Review: Micro Art Studios

Hello again. As I'm sure you all know from my previous post, I had purchased a slew of models from Micro Art Studios last week for my first stab at my Adeptus Mechanicus models. Shortly after gleefully ripping the mailbox from its hinges and prancing up the driveway to have my way with these miniatures I went to work and had quite an experience along the way. More after the break.

It's no small secret I'm very eager to get the AdMech models going. With the FanDex shaping up nicely, major changes (namely unit removals) have come to a creeping halt. And with that, it's time to start getting the actual models going rather than pissing off my gaming buddies by proxying with Space Marines and confusing the hell out of them and myself with what's what on the table. So with that, I'll start my review from my previous post on these models with my "Praetorians".

These guys are delightful. I'm thoroughly convinced MAC had the AdMech in mind when creating the Iron Brotherhood. There's too many empty gear symbols plastered all over them for this not to be the case. To that, I'm very grateful. These foot infantry came 5 to a blister pack and consist of two pieces; a body and gun with arms attached (no base). These guys only come in pewter, unfortunately, but are highly detailed and needed little to know shaving/cleanup. The blister packaging they came in looked to barely be big enough to fit all of the models in a single pack, which caused some of the weaker parts to bend, but this isn't uncommon with any pewter models. Unlike GW's pewter models, when bending things back into place the models gave a small cracking noise, but no outside cracking seemed to be apparent. The models themselves are quite static. They're all basically in the same pose, with 3 slight differences (heads turned, shoulders slumped, mask hoses modeled differently, etc.) I would prefer a mold that has one shooting their weapon, but until this is (ever) created I appreciate the models for what they are. Each model is given a lasgun-like weapon with three different designs of weapon per five infantry. The weapons are quite unique, and easily modified (like the one above I made into a Melta-gun,) one of which is very alien-plasma looking which works very well for a Hellgun. So here's the breakdown:

Pros:

Very detailed

Feels stronger than the normal pewter

Cons:

No base

Expensive

Static poses/Lack of options

Next up, let's go over the Stalker Tank which fills the role of the Gant in my fandex. This guy was packaged with Styrofoam in a cardboard box and honestly didn't need much more than that for protection. Opening the box I found almost every piece on a small sprew. Now we've all had to clean up resin models before, but this danced the sensual dance of ridiculousness:

This Oddly Reminds Me Of My Skin Three Days After A Trip To The Beach

Cleanup of excess resin took almost as long as building them model itself. The picture above is roughly what every sprew consisted of and isn't the worst of them. Once cleaning was done, construction took a turn from the fandex just a tad. This model is heavy. Very heavy. The "body" of the Gant could knock someone out if hit in the head with one of these. While this isn't a big deal as far as modeling goes, the problem I had personally was that I envisioned the Gant having four legs, not eight. With the weight of the "body", I was not comfortable leaving the model with only four legs for support.

Knowing others might want more than four legs as well as this model having the stability problem without eight, I'll be editing the fandex to give an undefined number of legs come the new version. Upon the process of completing my second Gant, I found that I was missing one of the joints of a leg. I contacted the seller and they advised they would send me out the missing piece in the mail ASAP. Building these models was a lot of fun, the posing of legs insures a dynamic pose every time. When constructing the model I placed the body on an elevated surface and constructed the legs from there. I made one model roughly 1 1/4" off the ground and the other 1/2" off the ground. My future intent is to make one that is at an angle so as to "poop" out the troops inside.The model itself turned out to be a bit smaller than I expected, but when placed next to a Rhino seemed to work out just fine. So here's the skinny:

Pros:

Very detailed

Very stable when using all eight legs

Cons:

A brick (weight)

Expensive

A lot of cleanup

So that's the two different sets of models I've purchased so far. I plan on more Gant purchases in the future and Skitarii-like models based on other Iron Brotherhood miniatures.

So overall, what's the breakdown?

Conclusion

Micro Art Studios is unarguably a good company. Customer service is spot on and the models they produce are something to behold. Prices are a bit outlandish on certain models, but not much worse than anything Games Workshop has done. Their shipping rates are amazingly low considering they're based in Poland. They also offer discounts in the manner of earning points from previous purchases. The resin models, assuming all are molded the same as the Stalker Tank will require a headache and a half of cleanup work, but nevertheless are some fantastic models. In conclusion, I would recommend their models to anyone having an inkling about buying from them.

I should have some conversion posts very soon. So stay tuned.