GW suspending metals production?

[MarcoSkoll]

The latest news, although not confirmed, on Warseer (copied from Frothers) seems to be that GW are suspending metals production: http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=298959

Whispers are that this is heralding the long rumoured shift to resin (and I'm not too surprised, given the relative costs and GW's dwindling profits).

Resin could be good (aside from the sharper quality and a weight that won't smash superglue apart, it'll make it a sight easier to hide non-GW models when their weight won't immediately give them away), but if they are really just stopping production on metals for three months or more, it could be worth getting any near-future orders in before their stocks suddenly disappear.

[Heroka Vendile]

Intruiging - and perhaps worrying. I could see GW using this as an excuse to cut down/drop model support for the SGs completely.

Myself not really knowing much beyond the basics about moulding, would they keep using the metal mould and just pour resin into them or would they need to make completely new moulds?

[MarcoSkoll]

I also know next to nothing about moulding, but I think the future of the SG range will be mostly dependent on them being able to keep the old metal moulds.
I can't see them putting the money into remastering the moulds, given that they've essentially refused to do it this far - all those things we've lost because the moulds wore out...

However, the people wittering on the Warseer thread seem to think the same spin-casting techniques are viable for both metals and resin with little change. And let's be honest, given the size of GW's metals range, I can't see them wanting to drop hundreds of thousands/millions of pounds on remastering all of their moulds and buying new equipment if their old stuff will do the job.

[Dolnikan]

As far as I know the same kind of moulds can be used with resin. I do however think that they won't switch to resin because filing it can cause health issues and you don't want to be selling stuff like that in your stores to children, it would just chase out all the parents.

[MarcoSkoll]

Yes, it does sound funny from the perspective of the associated health problems, but the resin rumour has been going around nonetheless.

And with a 3 month plus gap in production*, it does rather imply they're doing something big.

*I shall need to buy those Warp Spiders...

[Dolnikan]

Well, rumours have the tendency to go around and reinforce themselves. But the three month gap still seems strange. Even if they were changing the materials they use they wouldn't need such a production gap. The changes to the machines could be made one by one. That is what I would have done in order to maintain production.

[Necris]

Judging by the fact that the 2 minis I ordered at the IGT were out of stock I'm not curious to see what form they come in.

I'll be very pleased if they are resin

and pleased if they are metal

[greenstuff_gav]

As far as I know the same kind of moulds can be used with resin. I do however think that they won't switch to resin because filing it can cause health issues and you don't want to be selling stuff like that in your stores to children, it would just chase out all the parents.

this isn't true; resin is only bad in unprocessed form or if you consume it (either eating or breathing in dust) so it's not that much different; isn't there a 14+ label anyway?

according to a couple of sources, the Retailer Order Form has been reducing over the last couple of months...

personally i could see GW dropping SG entirely

on a casting-front, it's entirely possible to use the centrifuge-spinner with a fast-cast resin (work life of a few seconds) but to make it cost effective you need many spinners casting at the same time; once a batch is mixed you need to keep it flowing or it sets in the gun.
More likely, i'd re-work master casts to allow for drop-split-casting ala at work; with a single mould-maker, you could make a dozen moulds a day (each taking 24 hours to set properly), but it's more the casting up the quantities GW would require; moulds should only be ran once every 48 hours, any more than that and they degrade quickly

[Stormgrad]

Any possible info on the figures that where out of stock?

[Necris]

The Bounty Hunter
Inquisitor Covenant

were the 2 I ordered

Stone seemed to be in stock fine though as Marco can testify as he got his on the day

[Sabotage!]

Hmmm, It's looking it's highly likely they are suspending metal production based on an experience I just had.

I place an order the other night for the following:
Arbites Judge
Barbaretta
Bounty Hunter
Slick Devlan

When I checked out each model's description it said "usually ships within 24 hours," on all models. Upon reading this post I went back and checked each model's description, and Slicks now says "This product is expected to dispatch in five to six weeks." I went and checked out my order receipt on their site, and on it says "usually ships within 24 hours," on all four. So it appears that production has been stopped, at least on Slick, temporarily. I'm hoping I managed to snag the last one in the U.S. warehouse (Keep in mind this experience is dealing with their U.S. store, and their stocks here), but it's very possible they just hadn't updated the model's status until I had placed my order. Looks like another call to customer service may be in the future if the lot doesn't ship off tomorrow.

[Hadriel Caine]

I'm not sure this changes things for us. There is no support for SG.
I don't think I've bought an INQ mini direct from GW since the cancelled the bitz service.

The only problem I can see is if eBay prices go up. We've lost so many minis over the years I think I'm numb to news like this.

Time to look to Andrea et al again...

[DapperAnarchist]

Damn, seems I better go check if I can still get the Devout Sisters...

[Macabre]

I may be missing something, but these resin rumours are just rumours. Having spoken to some of my old colleagues that still work for the company, and whilst as far as they're concerned this switch to resin has been on the cards since the second year's fiscal profits from Forgeworld came back, there isn't anything currently circulating that this switch will happen anytime soon. Likewise, I'm not sure where people are getting this 'shipping/dispatching' scare from as the website hasn't changed (at least for the INQ range), and I even checked with an MOT and asked whether there was any problems with the stock, and he sounded just as confused as I am about the whole thing. They don't currently cast the INQ range to stock level anymore and only tend to cast-to-order with most of the SG range (which they've been doing since the Mail Order reshuffle in 2007). Sorry guys, but I really think someone is yanking the chains here with this.

[Heroka Vendile]

indeed, I had a look and all SGs were the standard available in 24 hours of ordering. The US store might be different because they'll perhaps organise their casting differently - maybe preferring to do min-batches when X number of Y has been ordered, rather than constantly swapping the moulds around for individual castings?? This is just conjecture though.