My two
knock-off Battlefleet Gothic ships finally arrived from Russia and
they are a lot better than I anticipated. I was actually fine with
what looked, on the eBay picture, to be a rather grainy finish to the
resin. After all, I was paying about three pounds a ship and pretty
much not much more on postage for dodgy recasts
from some Russian guy. Meanwhile, an original metal one of these
things from down the road was at minimum ten pounds.
The
idea that I'd have to compromise on quality was fine by me but then
they turned up and it turned out I hadn't compromised. These recasts
are amazing. Just look at the detail fidelity on these things...
When
I bought them I said you had to squint just a little to see them as a
Nova and a Gladius but with them in my hands there's no need to
squint at all, they just are straight up recasts of the original.
Also, I got a free plastic soap dish sent as packaging. Result!
Okay,
before anyone brings it up, yes this is technically miniature piracy.
HOWEVER, its not like Games Workshop makes these models anymore.
Choosing the Russian knock-off over second hand originals doesn't
take money out of the hands of the people who made them. They want to
bring this game back some day with a full product range I will
support the shit out of it but I see no reason to pay above the odds
for metal models that will chip and break over practically perfect
lightweight resin models that won't. If they were recasting models
currently in production then I wouldn't touch those, I think that's a
step too far.
The only
issues I have with the sculpts are that, as you can see from the soap
dish images, there are injection points at some pretty delicate
places. In fact, I did some small damage to the bottom of the Gladius
removing one.
The other
small issue was that arose, as you can see, is that the contact point
for the flying base on the Gladius is fractionally too wide. The one
on the Nova is the perfect size but it should be mentioned that some
packing of the contact point might be necessary before affixing the
base in some cases. Its a small flaw and one I'm more than willing to
live with when a frigate is just over £7 including postage and
packing.
Construction
is pretty pain free, even the tiny side gun or whatever it is Nova
has a pretty good tab design that helps you slot it into the exact
right spot to match the one molded onto the other side of the ship.
The rear fins on the Gladius also have a small detail on their side
that allows you to line them up perfectly with a connecting detail on
the main body of the ship that allows you to line them up right.
Purchasing
details
The name of
the seller is erinaceus_primus and his store can be found on eBay.
His product listings are, not unnaturally, in Russian but incorporate
the English class name of the ship so you can tell what you're buying
without comparing the picture to a rulebook. He carries, as far as I
can tell, recasts of all the frigates and escorts for the Space
Marines fleet including the escorts that can also be used in the
Imperial Navy fleet. They do not supply flying stalks but they can be
easily ordered from Games Workshop.
All models
are resin, please cut and assemble in ventilated conditions.
He accepts
payment by PayPal. He has a 14 day returns policy with the buyer
paying return postage.
