Review: Chapter house Salamanders Land raider Kit

Well I broke down and bought a Salamanders kit for the Land Raider from Chapter house Studios.  I thought I would share my thoughts on the product.

First off the image to the left is what I received, upon opening the box I was impressed with the packaging.  It was solid and well packed, the resin parts where neatly tucked away in a sealed bubble wrap bag.

Now here comes the bad review, which I will break down into parts.

Shopping: If you have ever been to their website it is a pickle to navigate, the purchasing was painless.
Shipping: I'm dissapointed here, it took almost twenty days to arrive.  This could be a customs, USPS, or CPS issue, I'm not going to hold it against chapter house here.
The Product: Now if you look at the picture above, you should see all the nice red circles.  Each circle is a defect, either excess flashing, a mold defect or a thin point in the resin.  The detail however is good, It is just going to require a lot of work to clean it up repair parts and and attach them to the Land Raider.

Overall I'm skeptical if I will buy from them again.  This is just my opinion, take it as you will.

Review: Liquid Green stuff

Hello all,
I picked up a bottle of this new product today, and so far I am impressed.  as its name says its Liquid Green stuff, retails here for $4.45 for a GW paint pot sized amount.  I tried it out tonight on a conversion I have been working on and have to say I love it.  If you have seams or small cracks in a model, say where two parts join, then this is your friend.

So here are some Pros and Cons
Cons:

• Dries fast, leave the pot open and you will ruin it fast.  When I say dries fast I mean minutes after application.
• Water soluble, this is a double edged blade in this regard, the negative side is water based paints can liquify it again, however your primer should seal it.
• You can't sculpt with it, don't even try to.
• Dries a little soft.
• requires a little clean up and can hide details if you over brush.

Pros:

• Amazing control over where it goes, you brush it on.  Just use an old stiff brush.
• Dries fast, speeds up the time from assembly to painting.
• Is water soluble, I used a damp cloth to clean up an area of over brush.  Also if you spill any its an easy cleanup.  Will stain your brush green.
• You can file and Sand it.

After a few attempts at using it, like all our tools, you get better at using it.  I find this stuff a wonder, and will be using it to seal seams in tanks, and joints in models.  I recommend you get a pot and try it out, even works with warmahordes (Just clean your resin first).

New tool: Hobby vice

Hello all,

I have been on the hunt for a hobby advice for a little while, they seem to be rare creatures up this way.  Well I finally found one, and it was the GW hobby vice that retails for $18.00, and here are my impressions of it after a few hours of use.

First lets look at the construction, a good solid frame consisting of a solid single molded plastic base and half of the jaw.  It may be plastic but its strong and should hold up to the stresses of the hobby.  The other half of the jaw is equally as strong, and the rubber grips that hold the models/parts seem well enough. 

The biggest issue I have with this product is its suction base.  It just sucks!  I cant get this thing to grip for more then five minutes at a time, iv even tried plasticard.  It requires a non porous surface to grip to, and those are hard to find around the home (at least my home).

For $18 you will get a good starter vice, but if you are looking for something that will stay put for more then five minute intervals I would keep looking.