"Sgt. Major quality of castings and service?" Topic

How are the quality of castings and service from Sgt Major? I'm particularly interested in the ex-Vendel ranges.

I've read at least three reviews that speak of excess flash, and one that describes one of two troop types the reviewer picked not being good enough for him to field due to miscast faces (chunks missing from the molds).

On the other hand I've seen some of the figures close up on blogs that show what look like nice castings, particularly the dwarves I've seen. And the guy on the Tides of War blog shows many hundreds (thousands?) of figures he's got from Sgt Major and I don't recall seeing a bad word about them there.

Flash is one thing if it's literally only flash, the line is not in a bad spot (face) and the mold is properly aligned, but it's entirely another thing if by flash we're talking chunks of molds missing and misalignment (more like step than a line).

The metal allow also means quite a lot to me. From what I've seen in a close up pic on the web comparing sgt major to other manufacturers the allow looks decent. Not gritty like for example Ral Partha / Iron Wind and not that shiny stuff Foundry uses. Those are at least two qualities I try to avoid. First hand experiences?

Please say what ranges you've seen personally, as well, and around what year you purchased in. I'm interested in all the ranges, to be honest, from the ancients to the border reivers to the Tolkien-inspired. Really like the Patten style and if they're interested in sculpting it, I'm likely interested in it too.

I just have a big concern as the ranges have been around awhile and passed hands. I would think manufacturers would make new molds from the original masters as the old ones wear out but sadly we know that's not often the case. I've had bad experiences ordering direct from manufacturers and won't buy anymore unless I feel confident. I do almost all of my buying on Ebay and one reason is I can always see the actual miniatures I'm buying. From the manufacturer I always feel it's "sight unseen." I almost want to ask them to assemble the order on the table, take close up pics, and then I'll decide whether to click buy. I know that probably won't happen, but the whole situation is a bit of a shame.

I have bought two lots of stuff form the gentleman. One lot of the ancient Indians which I believe were the old vendal range. And was happy with them, they are on the larger size and very beefy, not the Dixon samurai pumpkin head and body look but defiantly one of the larger figures out there.
The ancient Indians didn't have very much flash to them at all and the metal was fine from what I can remember of last summer when I bought them not overly shiny, no pitting at all which I think I saw someone else on here say something about and am not sure if said person took it up with Sgt Major himself to get anything fixed so can't comment on that front.
I have also just received some of his ancient Persian Cv with armour, the horses are excelent but the riders have a very stiff look to them in my eye, also the bodies look like they were round but have been flattened a bit is the best way I can describe them ( they haven't been flattened just sculpted cast that way).
The riders arms and legs are a it on the straight side. Will have to see how they paint up, again the hoses are stella, the metal this time around is shiny compared to last summer, the horses had the usual amount of flash I have seen from a lot of other manufactures and the different thing about the riders is they had a mould line going down each side, if I had to be critical I would say it is on the larger side than I have seen other companies have.
As to his service, last summer no troubles but this year I saw on here he is having some health issues so I just waited a while then got a blanket email explaining the reason etc. and offering refunds if desired. So this time it took longer due to his health which is understandable so just waited.
As to his other ranges I could not comment, hope this helps.

I ordered ancient Greeks from him a while ago. There was next to no flash and the detail on them was excellent. More recently, I ordered some of the By Fire and Sword range. In both instances the service was outstanding.

Regards, Bill

I just ordered from them, took longer than usual to get them but they all arrived.
All of the Vendel ranges are good, I have a lot of the Greeks and the Tolkien-inspired goblins/orcs make up most of my goblin/orc forces. I also use their Reivers with Foundrys.
One thing I've noticed about the metal is it is much harder than other companies, one of the figures came kind of leaning forward unnaturally and I had a problem getting him bent back to standing.

I have a lot of the Vendel Dwarves and I really like their look. I prefer them to the GW LOTR figures (I have lots of those too)

Sgt Major -- I have seen a fair amount of flash and even a miscast face. Even after that, they're one of my favorite lines.

There was a similar issue to the one aynsley cites with the Persian cavalry with Gripping Beast figures some years ago when they were being produced by 19th Century Miniatures: some sort of distortion happened with some moulds they were using that resulted in a loss of bulk in the figures, spindly legs, and tiny feet. Patten sculpts obviously don't like being transferred to the other side of the pond.

Thanks very much everyone, this is extremely helpful! Weighing up I plan to give it a go. I'll just ask to be warned if there are any problems with specific molds/castings such as a miscast face or flattened. I've definitely seen the flattened look before. The molding/casting process always takes a little out of the girth so, for example, an orb becomes an egg to one degree or another, but more than a little and I take it someone made mistakes in molding and didn't step up and fix them.

I plan to start with a small/medium order with the fellowship of the ring amongst them and a reivers clan.