IWM Quality *lets be civil and polite*

[ShockaTime]

I just received a couple mech scale asfs from IWM, and I have noticed that the quality if the sculpt is noticably lower than the ones that I bought a year ago. the detail is not as good, there is a lot more flashing and mold lines, and in some cases they are 'warped' (such as my visigoth whose nose and wings are no longer perpendicular).

This is not meant to be a complaint thread about IWM, I am just asking out of curiosity why this is happening. Is it just because the molds are old?

Thanks for your help.

[Daishi411]

i know you just started up this thread because of the order that you and i just received from IWM, and i agree, my fighters fit the same issues. this goes for all of the orders that i've placed independently as well. the ASFs seem to be the biggest problem, but those are the most recent things for me. the one piece mechs also have this problem, as well as the 3050 clan omnis, all with similar problems. I suppose the reason is that they're trying to catch up, but i'd rather wait and have good quality minis. I know either speck or sawbones had mentioned IWM tightening quality control, and there was a point where it seemed this had kicked in, but now it seems to have disappeared. i strongly support longer wait times for orders if it means higher quality minis, especially since the price of minis have gone up.

[Stormlion1]

I recently ordered a Crossbow and one part look malformed but out of hundreds of minis I've bought from them to have just one bad piece is pretty good in my opinion.

[Sawbones12]

Hello all,

The best action would be to send your specific concerns to IWM directly.

Rob

[keisukekun]

Yeh I would contact IWM and Im sure they'll help you out.  Those people workloads are huge and I certainly understand if problems slip though but I think the key is that they will help you with whatever issues you have and wont just blow you off

[beachhead1985]

dollars to donuts, i'll bet they'd replace them for you

[God and Davion]

Hmm... IWM had issues 2-3 years ago with QC... some units, like the Hammerhands, had horrible allignment issues. Trying to repair a Hammerhands shoulder was hard. They improved last year and this year they are almost at the same level.

But I'm afraid that we may miss a point... IWM is one of the best miniature makers in terms of detail and QC. I don't paint too much miniatures that are not BT related but every time I see another Scy-Fy miniature I got pretty scared. The Leviathan II issue with the halves is NOTHING compared with what I have seen. NOTHING.

And...QC setbacks aside... IWM is a very customer oriented company. They are extremely friendly, serious and fast. The fan funding project is beyond awesome.

[Ian Sharpe]

My purchases from them remain pretty solid; only one of my Stags had noticeable slippage in the mold, but as it was only really visible on the back of the torso, I just sanded it down.  The only mini I've had a really truly terrible cast on was a Stormcrow RE, where it was off a little in the front(filed down in about 30 seconds) but the big chunk of metal in the rear was off by 2 or 3mm, where the metal was settling.  That was back in 06 or 07.  Since then, just the normal few seconds spent on mold lines.

[ShockaTime]

IWM has great customer service, i've dealt with them a bunch of times in the past, there's no denying that. My concern is that if it's an equipment problem than asking for replacements isn't going to do anything.

[Sigma]

I was just about to buy a lance of Visigoths so I would also be interested in knowing if it's a key alignment problem or a slippage problem in the mold.

[TheDean]

I have noticed a few models that have been pretty misaligned, the wraith being the last one I worked on.

[GunjiNoKanrei]

To be honest I think the quality of IWM (BattleTech) minis often is very poor. I am not talking about misalignments but about serious mold line issues. Over the years I have lost count of the miniatures I ordered and where I didn't even open the blister because being put off by the mold lines. When you can't remove these without damaging or even destroying details which would need a full resculpt it stops being fun. Many many other miniature lines out there don't have such serious issues about mold lines judging by what I have seen and own (and if you ask my wife I have way too many miniatures...). I really wish IWM would solve those issues.

With that being said I still buy and paint BattleTech miniatures as they are what got me into the painting hobby and I love the universe. The IWM crew is very friendly and the service they offer is fantastic. So get the mold issues under control and otherwise continue what you are doing :)

[beachhead1985]

it would be nice to hear from more IWM people on this. should we take this over to the IWN forum perhaps?

[StCptMara]

You know...of all the miniatures I have ordered from IWM, or bought at Gen Con, I have only had a handful of problems:
The two Devas I got for a friend at Gencon...were pretty much Deva Torsos, and maybe Deva Legs, but every other part seemed
to be from other Celestial, the Primitive Shadowhawk in my Bounty Hunter Companions lance pack was missing its Autocannon,
I have a Caesar with Supernova Arms, I have a Donar without the bit for the props or its ER LArge, I have a Fafnir with spalling
on the back of it. However, if you consider those 6 issues, compared to all the 'mechs and other things I have gotten from them
over the years? I have seen worse QC from Games Workshop in the past year, then I have seen from IWM in 5 years!

[Grave]

I had some issues with a Puma I purchased from them recently, but it was nothing a bit of green stuff and a bit of patience couldn't fix.

[Fallen_Raven]

I don't know about any of this (I've only purchased a few minis), but the Avatar I just bought is fine. The sprues for the arms and legs were rediculously huge, but nothing seemed wrong with the mini itself.

[Snake Eyes]

I've had no trouble IWM minis......though its been a year since my last order

[silentsilver]

I've only really had one major issue with IWM miniatures - a Mad Cat Mk II that was horrendously misaligned.  However, since then the Victor, Centurion, Stinger (x2), Thunderbolt and Raven have all been excellent, with only minimal work required on mould lines and the rare, small dabs of spalling.

My only real issue keeping me from buying buckets more minis than I have has been price, but that's a whole other subject and doesn't detract from the overall good quality I've tended to receive from IWM.

