Tuesday, February 14, 2012

2/14/12: Review: Chapterhouse Studios Combi-Weapon Kit

Hey guys,

So as you know, amongst commissions, I’ve been working through my Alpha Legion Chaos Marine army whenever I get the chance. One big thing about the Chaos Marines are an apparent abundance in Combi-Weapons, on both their guys and their tanks.

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Now, I’ve been trying to get this army up to a point where I can switch out pretty much any option I please. I want my Aspiring Champion to have a Power Weapon? Magnetized! Power Fist? Magnetized! Combi-Weapon? Magnetized…? A Plastic Combi-Melta really only comes in the SM Commander box, and at $12 a pop, I’d be stupid to not find another alternative. Right?
In steps Chapterhouse Studios. For $5, you get the Bolter, the 3 special weapons mounts, an Auxiliary Grenade Launcher, and the magnets to magnetize the entire set.

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The set looks fine, right?
Alrighty lets break this down on a scale of 1-5, 1 being Smells Like Dog Waste, and 5 being Smells Like Gold.
  • Price and S/H: 2/5
The Combi-Weapon set is $5 for the pewter set. I ordered two as I have plans for an additional CSM squad as soon as I have time. The total cost was $16.50. Wait a second, $6.50 for shipping? Ok, ok, sometimes it costs a little extra to ship…right?

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That’s the actual cost to ship. Listen, either up your prices, or don’t put the pricing on the label. I don’t wanna know your kit cost an extra $4 so you could make a little more profit. $6.50 for shipping two bits of pewter is already stupid.
  • Quality: 3/5
Ok, here’s the real kicker….so again, pewter set, I understand working with Pewter. I also understand that a two-part mold can be occasionally difficult to cast. But what the hell is this?

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My greenstuff mold cast wasn’t this crooked…I managed to get it to work with a little filing. The other thing, and it’s a little hard to see in the pictures, is the holes for the magnets.
The holes didn’t cast entirely, meaning there was additional drilling for the magnets which, of course, were too big for the hole entirely.
  • Appearance: 3/5
The bolter has a little more detail on it than I originally thought, but even that’s pretty miniscule.

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You can also see the size differences here between a Bolter, a Combi-Melta, and CH’s kit. CH’s kit is a
little longer, but smaller. The biggest thing, and you can see it in the above and below pictures, is the difference in size of the Melta barrels. The Melta barrel is almost indistinguishable on Chapterhouse’s kit, and looks fairly similar to the Flamer attachment or even the Auxiliary Grenade Launcher.

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I added a skull from my failed Combi-Melta cast to add a little grimdark to the set, which helps a little.
  • Overall: 2.5/5
I feel like I’m being a little lenient here, but at the same time, Chapterhouse is filling a niche. Bits stores are selling Combi-Weapons for insane prices; For $12 a Combi-Melta, I might as well just buy the SM Commander. But at the same time, Chapterhouse Studio’s set is underwhelming at best. If there were more options available, I’d say go for them, but there aren’t.

Sorry Chapterhouse Studios, but here’s one unhappy customer.

Granesh

6 comments:

  1. I'll give you a dollar if you call GW's customer service to complain.

    If you are unfamiliar with the lawsuit GW has going against chapterhouse, that is pretty much the basis of it, :)

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    1. I know about their lawsuit with GW very well Narceron, and your bet is still mighty tempting...

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  2. That shipping thing is horrible. I would definitely call them and demand a refund for the 4 bucks. I can understand a little bit of variance for shipping, but you are looking at 300% the actual shipping cost, that $4 is probably almost as much as they make on the bits themselves.

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  3. I just ordered $50 worth of stuff just a week back and the shipping cost was the same... Very interesting.

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  4. Thanks for the "fair" review.

    Shipping AND HANDLING - do you want to work for free? Our packing guy does not, neither does the company who makes the envelopes. Let us not forget paypal who take a pound of flesh too. Add all of that up, and you will get close to if not more then $3.20 ($6.50 total for "Shipping and Handling" cost).
    Very rarely do we have complaints over shipping cost as most customers understand that other cost exist besides just the actual charge the post office charges.

    The cast, that is called a "miscast", unfortunately I cant make you call or email me and ask for a replacement, which we do happily.

    Seems you have a chip on your shoulder as does "Narceron" regarding my company especially after reading your comment, so I will not expect anything like a fair chance to help out a customer before they post on a blog.

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  5. Hey Nick,
    First off, thank you for posting in the comments. First off, I do understand shipping and handling for a package. I just don't feel that $6.50 for something as tiny as 2 bolters warrants an almost $4 handling charge. For, say, Stillfrosty's $50 worth of stuff,

    I understand what a miscast is, I am an artist and understand what that stuff entails. The quality rating goes farther than that, as I cover in the post.

    As for the chip on my shoulder; its not that I dislike your company, I've just always felt that the fine line you walk regarding GW's IP is almost arrogant and dangerous. Narceron is a good friend of mine as well, and our comments were said in jest.

    Thanks, and good luck in all your future endeavors at Chapterhouse Nick!

    Granesh
    Smells Like Wargaming

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