So I bought a bunch of 2nd hand chaos dwarfs some months ago. The guy is from sweden, seem like a good guy, and has a good rep on the forums due to his painting services.
I checked that all the parts where there, and then it has been laying in a box since then. I recently ordered a couple of more infernal guard from FW, and noticed they doesn’t really look the same.
I emailed him and asked if it was legit FW, and he said that it was, that he’d never buy any chinese knock-offs. He said that FW stuff can come in different colors of grey, and with shifting quality due to batches. (I wouldn’t know as it’s my first FW models)
So how do I spot a fake?
I mean the ones I bought from FW myself had almost no “resin-beard”, was a bit lighter in the grey color (the 2nd hand ones had a slightly darker grey color, and small black dots in the resin), and were a bit “glossier”.
These other dwarfs are probably a year old or so. But many of them have their “holes” (to connect the arms) filled, the scales on the armor are not as good on every model, and some details (mostly on their helm and under the shoulder pads) are a bit worse than on the newer FW ones.
Also, I dont know if he have switched the bags, but the ones I bought from FW had a FW bag with a sticker on it. These I bought from him came in FW bags without stickers on them.
So my question is, how do I spot fakes? I really don’t distrust this guy, but maybe he got fooled by someone too. I realize now that I should’ve checked this before I let them sit in a box for couple of months, lesson learned. But for future reference I’d like to know how to spot them.
I searched for a thread answering my question but could only find one which was locked. So please don’t make this thread into some “buy recast vs. not”-thread. I do not support buying recasts, and that is why I’m asking how to spot them.
So I bought a bunch of 2nd hand chaos dwarfs some months ago. The guy is from sweden, seem like a good guy, and has a good rep on the forums due to his painting services.
I checked that all the parts where there, and then it has been laying in a box since then. I recently ordered a couple of more infernal guard from FW, and noticed they doesn't really look the same.
I emailed him and asked if it was legit FW, and he said that it was, that he'd never buy any chinese knock-offs. He said that FW stuff can come in different colors of grey, and with shifting quality due to batches. (I wouldn't know as it's my first FW models)
So how do I spot a fake?
I mean the ones I bought from FW myself had almost no "resin-beard", was a bit lighter in the grey color (the 2nd hand ones had a slightly darker grey color, and small black dots in the resin), and were a bit "glossier".
These other dwarfs are probably a year old or so. But many of them have their "holes" (to connect the arms) filled, the scales on the armor are not as good on every model, and some details (mostly on their helm and under the shoulder pads) are a bit worse than on the newer FW ones.
Also, I dont know if he have switched the bags, but the ones I bought from FW had a FW bag with a sticker on it. These I bought from him came in FW bags without stickers on them.
So my question is, how do I spot fakes? I really don't distrust this guy, but maybe he got fooled by someone too. I realize now that I should've checked this before I let them sit in a box for couple of months, lesson learned. But for future reference I'd like to know how to spot them.
I searched for a thread answering my question but could only find one which was locked. So please don't make this thread into some "buy recast vs. not"-thread. I do not support buying recasts, and that is why I'm asking how to spot them.
Cheers :hat off
turbotomte
Living only an Hour away from Nottingham, I always buy my FW stuff from Warhammer World to avoid any knock offs. I found with the 4 separate bags that I bought of Infernal guard that there were varying shades of grey and quality. So much so, I even sent some back as they were very poor. I found that the glossy ones meant trouble as that was usually the release agent that they use to get them out of the moulds and paint doesn't stick - literally peeled off - this is what I was told by the FW staff when I phoned up. My advice is to wash I much as possible before you spend too much time and effort.
I must say, every time I complained they replaced the order but after spending hours cleaning, prepping, painting the models, I don't want replacements and I don't want to do all that again!
Considering the price, FW stuff does vary in quality from batch to batch - it is the one reason why I am going to spend a week this summer in finishing my FW stuff and then sell it.
So many companies now are using the better resin, you may actually get better quality from a knock off!
So I bought a bunch of 2nd hand chaos dwarfs some months ago. The guy is from sweden, seem like a good guy, and has a good rep on the forums due to his painting services.
I checked that all the parts where there, and then it has been laying in a box since then. I recently ordered a couple of more infernal guard from FW, and noticed they doesn't really look the same.
I emailed him and asked if it was legit FW, and he said that it was, that he'd never buy any chinese knock-offs. He said that FW stuff can come in different colors of grey, and with shifting quality due to batches. (I wouldn't know as it's my first FW models)
So how do I spot a fake?
I mean the ones I bought from FW myself had almost no "resin-beard", was a bit lighter in the grey color (the 2nd hand ones had a slightly darker grey color, and small black dots in the resin), and were a bit "glossier".
These other dwarfs are probably a year old or so. But many of them have their "holes" (to connect the arms) filled, the scales on the armor are not as good on every model, and some details (mostly on their helm and under the shoulder pads) are a bit worse than on the newer FW ones.
Also, I dont know if he have switched the bags, but the ones I bought from FW had a FW bag with a sticker on it. These I bought from him came in FW bags without stickers on them.
So my question is, how do I spot fakes? I really don't distrust this guy, but maybe he got fooled by someone too. I realize now that I should've checked this before I let them sit in a box for couple of months, lesson learned. But for future reference I'd like to know how to spot them.
