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.
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?
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.
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.
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...
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.
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
Quote from: Dolnikan on March 31, 2011, 12:46:40 PM
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 :P
Any possible info on the figures that where out of stock?
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
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.
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...
Damn, seems I better go check if I can still get the Devout Sisters...
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.
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.
Everything you have been told is a LIE !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just got off the phone with US mail order
the sold out product is the Grey Knights, all other product is in stock
as for production UK makes metal and plastic
the US only makes Plastic
Yep, no problem with the UK - ordered 4 figs Friday night, just seen the e-mail saying they were ready for dispatch Saturday.
I ordered a Mynarc (my first inquisitor model) on the 31st and it got dispatched the following day. Seems to be no problems with stock of the metal models in the UK. Just waiting for the thing to arrive now... :p
We don't necessarily know that they've stopped yet. And even if they have, they should have a healthy stock of most of them.
The warning is more that metal models in their range could go out of stock and stay that way for some time - get orders in before then.
Marco, as I have already endeavoured to discover, if GW are putting a halt to metal production, then they are keeping it very quiet, even from their own staff. To be honest, this sounds like a lot of scare mongering in order to induce a spate of panic buying, or more logically a disenfranchised gamer who had gotten the wrong end of the stick with a delayed order. And as I have already stated, yes most of the SG range is no longer cast to maintain surplus levels (and hasn't been for about three years now), but it doesn't mean that they will be stopping all metal production for the range. Normally now, if they don't have specific SG models in stock, they will cast to order (so yes, there will be a delay).
It may be all hot air and piffle. Which is why my first post includes words like "not confirmed", "rumour" and "if" - and why the topic title ends with a question mark.
However, the original source is an independent retailer (http://www.shop.battlefield-berlin.de/) who got news from GW and has denied he was pulling an early April 1st. So you will have to forgive me for doing what I thought was the decent thing and passing it on to those who don't frequent Warseer.
I'm going to take it as a hint to stop procrastinating over getting a few of the models I want for my Eldar army (given that I almost never buy Inquisitor models). Others can do what they will.