Assembling Quality Control (1 Viewer)

[King's Man]

Matt,

Overall I can’t say enough in praise of the new First Legion figures. The sculpturing and castings are sharp and full of details. The painting is outstanding being rich in details and full of subtle shading.

The problem that I do see is in the assembly department. The people gluing the parts together aren’t getting it right sometimes. They are attaching the musket arm of the March Attack figure in a too much of a forward slanting position. The musket should be carried perpendicular to the ground. Either they don’t realize their mistake or they do it because the top of the musket clears the shako more easily if slanted forward. Unfortunately, I am seeing this more and more and not just with First Legion figures.

It seems to me that this a quality control issue. A topic someone should take up at a meeting of all the assembly crews so they can discuss the importance of the arm placement.

I would like all the future figures to be the best figures possible and eliminating this simple error will be one less thing standing in the way of that goal.

I have included two pictures to help illustrate my point. Thank you.

King's Man

 

[FirstLegion]

They are attaching the musket arm of the March Attack figure in a too much of a forward slanting position. The musket should be carried perpendicular to the ground. Either they don’t realize their mistake or they do it because the top of the musket clears the shako more easily if slanted forward. Unfortunately, I am seeing this more and more and not just with First Legion figures.

I have included two pictures to help illustrate my point. Thank you.

King's Man

Actually, with NAP0038, that is how it is supposed to assemble. It won't fit any other way, believe me, I've tried. It only fits that one way.

NAP0038 is leaning forward a bit and isn't in a traditional march attack pose. NAP0035 is in more of a traditional march attack pose.

Personally, I prefer NAP0035 sculpt and had a similar issue with the basic sculpt for NAP0038 because I felt he was leaning too far forward, but my partner liked it like that so we went with it. I will say, however, that I really like the finished figure for NAP0038 as it came out much nicer than I was expecting.

Regards,

Matt

 

[King's Man]

Matt,

Thank you for your quick reply. The two photos I choose were just to help illustrate my point. My real situation is when this is happening on the same figure, NAP0035. It can't be a fitting problem because it is the same figure. Most are wonderful, however every so often one will have a musket that is slanting too far forward. If this angle of slant was for real, the musket would be falling forward off this shoulder. Don’t get me wrong I love your figures and I’m amazed by their overall quality.

When referring to the other figure, NAP0038. I would argue that the musket even then should still be placed perpendicular to the ground. Even if the soldier’s body is leaning forward I think he would compensate by moving his arm forward to maintain the perpendicular angle. All this may be just my point of view and ultimately it must be left up to the sculptor to design how he wants to show the action. OK, so I would buy the NA0035 figure because I like it’s angle better, my choice. Now that I have chosen to buy the figure I like, the one without the forward slanting musket, you must understand how frustrating it is to have it occur anyway.

Let me end by again saying; all this is small peanuts and is only a minor consideration. The figures are outstanding and well worth the price.

King’s Man

 

[FirstLegion]

Matt,

Thank you for your quick reply. The two photos I choose were just to help illustrate my point. My real situation is when this is happening on the same figure, NAP0035. It can't be a fitting problem because it is the same figure. Most are wonderful, however every so often one will have a musket that is slanting too far forward. If this angle of slant was for real, the musket would be falling forward off this shoulder. Don’t get me wrong I love your figures and I’m amazed by their overall quality.

When referring to the other figure, NAP0038. I would argue that the musket even then should still be placed perpendicular to the ground. Even if the soldier’s body is leaning forward I think he would compensate by moving his arm forward to maintain the perpendicular angle. All this may be just my point of view and ultimately it must be left up to the sculptor to design how he wants to show the action. OK, so I would buy the NA0035 figure because I like it’s angle better, my choice. Now that I have chosen to buy the figure I like, the one without the forward slanting musket, you must understand how frustrating it is to have it occur anyway.

Let me end by again saying; all this is small peanuts and is only a minor consideration. The figures are outstanding and well worth the price.

King’s Man

Ahh, I see what you're saying. I agree that there can be some small deviations even on NAP0035 that can end up with the result your talking about. The problem is that it's not merely the arm assembly that can cause this, but it starts from the ground up. NAP0035 is precariously balanced on one foot and thus it could start the leaning process at that assembly point as well. The reason I say that the arm is meant to fit in one position only is because the epaulette is actually entirely on the shoulder and there is a notch in the top of the arm where it fits. Thus, the arm really only has one correct position. That being said, I do see what you mean and will be sure to keep a better eye out for that moving forward. In the grand scheme of things, it probably is a small matter and there are bigger ones to worry about, however, it is frustrating for me as well to a degree as we invest quite a bit in our sculpts and it's disappointing when they aren't produced as accurately as the original. This is one of the challenges of manufacturing in an environment where the folks doing the work have no idea what it is they are actually working on.

Thanks for your comments and I'll be sure to keep them in mind in the future.

Regards,

Matt