I searched for a thread answering my question but could only find one which was locked. So please don't make this thread into some "buy recast vs. not"-thread. I do not support buying recasts, and that is why I'm asking how to spot them.
Cheers :hat off
turbotomte
Living only an Hour away from Nottingham, I always buy my FW stuff from Warhammer World to avoid any knock offs. I found with the 4 separate bags that I bought of Infernal guard that there were varying shades of grey and quality. So much so, I even sent some back as they were very poor. I found that the glossy ones meant trouble as that was usually the release agent that they use to get them out of the moulds and paint doesn't stick - literally peeled off - this is what I was told by the FW staff when I phoned up. My advice is to wash I much as possible before you spend too much time and effort.
I must say, every time I complained they replaced the order but after spending hours cleaning, prepping, painting the models, I don't want replacements and I don't want to do all that again!
Considering the price, FW stuff does vary in quality from batch to batch - it is the one reason why I am going to spend a week this summer in finishing my FW stuff and then sell it.
So many companies now are using the better resin, you may actually get better quality from a knock off!
thewizardofoz
I bought 10 recasts from china. They are a darker gray in color. They are better quality than the ones I bought from Forge World. There was less flash and the weapons weren't warped/bent. I had one of the shoulder pads break \on one from forgeworld. The recast seem more solid.
To be completely honest a lot of the knock offs are actually better quality then what forgeworld produces. The models are crisp and don’t come with as much flash etc.
I’ve owned both, direct from FW and knock offs in the past.
yeah, it’s kind of ironic: the ones that cost a kidney and a half are often worst casts than the cheap recasts from the other side of the world (and you don’t have to pay 15% of the already gouging price for a shitty shipping!)…
why is everyone talking about the quality of the print when material itself is very bad,chinese knockoff are a lot more fragile then fw,so u have to be a lot more carefull when u transport it(i dont want thing constantly to break after i paint it)and avoid direct heat since their resin is a lot lower quality then fw one, suport our beloved hobby,buy original.
...
So many companies now are using the better resin, you may actually get better quality from a knock off!
thewizardofoz
...
I bought 10 recasts from china. They are a darker gray in color. They are better quality than the ones I bought from Forge World. There was less flash and the weapons weren't warped/bent. I had one of the shoulder pads break \on one from forgeworld. The recast seem more solid.
Heavygear
...My answer is you truly will never know as china recasts are often flawless.
gIL^
To be completely honest a lot of the knock offs are actually better quality then what forgeworld produces. The models are crisp and don't come with as much flash etc.
Time of Madness
Wow if you read this all you really start to wonder...
I tend to find the Chinese versions use what smells like pure paraffin as a release agent. Opening the bag really does stink! The resin is more brittle and prone to breaking, but the casting is pretty good.
You can recognie the knock-offs by the tabs they come delivered on.
Forgeworld tabs (or whatever you call the blob of resin under their feet) have a FW-stamp on them, and they tend to be bigger than the tabs on the recasted models. The recaters tend to be more economic about it and only use te amount of resin that’s actually needed.
Personally, I have no experience with CD knock-offs, having only one FW model in my CD collection which I bought second hand in the correct bag etc., but I have some experience with 40k knock-offs.
I bought a FW Iron Daemon direct from FW and a friend offered to sell me a Chinese knock off Iron Daemon later…honestly, comparing the two side by side, the knock off was better quality. The FW one had numerous warped parts, holes from air bubbles, some parts were broken and some parts were missing. Pretty horrible. The Chinese knock off was flawless and of better quality resin…it was also odd to see that the Chinese copy had FW stamped tabs on about half of the parts, and it was cast in 2 colors of resin. My guess (and just a guess) is it was cast in a typical sweat shop environment using assorted molds and resin, thus the mix of resin colors and FW copied tabs. Whatever the case, it was still better than the official FW one. That being said…I highly encourage people to buy from FW only, please people, support our hobby legally and officially. FW and GW are more likely to continue supporting our beloved Dawi Zharr in the future if sales figures tell them to do so…so lets give FW due thanks for giving us a viable Tamurkhan army list and models…buy FW and show them that CD’s can be a profitable avenue for them. If you see FW copies on ebay, report it. No, I am not a GW fan boy…but lets support our hobby, which in return will support us.
LOL Good article but I’ve had all that stuff happen from Forgeworld directly! Still I do encourage people to buy authentic Forgeworld stuff (only because they haven’t driven me away with crappy business practices).
A bit Greenstuff here and a bit superglue there and done. I take repair work as part of the hobby.
Herby
Dear god.
How are we ever going to get quality product for the premium prices if you lot just accept shoddy casting that sometimes (heck, often even it seems) are worse than counterfeiters.
That's literally ruining the hobby almost as much as the recasters.
Just as a cation, my wife grabbed some renders off eBay at a bargain. Turns out they had horrendous gaps and air bubbles. Some green stuff work and they look great now. You all should know low quality knock offs are out there. It was a frustrating use of my very limited hobby time, but I wouldn’t send 'em back though cause they are pretty hot…
Oh, and for what it’s worth they were a lot darker grey than any of the legit forge world that’s passed through my hands.