[StCptMara]

My only real issue keeping me from buying buckets more minis than I have has been price, but that's a whole other subject and doesn't detract from the overall good quality I've tended to receive from IWM.

SHipping price? If that, then do hat I do: One big order a year, putting money aside for it.

[silentsilver]

Partly shipping costs, yes. Also partly the archive cost and somewhat just the cost of minis in general, though the latter is something not at all unique to IWM and so nothing to criticise them for.

[Grave]

Partly shipping costs, yes. Also partly the archive cost and somewhat just the cost of minis in general, though the latter is something not at all unique to IWM and so nothing to criticise them for.

So time your ordering for when the archive fee is waived for certain items.  It's pretty freaking awesome that they pull stuff out of the closet based on fan feedback.

Example: now is the time to get your Stealth and Chameleon mechs and Savannah Masters.

[blackjack]

Every thing i have recieved in the last couple months have been good to go, in fatte jenner I got a couple weeks ago was fantastic. Better detail than any of my older ones.

[Alex Keller]

If you own/purchase enough IWM miniatures, you'll eventually have some kind of problem.  Whether it's a missing piece or just a bad mold, IWM has always gone out of their way to make it right.  It's the reason I order directly from them, because they'll ship the missing part quickly.  Just last month I ordered a Savage Coyote.  The miniature had two right arms, and no left arm.  I quickly notified IWM and 5 days later I had an extra set of arms. 

[agen2]

If you own/purchase enough IWM miniatures, you'll eventually have some kind of problem.  Whether it's a missing piece or just a bad mold, IWM has always gone out of their way to make it right.  It's the reason I order directly from them, because they'll ship the missing part quickly.  Just last month I ordered a Savage Coyote.  The miniature had two right arms, and no left arm.  I quickly notified IWM and 5 days later I had an extra set of arms.

Time ago I get my Loky C from IWM,but the RA has serious flaw.
The point is that I'm living thousand miles aways from IWM.You can not imagine then that I should deal only with problems to contact the staff and they should send overseas a small piece of metal. ???.
I think they should improve their quality department '.

[beachhead1985]

Time ago I get my Loky C from IWM,but the RA has serious flaw.
The point is that I'm living thousand miles aways from IWM.You can not imagine then that I should deal only with problems to contact the staff and they should send overseas a small piece of metal. ???.
I think they should improve their quality department '.

But...IWN does that...ships little bits of metal all over the world to make for errors, it's one of the things that makes them awesome.

it'd be swell if they didn't make mistakes, but they're just people

[Mastergunz]

What it comes down to guys is that when you deal in the volume that they deal in slip-ups happen; it's really just luck of the draw. Sure I have recieved my fair share of poorly aligned CBT mini's but I have also opened GW stuff and Privateer press stuff and had the same issues. The main difference to me is that with CBT/IWM the flaws are often minor or easily fixable. Worse case scenario you have a mini that would do better as a wreck marker you can just contact IWM and they will replace it for you. I have never had an issue with this and besides if IWM gives you a bad casting your out maybe 15 bucks. If it's GW or PP you could potentially be out 50 or 60 and those guys are a pain to get in touch with! Lets all look on the bright side, at least they don't have the QC department of Mongoose Publishing. Have you ever actually seen the Starship Troopers stuff up close. The casting is horendous!  ;D

-Gunz

[samir3050]

If you have a problem, you should let them know, explain what is wrong with them....I do and they fix it everytime(surprised Mr. Noe has not blacklisted me yet!).  Considering the amounts of minis I have gone through I have experienced pretty good quality for the most part, asf and warships are some of the problems for me as well but it is also a pretty big chunk of metal to fill

[StCptMara]

What it comes down to guys is that when you deal in the volume that they deal in slip-ups happen; it's really just luck of the draw. Sure I have recieved my fair share of poorly aligned CBT mini's but I have also opened GW stuff and Privateer press stuff and had the same issues. The main difference to me is that with CBT/IWM the flaws are often minor or easily fixable. Worse case scenario you have a mini that would do better as a wreck marker you can just contact IWM and they will replace it for you. I have never had an issue with this and besides if IWM gives you a bad casting your out maybe 15 bucks. If it's GW or PP you could potentially be out 50 or 60 and those guys are a pain to get in touch with! Lets all look on the bright side, at least they don't have the QC department of Mongoose Publishing. Have you ever actually seen the Starship Troopers stuff up close. The casting is horendous!  ;D

-Gunz

Honestly, of the mess-ups I have received(listed above), the only one that has prevented me from moving forward with the mini is the
spalling on the Fafnir..and that is only because my groups fabricator has not gotten around to greenstuffing it.

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

I got an order from them a few weeks ago.  The only problem I had was the Crossbow (original omnimech) had some mold lines and some of the stabilizer fins on the ASFs I ordered were a little bent.  I filed down the mold lines and flattened the fins (by sticking them between two heavy books), problems solved.  Any time I've had a real problem with something I bought, like missing pieces, they've gotten me replacements really quickly, even for archived items

[speck]

Below is a response from Mike Noe to the various posts....

Greetings fans of BattleTech and Iron Wind Metals customers.

I’ve been informed about the thread regarding quality control at Iron Wind and
wanted to make a quick response.

This spring and summer was a tough one here, we lost our head caster right before
the start of what turned out to be our busiest con-prep season in the company
history. We adapted and managed to grow quickly, but this inevitably means that
rookies are thrust into full production mode, often too soon.  We try to catch
miss-casts, but some will always slip through.

The new part of the crew is getting more experienced now, we’ve discussed the issues
with them, and hopefully we’ll be back on track moving forward. And, as always, we
standby what we do and fix our mistakes.

So, thanks for the comments, both positive and not so, thanks for the business. We
couldn’t do this without you…