Recently I spotted an advertisement from “We Print Miniatures” stating they were now selling their Resin Miniatures Seconds Box at a 60% discount for just £20. This box was described as containing “a random selection of faulty or imperfect miniatures from our range” where each of the miniature’s 3D printing went a “little wrong” so were “maybe missing a foot or a head or something more drastic.”
As I’ve become increasingly interested in this new method of manufacturing models, and been very impressed with the figures “We Print Miniatures” have in their different ranges, I thought purchasing a box would probably be worth it. After all, at the very worst I expected to be sent a selection of damaged models which I could at least hopefully use as dilapidated statues for my “Frostgrave” or some generic fantasy-based tabletop.
Upon its arrival I must confess my first impressions were a little tepid due to the lack of size of the actual box. Measuring approximately 17cm x 11cm, and only being 2.5cm deep, I was somewhat concerned as to just how much it could contain. Yet upon opening it up, I did feel that the company had tried to live up to their hype of it being “crammed with as many of our failures as possible.” In addition, it clearly contained a number of weapons, heads and other hand-held items which I wasn’t expecting.
I therefore started sorting out the figures in an effort to establish which ones could actually be used as gaming pieces with a little tender loving care, and which miniatures would be condemned to becoming either statues or just spare parts. One model I was especially delighted to spy was Billy the Bone; a skeletal pirate captain who was clearly missing his pistol arm. This excellent sculpt ordinarily retails for £10 from “We Print Miniatures”, and frankly, despite his limb loss, I’m planning to just paint him up as is.
What did both surprise and disappoint me though was the sheer number of failed prints I received of a female cat warrior. I was entirely prepared to receive two or three ‘castings’ of the self-same sculpt, as I did for both the aforementioned Billy the Bone and some sort of Dwarf Librarian/Mage. But I certainly wasn’t anticipating twelve of this particular feline figure; whose biggest fault seems to have been the printer’s inability to finish the final few strands of rope she is carrying in her right hand.
Of course, I should be able to 'save' a fair few of these Bast-headed models by replacing the broken appendage with either a hand-weapon or, in some cases, a foot taken from one of the numerous plastic “Frostgrave” sprues produced by “North Star Military Figures”. However, I do get the distinct impression that someone simply ‘bunged in’ a dozen just to fill up my box without too much rhythm or reason, rather than believing a gamer could somehow turn them into a nice-looking Egyptian-themed unit with a bit of drilling/pinning, or use them for other conversion projects.
Perhaps this deal’s biggest asset though, was found amidst all the predominantly science-fiction based ‘bitz’ and consisted of eight Shark/Lizard helmet heads. These are just awesome, and will soon be put to use on either some extra-terrestrial “Stargrave” crew members, or perhaps even a semi-small squad of Carcharodon Space Marines for “Warhammer 40K”...