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Shall i do anything to this mini?

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:26 pm
by browwnrob
Hey, i got a pro elf team in the post from ebay and some of the minis had bad casts, like this fella, he is missing a hand! I have checked the corresponding mini on Travs site and His comrade is also missing the same hand, so im thinking...

i) the guy i bought them off is casting them himself. I also bought a Lizardman team off him at the same time and the casts arent great, for example, the Krox's eye sockets/eyeball are pretty much hollow! and on one of the sauri, you might think the inside of the mini was slightly hollow!
ii) GW arent very good at casting! ;)
iii) There may be a defect in that particular model

As it stands i could just not do anything with it and paint it in silver to create a claw, as these are "Pro" Elves, they may have picked up an injury(!) or two! Or i could just greenstuff some hands onto them

Image

Thanks

Rob

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:29 pm
by Thadrin
Sounds like a recaster...I'd get someone who knows what they're talking about to look at them (one of the guys who makes and sells minis on here would do) and if they ARE recasts, get in touch with Ebay. This guy is breaking the law.

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 7:53 pm
by Duke Jan
Have to agree with Thads. This mini just screams recast.

Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2005 9:08 pm
by gken1
well u should give the rest of us is ebay id so we don't get suckered....

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 3:11 am
by Chairface
Counterfit BB minis? Does this happen often?

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 9:49 am
by Black Hawk down
tell ebay, get this guy off the site.

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 10:17 am
by Al the Trowel
If he's a recaster I presume he'd be buying cheap lead minis to melt down and recast, or has a supply of cheap lead from somewhere. Lad coffins out the local grave yard maybe, or just the flashing of his neighbours roof...

Point is if they are lead they are counterfeit as GW use the white metal alloy. Is there a chemist that can tell us any easy test to see if its lead or not. Presumably the melting point will be different, but melting it down destroys your evidence, and you'd need to melt a white metal mini to test it against. And have a thermometer that can stand being dunked in molten lead. Electrolysis or reaction with sulphuric acid would be better, is there a chemist in the house?

Of course if he's recasting with white metal, it doesn't prove a thing.

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:44 am
by Duke Jan
You don't know why he's recasting tbh, it may just be because he likes doing it and is selling the failures. So indeed if it's white metal it doesn't prove a thing. Corrosion would be the best way to test probably, or metal colour. Possible evidence of recasts would be mouldlines/ flash as the new mold probably has slightly deviating mould lines. This also proves nothing as GW alreay puts in so many mouldlines that any professional caster would hang himself in shame for delivering such crap. But it may be another clue.

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:41 pm
by Chairface
Well lead is MUCH softer and easier to work with. Back in the day Conversions were so much easier with lead.....

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 12:48 pm
by browwnrob
for anyone who is interested, and i dont want to start a witch hunt or anything, but here is the auction concerned...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... %3AIT&rd=1

The rest of the eklf minis were fine, just the 2 linos were the same, i got my high elves and undead of the same guy ages aso, they seemed fine, but once i stripped them they were rather dull, but i dunno!

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 1:11 pm
by Deathwing
Hmmm..
I wouldn't bid on anything from somebody with a 96% rating from just 67 seperate buyers/sellers:

Avoid at all costs - bidded and never responded to Emails Time waster...
Models just piled lose in box for shipping. Smashed to peices in transit....
No payment....
Complete time waster. Won auction but no contact despite several emails...
Packaging could have been better, 1 peice missing from each model on arrival...
Some problems: parts missing from models; delivery took long time...


Check the feedback, it's what it's there for....

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 5:40 pm
by browwnrob
well i am happy enough with what i got, at first, i thought the elf arms were amputated and replaced with claws as i thought it could fit in with the fluff!

Having said that, 14/15 minis for £16 is still ok in my book heh

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 3:51 pm
by Kormantaouk
apply claws or a spiked gauntlet to his arm
that should do the trick...

Posted: Wed Jun 22, 2005 10:18 pm
by Phreedh
Saw him selling another pro-elf team today, buy it now price of 17 quid or something. Smells like he's casting them himself... or that could just be the gas my peniciline is causing. =(

Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 10:10 am
by Odium Khan
Well as was clearly stated by several other posters earlier, proving the metal content doesn't really do much for us. I'd leave that to GW, they could probably conjure up the right lawsuits and equipment -atomic absorption spectroscopy and a few other expensive techniques would be the only foolproof i think, since pewter and white metal are complex alloys and it would be hard to spot any real differences utilizing only sulfuric acid and the naked eye (ouch!). Actually, the smell, appearance and taste (taste carefully) of lead pewter is very characteristic and would serve better as proof on our level than any hobby chemistry experiments i think.
Actually, now that I come to think of it, lead is supposed to be prone to oxidation by acetic acid to produce Pb(II) acetate which is then supposedly reduced back to black elemental Pb in air (the lead comb). If this applies to pewter, however, I don't know. I would also be very careful if you would try this, chiefly because of the acid and because the black stuff is poisonous.
Always fun to rant about chemistry :)
Now, I think GW should be contacted on this one. Especially if the miniatures contain lead, since they cannot be produced by GW in that case (hey, maybe we should try that vinegar stuff anyway!).