[Lantz's Corner] Armorcast's Cinematic Effects Review

Well it sure has been a while since I've done a review on here. With all of this contest madness and life staring me down lately, it's been hard to find time for my own conversion work. Luckily last week I managed to sit down and get some AdMech modeling done and ran across a package I was saving for a future project. What was in the package, you ask? Well, the title should kind of give it away, but it was a couple of items from Armorcast's semi-new line of cinematic pieces. I think some of these things can really put the finishing touches on some of our more detailed models, so I took a chance on them. You may remember my last review of Armorcast didn't go so smoothly, so what happened this time? Any more horror stories from this webstore? Find out after the break.

Usually I'd start out with how the webstore itself functions and my opinion on that. But seeing as I've already reviewed Armorcasts's webstore before, and since then not much has changed, I'll move on to the next section: shipping. As you might recall, last time shipping was quite the headache. In fact, probably the worst time I've had getting something shipped when purchasing something online. This time around? Infinitely better. Shipping is still damn cheap, and the time it took to get to my little center of the US (Kansas) was about 4 business days; not too shabby.

The items I ordered were large/medium flame gouts and some small smoke plumes for a conversion I have rolling around in my head. These items came in a typical bubble-wrap envelope which is more than enough protection for such items in my opinion:

The items themselves come in plastic baggies with the Armorcast logo printed on a cardboard backing:

I'll start off by saying the fire plumes were a tad larger than what I was expecting, but seeing as the picture on the webstore of these things is matched up with a measuring device, I only have myself to blame here. The detail on these is just as the webstore pictures suggest. There aren't any visible mold lines and the tail of the flame gives enough sprue leeway for modding needs which I appreciate:

The smoke plumes were a tad larger than what I was expecting as well, but they're spot-on on the 1/2" length the webstore describes, so again, damn me... There's no noticeable mold lines on these things, though there is a tiny bit of flash as you might notice below:

For a better size comparison I busted out my old Pedro Kantor model that was collecting dust:

Pros:

Low shipping rates

Fast shipping time

Great model detail

Cons:

Would prefer lighter material (resin/plastic) for items used for cinematics

Tiny bit of flash

Conclusion:

This experience was exponentially better than the last. While this was a simple order, I'm glad Armorcast has this line of product so someone as lazy as myself doesn't have to take the time to GS these items. Overall a great experience, and I foresee me getting a few more items from their cinematic line.

~Lantz

(www.twin-linked-awesome.blogspot.com)