Here is the first batch of my Finns from the Baker Company Kickstarter. I'll write up a review about them later when I've painted more, but I'll have to rant a bit now too :)
Judging from the quality of these minis it really seems that the guys at Baker Company are a victim of their own success. Some of the sculpts just seem extremely rushed and the quality differences between them are massive. There are actually a few sculpts that are something that you would call medium quality minis. Not nearly as good as something for the Perry Bros for example, but still reasonable proportioned and with good detail. Then there are some with proportions that are totally off, with really skinny ankles being the biggest problem. Looks weird and makes the minis quite fragile.
This might be a bit finicky, but seriously nearly all of the boots are totally off. Nearly all of them look like modern military boots with their laces etc. and they are too narrow compared to the legs. The proportions kind of make it look even worse. If the boots were actually bigger then it wouldn't looks as funny.
And finally the casting quality was really bad on some of the minis in my batch. I guess I spent about 2 hours removing all the mould lines, ingates and overflow areas. I hope this is just because Gavin has to cast these in a hurry to fulfill all the pledges and the final product will be done better.
Anyway now that I've got that out of my system here's a bit about the painting too :P I started the snowsuit from Khaki and worked through 5 layers finishing with highlights of pure white. I tried to go for a slightly yellowish dirtier looking unit, but I guess I went a bit overboard with the offwhite and white highlights so in the end they look quite clean. Decided against adding mud on the legs and elbows too, so maybe they can just represent a unit at the beginning of the war.
The snow is from Noch and it's a combination of their snow paste and snow flock. Looks good on the minis, but it actually shrunk quite a bit overnight leaving weird holes in some of the bases. I guess I have to fix those and next time remember to apply a smaller layer of it so that it won't happen again.
These are some of the better sculpts from the batch. Nice faces, didn't have much flash and they have nice poses too.
Mr. Monkey Face and the Running Man. Seriously are these two even sculpted by the same guy?
You did a great job on these figures. It's a shame they're not up to todays standard. I'd love to give the winterwar a go.
VastaaPoistaThanks! Even though I do complain about them they are still not that disastrous :) Some of them are actually quite good and go in line with their original plan of starting a new better quality line. From the around 20-25 (need to check when I get home) poses for the Finnish platoon I'd say there are about 4 really bad castings and maybe 6-8 which are below average, but usable (like the guys in the third image). The tiny ankle syndrome is pretty much the only thing evident with most of the minis.
PoistaHopefully Warlord is going to expand their selection. Their skiing Finns are great, but I think the continuation war range is a bit lacking. Plus their combination box is a bit random with the 5 skiers and rest in summer uniform.
Great looking figures!!!
VastaaPoista