Z'takk , bases and Broken promises.

[JayRaider]

Will the Z'takk have a proper hole for the base in the model?
If not, why not?

How come after all this time Mongoose hasn't employed a guy to drill out the holes for the bases?
Frankly Mongoose you don't seem to give a damn about this,even after the repeated complaints?
And i do not want suggestions on how to do it myself. You guys in the forum are experienced modellers, i'm not. I want a product i can build successfully out of the box.
And not like my Victories , fall apart due to the CRAPPY standard of the models. No hole for the base, substandard bases, and badly cast.

Its hilarious in a sick way, that this company offers metal stands as a replacement, at your own cost!! lol
Yes thats a good example of how messed up things are, when obviously they should be included with all larger models.

Lets be honest, Mongoose has pushed the loyalty of ACTA gamers to the limit, and i'm very close to saying " Stick it Mongoose" :twisted:

 

[katadder]

dont need to be an experienced modeller to drill a hole in the base.
i tend to use my GW flying stands anyway as they seem to be smaller width and fit the hole better.

 

[H]

hey ho, your not the first you won't be the last to get peeved, but heck, if it's only the holes, I'm a naff modeler, and use an electric screwdriver with drill bit to make the holes, If I can do it anyone can.

 

[prelude_to_war]

Hm, I posted on this very topic the other night and the post was deleted...hm..

I agree - the minis shouldn't need a drill in order to get the parts to fit. It should come together right out of the box/blister. I love pinning/drilling/magnetizing bases as much as the next person but the stems really do need to fit the minis.

 

[H]

hey ho, your not the first you won't be the last to get peeved, but heck, if it's only the holes, I'm a naff modeler, and use an electric screwdriver with drill bit to make the holes, If I can do it anyone can.

as an aside actually, I must say the last 2 Ka'Tocs I bought came with metal stands, is this not standard now?

 

[Court Jester]

I would just like to pint out that almost all metal kits that involve having a hole for a flying stand will never have the correct hole. The variations of the molding process mean that the hole wil either fill in... or me too big which is just as bad.

The only models I have seen with good holes for flight stands are GW plastic kits.

And yes, metal stands are replacing plastic ones.

 

[Target]

I use the smaller base for the model to sit on, larger one for the bigger models so in effect i have base, stem then base. This prevents having the stem breaking off in the model. Little more fragile than drilling would be but is super easy to repair. Love Super Glue Gel instead of standard Super Glue. It the fighters than probably annoy me more, trying to get them to stay in their base. Forever falling out they are.

 

[Obsidian]

I'm just going to keep holding out for plastic pre-painted minis. If they never produce them I'll just have to stick to the counters, but I'm certianly not going to be purchasing any more metal minis.

 

[Darilian]

Try assembling a Battlefront Katayusha rocket launcher in 15mm- every RAIL of the launcher is a seperate piece, and you have to glue every individual ROCKET on to those rails.

And THEN come to me complaining that the hole doesn't fit.

I'd rather they took care of their excessive flash on some of the molds, and the unseemly moldlines that I have to sand/whittle away.

But complaining about the size of the hole??? That's being a bit unreasonable for the state of molding technology. I've owned a lot of spaceship figs, from Brigade, Ad Astra, GZG, AOG and now Mongoose AOG moulds. NONE OF THEM have had consistent holes that would fit the pegs. I'd always have to drill them- its just part of the process.

GW, with their plastic injection models, can get a 'cleaner' model- but the cost of an injection mold set up is MUCH MUCH more than you your usual drop cast.

Darilian
Not a fanboy, but realistic about the hobby

 

[prelude_to_war]

The bases sold with B5 Wars era Vorlons by AoG work fine. They fit and they're balanced. Presently they're the same minis...what am I missing?

 

[Court Jester]

what am I missing?

Either you got lucky with the castings or they got lucky making them... :wink:

 

[Darilian]

The G'Quans and Var'Nics I got from AOG were WAY to narrow for the pegs that I got, from AOG.
(And I know this, not from memory, but becuase I finally got around to assembling the models I bought in 1998 just recently, in Dec. 2006.)

There's a lot of variation here, guys.

Darilian

 

[LaranosTZ]

*shrugs* I've often had problems with any models that use a stand, Mongoose, GW, war machine....it's just a fact of modelling.

 

[Target]

I actually have Sharlins that the peg fits into perfectly, well 2 anyway, 2 models out of 120ish (could be more)

 

[prelude_to_war]

Wow JayRaider, the word 'Crusade' in your avatar is certainly appropriate...

 

[katadder]

poor castings was down to old moulds i believe. they are from what they have said replacing the moulds for some of the ships, and also working on new versions of the armageddon ships. you have seen the Vree saucer and i think that looks great so if thats anything to go by then we have a bright future.

 

[Abraxas]

Ok since the issue of stand holes has been dismissed .

With expert poise and clarity...

So what... you have to drill a hole. It doesn't take modelling expertise, just a little more time... and some hand-eye coordnation as to not crucify yourself to the table.

What about the poor castings?, parts that don't fit??

The cost of doing buisness.

Mongoose is small enough that these kind of things are prevelant. GW has PLENTY of problems (especially with BFG now owned by Specialist Games) but it has so many people buying that you almost don't hear it.

the Armagedon debacle with the crappy ships?
And the ships which have just disappeared?

And thank God MP cares enough to take the criticism and MAKE NEW ONES. Other companies don't give a farts whorth... so take it as consideration to it's customers.

Parts missing from packs?

Again... it happens.

All to be fixed with the so-called new bright future ahead? :lol:
If its anything like the new BFE "revolutionary painting process" i.e. getting poor Chinese people to paint them? :evil:

It's a relatively young company and a very young game... all of them are using old moulds... so this is just as MP gets ready.

 

[Target]

On slightly seperate issue, how long has there been a official base size chart?
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/ctashipbases.pdf

 

[Target]

On slightly seperate issue, how long has there been a official base size chart?
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/pdf/ctashipbases.pdf

I answer this one myself, before Armagedon as those ships aren't in the list. Might need updated

 

[Darilian]

As for 'official' base sizes- I (personally) don't want to see them. We always measure from post to post. Since we use the Mongoose/AOG ACTA miniatures, and not the fleet scale, we use the same size bases. The models always are on the verge of running into one another when you get to close, anyway, so that 'overlapping' issue is a non issue. Given that we are talking about models GROSSLY out of scale with the table, I don't have an issue at all. Since I also use my B5 models for other game systems, and have based them all with hexagonal bases in keeping with that (makes keeping track of 6 firing arcs easier), I don't want to mess with that.

Now, for FIGHTERS, I wouldn't mind seeing a ruling. Since you are dealing with a swarm of small ships in a certain volume of space, doing a base size makes sense- especially given the almost Ancients type rules regarding dogfights, where the dogfights match up, get support, etc. Having a definite idea of what the size a fighter base should be would help somewhat. However, most of the time we use common sense and don't worry about the strictness of the no-overlapping rule- if someone has a problem, we let them take the move back and let them do what they had intended to do in the first place.

But all in all, if Mongoose makes a change I don't like, I'll just ignore it. I don't play in the 'Tourny' scene, don't really care to (I play Tournaments in a lot of other games, thank you!), and am more interested in creating 'narrative' scenarios rather than jsut straight up death matches.

So there you go! 8)

Darilian
Always looking for a new way to spend money and keep from painting the lead he has...!