A review, not for the feint-hearted or those of a nervous disposition!
Having seen quite a few finished Art Girona figures on this site I thought I would give a couple of them a try. I chose my favourite subject, ACW, and sent off for 2 figures, A Confederate General and Sergeant Major. I'll keep the review to just the General but the comments on quality apply to both.
Firstly the kits arrived in beautifully sealed packages with a loose picture showing back and front of the figure and the kit was well packed between 2 pieces of foam. This I'm afraid is as good as it gets.
On opening the box I was disappointed by the quality of casting. A very large seam running from the back of the neck, all the way down the left arm, heavy seams on both legs and the right arm to the extent that removal would distort the figure. The hat is split in two by the seam and again filing away this would leave a very distorted shape.
Looking at the picture the collar appears to continue all around the back and to the left front, mine was completely missing. The picture also shows the strap on the front continuing to the binocular case with a buckle detail on it. This buckle is not on the figure or included in the parts. Am I supposed to make this myself?
The right foot, which is placed on a rock, is missing the sole and heel and only a very thin upper remains. On both boots there is an area to locate spurs, no spurs are visible amongst the parts, again is this something I will have to make?
The sash is so badly cast that if I were to clean up the mould lines there'd be hardly anything left of it.
Finally the sword hilt has a large amount missing.
I was just going to bin this kit and call it a day but decided to email AG. the first email was ignored, the second one with pics was replied to and a new kit offered. This arrived just under 3 weeks later, whoopee!
This time no mould lines but the foot is still missing the sole and heel, the collar is no better, no sign of spurs. The sad thing is that the box appears to have been opened, checked and resealed. Again I emailed my concerns and to date have not had a reply, AG you are off my list of kit suppliers, no matter how wonderful your kits look on the sites, you will not tempt me again.







chippy

more pictures



chippy

Thanks for the info Gordon. Real shame about the faults with the kit as it looks great on the box art. I also have this kit so guess I should open the box and check it out.

I had problems with a horse from one of their mounted kits, it had a very heavy and offset mould line on both sections of the horse and was distorted when trying to fit the two halves together, it needed to be filed down and filled and partially re-sculpted which is not what you expect to be doing with a £55 kit.

I emailed them on several occasions about the problem but never got a reply, bit of a disappointment when you consider that I have invested in most of their kits.

Tommi

Hi Gordon, Good to see someone reviewing a kit as it is warts and all-personally I have little confidence in "Reviews" as they are generally kits received FOC and the reviewer is unlikely to bite the had that feeds them.
A friend of mine recently bought a kit that was given a glowing review, on opening the box he was so disgusted with the sculpting and casting that he immediately flogged it on Ebay at a loss...perhaps we need a few more of these warts and all appraisals.
Keith

Thanks for taking the time to write an honest review, and also for sharing the pictures to back up the write up. Like Keith I'm disappointed with glowing reviews even when the pictures tell a different story.

I've had more good then bad luck with Art Girona. I have most of the figures from them that was sculpted by Raul Latorre which are quite a few kits. Most of the castings are perfect while others leave a lot to be desired, much like your kit. Not any real standard like for example Pegaso or Young Miniatures which is unfortunate as they have a lot of very cool subjects.

Thanks again for taking the time and thanks for the honesty.

Anders? Do you have any examples of dis-honest reviews? I guess I sorta like all reviews but hey, that's just my opinion. Not slinging mud. It's just that I appreciate a persons efforts (not that you don't) to attempt a review as this isn't something easily done.

You say you have quite a few Art Girona kits that you were not overly pleased with? (I only have 2, both by Latorre, and have to admit that I was pleased with them) Why not post an honest review? Doesn't have to be here, it could be anywhere (you can still link outside reviews here on pF). Especially with your stature within this hobby now, an honest review from you would carry a lot of weight. Why not whip one up for us?

Jim Patrick

While I can appreciate your passive agressive post Jim, I'm not going to go there. I'm simply saying that just like Keith, the review made by Gordon is a good review, his description of the kit is backed up by the pictures which shows exactly what he is talking about.

If I had more spare time I'd be happy to do reviews, unfortunately work and other commitments keep me pretty busy these days.

The information in the reviews that Guy and myself supply is based on the visual inspection and test fitting of the parts in the box supplied to us by the figure manufacturer.



All the information is as accurate as possible and that is why we produce a pictorial review with close up images of parts to back up the written text.
If you look back through some of the reviews and read through the text you will see comments like” needs some filler in the joint” or “removal of the seam line” etc.


Yes we do get kits sent to us for review and it is a very time consuming process of photographing, test fitting and writing up the text as accurately as possible.



We are not doing this as a way to build up our grey army as most of the time the subject matter is not one of personal choice, we are doing this as a way to give you the members of this forum an insight into a product before you part with your hard earned money and help promote the sales of the figure manufactures and retailers in these hard times.


Gordon’s review is good and based on what he has found in the box. I have had similar experiences with figures that I have purchased from very well known manufactures with casting ranging between unusable to outstanding and would publish my findings as accurately as possible if I was ever asked to review a figure good or bad casting.


A final point, a percentage of the figures I review I purchase out of my own pocket as the figure is my chosen subject. I still take the time to photograph and review the figure if I feel that passionate about it.


