• Registered: 2005-03-28
  • Posts: 379

Topic: 2nd batch of Nef minis in

So in total, I have:

German Roster
Markgraff class BB x1
Blucher class DDN x2
Koln class CA x2
Emden class CL x1
Karlsruhe class DD x2
TA-27 Torpedo Nef x2
SA15 Escort Nef x1
VA7 Escort Nef x2

British Roster
Benbow class BB x1
Agincourt class BB x1
Albion CV x1
Fighters x12
Rawalpindi class CA x2
Exeter class CA x1
Steadfast Escort Nef x2
Cossack Escort Nef x2
Cygnet class Torpedo Nef x2


I got the first shipment all painted up.  And the second is confirming my first impressions.  The German ships are amazingly easy to put together, paint beautifully and are really, really clean (not a lot of flash at all).  Even the masts aren't THAT bad.  And I'm typically no good at gluing on fiddly stuff like masts.


The British cruisers and escort nefs are tops, too.   big_smile

But while the British BBs are looking great as finished products, they're kinda labor intensive for a guy who ain't really that crafty.  The Benbow and Agincourt have a lot of little round blobs between the guns that I can't touch without gouging the mini, and they don't fit together all that easily.  Maybe mine are flukes.  Example -- the top row of casement guns fit well into their niche on the starboard side.  On the port side, there were all kinds of nodules that were making it impossible. I ended up taking a pair of clippers and trimming the sides of the casement guns as far as I could without warping the things, and they finally fit in to the point that they look like they should be there. 

Don't get me wrong though.  Painted, the things are just WAY flipping cool to look at.  And as I mentioned, smaller British hulls and all the Germans were about flawless, even for a beginner like me.  I'm a lot better at painting than at assembly.  Maybe I'll just collect BBs from fleets besides the Brits. smile

I gotta admit, though.  And this is going to make me sound like a Heathen....I'm not using the flying bases.  I'm just too worried about wrecking the things by taking a Dremmel and bit to the bottom of their hulls, especially now that they're largely done.  Also, my gaming budget is such that I want to spend my rec $$ on actual minis, not $40 on a cordless drill and $25 on the extra bits at the local Wal-Mart.

So right now they sit flat on the playing surface, which is OK since I'm using them in conjunction with the IS conversion stats we drew up here in town.  Trying to think of an alternative means of basing, though, to elevate them a bit.

FYI -- big round of applause to Mike Cannon at Wizard's Workshop (US distributor for this stuff).  He sent shipping notification, and the stuff was in hand two days later.

  • Registered: 2005-05-11
  • Posts: 20

Re: 2nd batch of Nef minis in

Hi Matt

Glad you like the models in general. As for the British capital ships, we've recently remade the moulds on those so the problems you've mentioned should now have gone away (not much of a consolation for you, though  :? ). The new moulds have literally just come online so unfortunately the last shipment we sent to Wizards, which would have been early November, would have had some of the last castings from the old moulds. If you buy any more British cap ships, or any other nation for that matter, they will be nice shiny new castings. For future reference, if you (or anyone else) get any castings that are not up to scratch then let us know and we'll do our best to sort things out - even if you don't buy them direct from us.

Tony

  • Registered: 2005-03-30
  • Posts: 272

Re: 2nd batch of Nef minis in

Those "little round nodules" should come off pretty easily, I cleaned them off my 6mm Brigade stuff with a fingernail (and some cussing).  Getting a dental pick or even a knitting needle to help out in the narrow spots for that sort of cleanup will help too.

None the less, I'm glad to hear they'll be absent in the future.  Even easy cleanup is still work I'd rather not do...

Rich