So I went ahead and took the plunge and bought some Thunder Wolf Cavalry a week or so ago. I bought two boxes of three, and the Lord in Finecast. I thought I'd due a day-by-day of me painting the minis, and I'd start with a review.
I have heard people say on different blogs that buying the Wolf Lord is a waste if you are buying the box of three, and I have got to agree 100%. There are many reasons why, and I am only going to list a few.
I think for me, the main reason why this guy isn't worth the money is due to the reason that the rider is so static. Now he comes with a pretty sweet looking axe, but the axe is molded to the body, so if you want your Thunder Lord to be swinging a Thunder Hammer or Lightning Claw, you would either have to swap a body from the box of 3, or cut the arm off.
All-in-all, I think if I am going to make any other Thunder Lords, I will just pick up another box of 3 and make the lords from those.
An odd thing happened to me. I was corresponding with a buddy via email and he was complaining that his first Finecast model (a Necron Lord) had a lot of pink material stuck in the cracks and crevices. I told him I had never seen anything like that before, and then my Thunder Lord came in the mail and I had the exact same thing on the head of the wolf, and let me tell you it was a PAIN to get all of it out.
So here are the seven wolves I bought.
As you can see, there are pieces in each box so that you can vary the wolves slightly, mostly through bionics.
If I had to make one complaint, I would say that each wolf is too similar. I tried to swap the heads of the wolves around so that they looked a bit different, but head A was only meant to go on body A, and if I tried to put it on body B it didn't fit properly. I probably could have pinned it, but I wasn't really in the mood for that, and as I said, it is a pretty minor gripe. I think once I get the dudes on the backs of the wolves, they'll look distinctive enough that the wolves wont look to similar.
Hey there, interesting thoughts on the Thunderwolf lord, and looking at your pictures, I can see how it would be a problem. Some of those gaps are pretty big and would be difficult to handle. I also think, looking at the images, that the finecast doesn't really add much to the model in terms of detail, dynamism or complexity.
ReplyDeleteAs for the pink, I'm pretty sure its the foam that the finecast is "cast" in. Its the same they used to use for the metal casting. If you check out the investors video that is floating around the net you can see the old metal casting process in action, and its that pink foam you've found in the model. Its obviously getting stuck on all those pointy fur details. I can just imagine how difficult it is to remove too.
Looking forward to seeing how these guys progress, what load-out are you thinking for the squad?
Yeah that finecast lord might sell for a while, but after the initial rush I can't see it selling for the price they want.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what load-out I'm thinking of. I think I'd like to magnetize them, so I could swap out the load-out, but while I've done it successfully on terminators, it may prove difficult with power armor.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it would be too much more difficult on power armour, as long as the magnets you use aren't too deep, you shouldn't have any problems. To date, I've always used 2mmx1mm magnets, but I find them just not quite strong enough for whole arms (but I've magnetised individual hands as they are so small) so for upcoming projects I'm planning on getting something a little bigger, 3mmx1mm or 3mmx2mm (roughly 1/8"x1/16" in old money).
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