Regards
Tommi

Hi Tommi,

I understand your sentiment but feel the only true review is when you open the box. As a reviewer I am sure you receive early castings which when reviewed indicate a quality not apparent to subsequent purchasers. Any manufacturer would be foolish to send a poor casting to a reviewer. As a reviewer if you did get a poor example you then have a dilemma, rubbish the kit or not bother to review. By not reviewing you are then failing to pass a warning to fellow modellers that this is not worthy of their hard earned money.
Is there not a legal situation here, what if a kit was rubbished!? could a manufacturer prosecute?
I'm not trying to denegrate the work put into reviews, however I still feel that they are of limited value to me as a collector and modeller.
The recent example of a reviewed kit served to reinforce my doubts about their value, clearly the reviewer had a cleaned, good or early casting, my friend received what can only be described as a dogs breakfast which he had been mislead into buying, chastened by the experience he decided to sell on Ebay at a £10 loss. he sent me the pictures of this kit and it is a mess.
Keith

You make a valid point Keith, samples would be the most pristine pre-production/production pieces and can be different from what is purchased on the street.

Having said that, there is a distinction with the way we are posting.

"Open Box"
Nothing more than close up shots of the contents and some descriptions. The posters comments are opinion and the kit images speak for themselves.

"Review"
A review in the traditional sense, warts and all. Reviewers will reflect their findings.

Gordon's review here is not "Open Box" and I will correct the thread title.

I should make it clear that I have absolutely no problem with 98% of the reviews here, they are good for what they are. With the internet being the biggest outlet to purchase figures these days, often sight unseen it is invaluable to have pictures of the kits available.

The fact of reviews is that it would be impossible to keep a steady flow of reviews if the manufacturers did not send them in to be reviewed. And like Keith said, it is a no brainer for a manufacturer to send in a kit for review. I don't have a problem with this, I think it is the only way to have a constant supply of reviews. Nor do I care what the person who reviews it does with the kit once it is reviewed, it is their "payment" for taking the time to do the review and have all the rights to do whatever they wish to with the products.

However, I do have a problem when the text does not match the pictures. I have several examples of reviews done here (I'll be happy to send to whomever cares) that state "excellent casting, minimal cleanup required, etc", while the pictures show massive mold shifts and very appearant casting flaws. Now this could be a simple error such as just copying and pasting from other reviews or whatnot, but when the proof is in your face in form of pictures it makes the words in the review somewhat 'weightless'. We as consumers rely on those words when it comes to dry fitting of the kit etc, but also when it comes to wether or not to spend money on the product.

There are other examples of reviews here where the same issues are appearant in the pictures but it is fully disclosed in the text, that there is some cleanup etc required. This is perfect! And this is the case with most of the products reviewed here.

I too agree with manufactures sending their very best product to be reviewed. That really can be decietful for a company to practise this while supply the masses with sub par quality casting.

Then there are those companies (Andrea and Pegaso to name a few) who do not supply review examples and instead make consumers purchase the figure to review. I know some people have issues with Andrea at times (I personally have not) but as a whole, I find their casting very exceptable as well as Pegaso. In fact, I dare say, recieving a flawed kit from either Pegaso or Andrea is the exception rather than the rule. Their customer service more than makes up for any flawed kit in my opinion.

Additionaly there are manufactures who provide review examples where everyone knows their reputation is beyond reproach (Young and Alpine came to mind here) so there is no doubt what your getting when you recieve their kits. Of course, there are others, just these two came to mind first.

Of coiurse then there is the dredded "Highly reccomended" reviews. To me? This is more of the individuals opinion. Maybe a reviewer sees a mold shift as a minor problem (really?!) and he still feels the kits is still highly recommended? Then an individual feels it is a major problem and the the review(er) is complete garbage.

I guess what I'm trying to say is there are far too many opinions involved with a review for me or anyone else to qualify said review as garbage. Your opinion? Sure, no problem. But does your opinion mean that you are correct for everyone? Maybe not.

Jim Patrick

Yes, there are plenty of areas where opinion comes into play, for example with the pose of the figure, the quality of details etc etc as that is a judgement call based on the reviewers expectations, preferences and experience. I have no problems with any 'opinion call' at all what so ever, never have and never will.

However when you have pictures that clearly show casting defects it is no longer a judgement call nor an opinion sort of matter, that is what's called a fact.

But at the end of the day, it is what it is. I'm glad there are reviews out here for us all to see and appreciate the time the reviewers take to make it happen.

Gordon it would seam like you have a bad casting, I would have thought a quick note to art girona and all will be sorted.

I send in samples for review from stormtroopers to Guy so that people can see what is in the box. I must admit I dont send a bad casting but I dont send in the best either, these are kept for sub masters/copies of the original.

What I send is a representation of what you all should get. Not the first castings but a kit that is put together from all the parts and moulds that have been cast. Infact the Masterson figure recently reviewed Guy bought and revieved himself.

A while back I wrote to Guy and asked if he would review my kits for me as I liked the way he reviews other manufacturers kits. Thankfully he said yes, I was made up, chuffed to bits in fact. Now I could get people to see what is inside the box.

All manufacturers will make mistakes, I regularly forget something( even for a review sample) but will always go out of my way to rectify the problem as should all manufacturers.

Reviews/open box are a great way in this vast world to see what you get. I love them and regularly buy because of them.


Stuart

Good Review Gordon,

I have had similar problems with Art Girona castings last year. Its a shame really, they have some excellent figures in the product line.

Cheers,

Mike

Sometimes you have got to take a step back and look between the lines,
IT may help to make a generic list of bad points to look for on a kit,
from what I can see on your pictures there seems to be a lot of lead and
not much pewter in the casting. the more of the latter the crisper it will
be and less pitting also,as for reviews I am sure everyone does there best
but a picture is better than a thousand words.