"Fernando - Should I be worried?" Topic

I sent some OG 15mm figures to Fernando and I am having them replace the lead flag pole with wire and I included 15mm GMB flags to put on them. I get a questionnaire from them and I am asked how long do I want the flag pole to be?

I have never had a painter asked that before. It has never been an issue. I honestly have no idea because I have never used 15mm GMB flags before. You would think that by now they would have this sort of thing down pat. Should I be worried?

I'd say that's a sign of them making certain of your requirements, a good sign.

Do you have a painted or unpainted figure that you could check the length?

They always check before doing anything like what you are talking about here. There is no going back once they make the cut.

My armies with flags and pikes have different lengths all over the place, and some people get quite OCD on this point. Welcome the communication.

When shipping to Asia you need to re-frame how you think about them. They are happy meal toy factories. They are not gamers.

They can do things like: make 20% of the horses brown, 50% black, 30% gray.

Anything else, and they ask.

If you don't have one, ask GMB for the dimensions of their flags and figure it out from there….

It sounds like they are trying to get it right. I think it is a perfectly legitimate question.

I've had no issues with Fernando on any order I have sent them.

They DO ask many questions if they are not sure what you want, I believe they are just trying to make sure your order is correct.

Extra Crispy has it right, they paint figures, but are not historians or gamers, so they ask.

This is a pertinent question, my Perry ACW have flag starts that are a little too small for GMB flags, Fernando are just making sure that the flags will fit, good customer service.

Like I said I never used 15mm GMB flags before. I have always used Signifier flags which are much smaller. So no I don't have anything to measure. It is a legit question, I just don't have an answer, so it is kind of what now?

If I knew this was going to be an issue I would have test fitted a flag before I sent it and sent a staff with a flag on it as an example. Too late now.

If they won't be attaching the flags, have them make the poles more than long enough; then you can cut them down to size when attaching the flags.

I've lead several offshore IT teams and the thing I noticed is what I call a lack of initiative, common sense…I don't have a good word for it but everyone was good technically but not an independent self starter.

With Fernando, I think you have non Subject Matter Experts who can paint but can't tell a Shako from a Sabretache. I always err on the side of too much information in these cases.

Have them put a long one on and you can cut it down to the size that you want and attach the flag yourself.

…Too late now…

Not at all. They can take pictures of the figures, the flags and the wire.

You can describe to them, even without specific detailed measurements, what the figures should look like with the wire cut to fit the figure and the flag fitted to the wire.

SO, the flag should fit the wire with room to spare above the figures hand[s] grasping the flag pole. As far as below the hand, does the pole extend through the hand? Do you want it touching the ground, or some distance 2-3-4 mm below but above the ground…depends on the figure pose.

Heck, they could mock up the three elements and send picture to you for adjustment.

Fernando's team are great painters but do they know anything about military history, uniforms, wargaming, etc, not really. I found it useful to prepare an instruction sheet. Photos of special things are useful.

link

Over the past 20 years I have gotten a thousand or so beautiful figures from these folks.

You don't need to be a wargamer to paint figures correctly. Some of the best figures I own were painted by non-wargamers. I sent them instructions with easy to follow pictures for each battalion. I know what I am doing in that regard.