I’ve purchased some Big Hat minis on eBay from two separate sellers. One has a reputation on this forum for selling minis at inflated prices. I bought a Bull Centaur standard bearer from her and noticed the lower body is made of a lighter (in both color and weight) metal than the torso. The torso is made of the metal my older GW minis are composed of. It tends to discolor with age and is probably pewter. The lower body reminds me of alloy “model metal” that many companies switched to in the late 80s or early 90s due to lead-poisoning concerns. My question is if anyone has seen GW minis made of this type of metal or if I got a re-cast. The other two minis I bought were the Great Taurus w/ Lord and Lammasu w/ sorcerer. All of the parts with these kits are made of similar metal that is lighter than normal and shows no discoloration. The minis are all in good condition so it’s not a huge concern to me if they are recasts, but I’d like to know if others have found the same thing happening or if GW did make minis in this type of metal.
That’s what I figured when the bull centaur was composed of two separate metals (and yes she was the seller for that one). Then when I purchased the monsters with riders from a different seller and they were all made of that same, light-weight metal, it got me wondering if I was just getting unlucky in purchasing recasts (luckily the monster kits were reasonably priced) or if GW had briefly used a type of metal I’d never seen before. I have a number of skaven minis from that time and they were all made of pewter. Thanks for the info. I don’t plan on getting any more Big Hat era minis anyhow, but I’ll be more careful bidding on 3rd edition minis.
The big hats were cast by citadel in several types of metal. Recasts tend to be in a very light-coloured and shiny metal that I have not seen in proper big hat models.
well older models were pewter that had lead in it, that’s why they are darker and heavier. newer models dont have lead because of lead poisoning and are lighter both in color and in weight. Also recasts tend to be smaller than originals, im not sure by how much but there should be slight differences. the reason recasts are smaller is that when metal cools it shrinks a bit. so if you create a mold from an original model, any casts from that mold will be slightly smaller than the original because of shrinkage.
Ah, so she still roams teh interwebs? And here I was thinking SWSNBN was a mere myth to frighten the newbies on this forum
If it’s very light-coloured but rather heavy it’s probably (pure) tin. Lead is darker and has the aforementioned problem of leadpoisoning (which you can get when you suck on the minis or handle them 24/7). Just follow the ebay policy, get a refund/get a mini and keep the re-cast
Well the lower bodies of the bull centaurs (and the chaos dwarf torsos) were still avilable from GW only a few years ago and the blood bowl bull centaur is still available so you may have a newer casting of the bull part and an older casting of the chaos dwarf body bundled into one model.
Actually, why report her? As Gw no longer support us with new models (or old), then a recast could be good if you want some new models. If you are happy with hte model, then I see no reason to report.
Actually, why report her? As Gw no longer support us with new models (or old), then a recast could be good if you want some new models. If you are happy with hte model, then I see no reason to report.
Nazhur
Exactly I don�?Tt understand why people on this forum are so stuck up. We are talking about models that have been out of print for a while. I don�?Tt care if I get recasts or not as long as you can paint it, who cares. I think a lot of people around here really just love to have something to complain about. Get over yourselves.
If i pay for "oop collectors model" then i expect original, if someone cheats to earn money, and it is IP THEFT then this person should be reported as dodgy seller, with prices this high buyer should expect genuine product. If you want to sell recasts make them cheaper and dont tag them as genuine model.
Thats why i plea for reporting this seller, because it is the right thing to do, so other people who would like to have genuine CD models wont get riped of.
Exactly I don�?Tt understand why people on this forum are so stuck up. We are talking about models that have been out of print for a while. I don�?Tt care if I get recasts or not as long as you can paint it, who cares. I think a lot of people around here really just love to have something to complain about. Get over yourselves.
Because a recast means some knob is making money out of someone else's work, not to mention the poorer quality of the model. Perhaps its not such a big deal in this case, but issues like this can translate into real loss of profit and livelihood for smaller creators, same with art, music, etc. If you did some work and someone else got paid for it, would you just 'get over' yourself? No, I thought not.
I agree with you both Gar Shadowfame and Baggronor. If it was sold as a original but is not, then thats wrong (false promise). At the same time, if it´s something that is still sold by a company or person then thats wrong also (then you rob them). But things out of product that will never be sold again, I think is not wrong to reproduce. Thats why you can as a exampel make a record in privat with music from mozart and no one can say it´s wrong. Becuase it was a long time ago he was around to claim his music. But if the two diffrent options of above is right then its wrong and should be reported.
The monster kits weren’t described as collectibles, but the seller did claim they were GW minis in the description of the items. I do plan on reporting the seller because he didn’t mention it was a recast. Mainly I want this seller’s reputation to take a hit for selling recasts without informing bidders of such. If nothing else, this seller is making money off of someone else’s work and dubiously skimming around the subject by saying they are GW minis. They are based off of them, sure, but aren’t originals. I see no problem in recasting minis for your own use but when you start selling them for profit, you’re clearly in the wrong. Thanks again for all the info on the different metals used in CD minis, I’m also hoping this will alert others that there are still unscrupulous sellers out there.
Personaly I do think that it ‘could’ be a genuine item, Games workshop used many different alloy companies from time to time also dependunt upon the prices of the lead alloy that they used to cast in. Now If I recall the time games workshop switched to the white metal only alloy (where tin replaces the lead) It could be concevable that the seller ‘had’ I use this term possible that multiple lead torso’s and multiple white metal legs (as did happen from time to time also) during a testing period on the moulds that games workshop were planning on phasing out (Chaos dwarves) to see if any possible loss of detail mould dammage would incur on these castings and moulds. Then selling these in stores.
I say report. They claim it is original, and it is not, so you ended up paying prices for originals and they profit. You should report. Furthermore doing so is illegal anyways, so it should be reported.
If it was legal to sell recasts (or GW gave the go ahead on long OOP stuff), I’d probably go for those to save a bit of cash, but since it is not I won’t.
It’s about honesty, which is sadly a dying concept. It’s not just about “having a model that works.” It is the fact you were lied to, let alone for a substantial profit. Furthermore, depending on where you play, having recast models may get you kicked out! There are players savvy enough, or who have been playing long enough to know.
Plus, with due respect, coming here to complain about “people complaining”, chastising some for it and saying “get over yourself” seems a wee bit hypocritical. If you’re willing to pay through the nose for falsely advertised, albeit possibly usable minis… by all means go ahead. I just think it’s promoting dishonesty, and jacks prices up even more.
Yeah: it’s not that you’ve got a recast (fine by me: because a model = a model and this is only a game), but that’s not the point: the OP has been sold a model(recast) sold as an original: this is falsification and perhaps fraud. Because you would have been more than happy to pay the higher price if it indeed were an original cast. Now you’ve gotten an inferior recast for the price of a superior original. The OP has been overcharged, which is no problem as long as he/she knew in advance what the quality of the model was.
Now he/she has been lied to and had to pay for something he didn’t want.
If you’re willing to pay through the nose for falsely advertised, albeit possibly usable minis… by all means go ahead. I just think it’s promoting dishonesty, and jacks prices up even more.