I have to say, from what I've seen it's an awesome kit with really nice details. Oh, and I've heard the orcs are great too. So if you can get one that will go together nicely, it seems like it would be a superb centerpiece for your mordor army.
(Luckily I don't play mordor so I won't even be tempted to get one.)

I'm confused. Didn't you just get done telling oldmanwillow that hot air wouldn't deform the model?

_________________
Woodland Realms: 2382 pts: 18/08/2010

There might be a problem with the resin if it's in direct sun light, especially if there's a window magnifying the rays. I trus OldmanWillow to know what he's talking about.

In the end the Great Beast is a magnificent model when put together properly. Not worth the price though in my opinion. Although, depending on certain situtations, I would like to do a Grond diorama. I've seen the other topic on Grond being sold on e-bay in Greece. I'll wait on DMS to post results.

Btw DMS, you asked before how many GBoG (yes much needed acronym) does it take to pull Grond? I believe it's 4 according to the film. I would recommend 2, unless of course you're rich or very fanatical.

_________________
My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

Completely agree with you. Has anyone had any major defects or problems with finecast when placed next to a window? Because thats where all my models are displayed. I may get something as a backdrop for it to prevent it..

Unless you live in Texas, it shouldn't get hot enough to deform your minis. Hot water is about 110 degrees F, a hot summer day in most places won't get above 100 F.

_________________
"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.

The temperature of an electric fire is much, much hotter than warm air, I have had Finecast in a window last summer with no problems, also Forge World for years in hot summers with no problems here in the UK.

I would not like to comment on other countries with really hot weather, but in the UK we do not have a problem

_________________
Harfoots-The first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.

Just went to GW and opened another and it was exactly the same. The guy showed his mate and he said his 2 were exactly the same but managed to fix it, which he did in the shop for me. I tried and failed, so you will need to be either skilled or have experience with Finecast to fix this model or more patience than I, might help to. I still needed to swap the item due to the miscasts of the crew (the new set looks perfect). So, 10/10 for staff help and if I were you, open it at the shop, check the bits and ask them to fix the beast for you.

So it would seems that most of these first casts are bad.....But, good news that GW's ever good customer service came through.

I received my Great Beast of Gorgoroth yesterday and there are no casting problems. No bubbles, mistcast parts, or other notable problems. It does appear that I'll have to warm the beast a bit to get the two halves to fit together, but overall the kit looks great and I'm quite pleased with it. As others have commented, the detail on the crew and howdah is top notch and the beast itself looks quite good. A+ from me.

Well I guess you'll be the one to mention to us if it is a myth or a fact come summer and if you have a Finecast model. I think OldManWillow is more suited to answer your question. Apparently he has tons of experience with resin, but not GW's Finecast. OMW showed pictures before of large resin models that became slump/slouch because of temperature over time. Now there are rumours flowing through the net that Finecast can warp and melt. Question is can you doubt these rumours to be true? Them coming from different sources, I don't doubt much.

_________________
My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

I have the answer to people who think the Finecast models will melt in the Summer or you live in a hot Country, simple really just keep them in the Refrigerator!

_________________
Harfoots-The first of the Hobbit people to cross over the Misty Mountains and enter Eriador.

I will admit that I could be overreacting, but this whole thing: the move the finecast, the drop in quality, the increase in price, the change to the pricing and quantity in the plastic model kits ---- I've had it with GW. They are so full of themselves and they don't give a sh!t about us loyal fans. They have shown no respect for the LotR cannon, neither have they shown any real dedication in putting out a superior product. They're raping us and laughing their @sses off about it all the way to the bank because we keep forking over the cash and saying dumb stuff like: "this stuff isn't so bad, you have have to warm it up for a bit to get it to fit together."

Get a grip people, they are ripping us off at every turn and it's only going to get worse until we do something about it. I, for one, and refusing to buy anymore of their tripe until they smarten up and quit producing a substandard product. And it pains me so much because I am such a student of the JRRT world, at one point I could've been convince that the backstory writers at LotR SBG cared as much about the minutia of Middle Earth backstory as I do.... I've come to see that all they care about is profit and I can, no longer in good conscience continue to feed their greed.

