop out to me.
Greg Smith
Mongoose
Matt has on a couple of occasions that they won't be doing prepaints for ACTA.
Matt says a lot of things. . .
You know, i have just been reading "the sale of goods act" of 1979 (amended)
now, It seems mongoose could in all seriousnous be considered to be selling goods that would contradict the section about "satisfactory quality", however in credit to mongoose, they do replace when asked, which kind of helps cover their ass, but the fact that so many models are of poor quality is not good.
Alas, I have been trying to find something about purchasing goods that never get delivered, Eg Drakh mo-ship, but am not getting very far in terms of legislation. (yes, I am THAT pissed off about it now). I think it is time for a stronlgy worded letter to Mongoose, which will probably go into the bin but hey! I gotta try
You know, i have just been reading "the sale of goods act" of 1979 (amended)
now, It seems mongoose could in all seriousnous be considered to be selling goods that would contradict the section about "satisfactory quality", however in credit to mongoose, they do replace when asked, which kind of helps cover their ass, but the fact that so many models are of poor quality is not good.
Alas, I have been trying to find something about purchasing goods that never get delivered, Eg Drakh mo-ship, but am not getting very far in terms of legislation. (yes, I am THAT pissed off about it now). I think it is time for a stronlgy worded letter to Mongoose, which will probably go into the bin but hey! I gotta try
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