_________________
Woodland Realms: 2382 pts: 18/08/2010

Don't worry Mor-galad, they will return someday to the quality they used to be at and then use that as an excuse to bump up the prices even more. GW Classic, a page right out of Coca-Cola.

_________________
My Lotr backlog: 305/952[][][][][][][][][][]32% completed
Painting Lineup: Mumakil x2, Rohan Heroes x8, Haradrim, SKoDA

Not an option for me.
I picked the Beast up Friday at an independent and found the flaws. I made the call to customer service in Memphis TN. I had to wait for business hours central time Monday to talk to customer service. The gentleman I spoke with will look after it Wednesday. In his defense they have to send him one. He will inspect a replacement and ship it. Three day delivery, add week end. So I might have it by next Monday. I really don't think I will be purchasing much of anything made by finecast in the future.

_________________
"the same as a duck you must be made of wood"

By the way, it should say 'Great Beast' not 'Beast of Gorgoroth' as the 'Great' part is more important than the 'of Gorgoroth' part.

I think it is ironic that it is called a Great Beast, and yet until the factory manages to sort it out, (which should be soon as they have alreay started), the model is certainly not 'Great' nor is it cast 'Fine' -ly

_________________
"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

GW is a master of irony.

_________________
My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

My dad made the mistake of ordering one direct from GW HQ as my birthday present, so having heard this I told him I wanted to check it over to make sure it was ok. (completely ruining the birthday experience - its in three weeks.) because I'd heard all the stories about how bad the quality is.

The actual Howdah and orc crew were superb, I was really surprised at the level of detail. The Beast itself however... terrible.
The gap between the two pieces was about 5mm and the head was offset by about the same amount.
Dad called customer support, they told him we should take it into our local store and get a replacement.

So we went in, told the store manager who was very kind and opened up a new of the shelf copy and allowed me to check it over - everything seemed fine, same quality of orcs and howdah, and the beast actually appeared on first glance to fit together almost perfectly. He told me that if there were any gaps then 5 mins with a hairdryer would work, and then proceeded to tell me that buying liquid green stuff to fill any holes would do the job. So basically they want me to buy more stuff from them to fix the problems they caused???? The reason? 'We've just switched over to a new material and system -its just teething problems.' its been over 6 months, get it sorted....

Of course it wasn't the guy in the shop fault - he was just doing his job.

Got the mini home, proceeded to remove all the flash and mold lines, and below and behold it does not fit together!! The gap is smaller, but the head is completely deformed.... Outrageous and all that for £44!

Anyway, I am going to try out the hairdryer/hot water method today and see how that goes. I am very annoyed by all the hassle that has unnecessarily been caused... This will be my last fine cast model i think, unless i see proof that they've got their act together.

_________________
http://www.one-ring.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=22290
MY WIP. Please feel free to take a look :)

I suppose someone will trot out the familiar "you're just one of the unlucky ones" excuse soon enough... I refuse to buy Finecast, because its inferior to metal but way more expensive. I want the Minas Tirith Commanders set, but £24 for 4 models? Models which are much more likely to be miscast than metals... Try £16 then I'll consider it.

_________________
My (more regularly updated) painting blog:
https://www.facebook.com/Pindergorn/

I found out that the reason behind the miscasts is that all of the Great Beasts were removed from their molds to soon, so the majority of the casts altered shape before they solidified. I have repeated fromn the finecast miscasts thread.

_________________
"I am the Flying Spagetti Monster. Thou shall have no other monsters before me"
-FSM.

I really don't understand why everyone is mad about the prices of the new command sets. The old 3 piece set was $25. The new set is $39. Most (if not all) of the heros/models that make up the fourth piece would cost about $12, so they're only really marking it up 2 bucks, which is no where near as bad as many of the other FC sets.

_________________
"Leave Sauron to me."
If you're in the Raleigh, NC area, let me know.