RDG Miniatures 1/9 Samurai

My experience with Gordon M on ordering his 1/9 Samurai.

PART 1:

Back in July 2022 Gordon indicated he would be releasing the Mounted Samurai in 1/9 scale. I asked him to put me on the order list in order to purchase an early casting. He indicated I am first on his list.

Early December, I received a message from him saying he had the casting for me and asked me to examine closely the casting photos which I would be receiving. If I do not want it there is no problem. He only had one set of moulds for this piece due to the expense of production so once these were done he did not know when he would be able to produce any others.

Theses are the photos he had sent me. They are all burry. From the pictures I can see some blackish on some resin parts. I asked him about the blackish parts if they were all cured and no sticky resin. I also noticed off set mould lines from one of the helmet. He said there was no sticky resin and he could only produced 30 to 35 kits from one set of moulds. (From my experience silicone casting moulds are only good for 20 to 25 castings). The castings were all the same. It can be easily remedied by using basic modelling skills.

Offset mould lines

Blackish on casting parts

I asked him if the kit was from the first casting. His reply “This is not the first casting. The fit of parts is ok. There are some mould lines which are easily removed. I have been to a model show where it was first released. I sold out of my first 15 sets at the show. You are the first on the mail order list.”

I then asked him again what about getting the early casting which I had requested back in July. His reply “As I have explained this kit was released at a large model show in Telford2 weeks ago where I sold all my existing stock. I am now dealing with my mail order customers and you are the first one I have contacted. I wish I hadn't bothered. It is clear to me that you are not happy with this situation or the castings. In view of this please find elsewhere to purchase your kits.

I have a waiting list for these models and will be distributing them accordingly to modellers who may appreciate them more than you do.”

Unfortunately, I did place my order and that was my big mistake.

PART 2 

I received the kit in middle of December. It came in a big white cardboard box with major casting problems on the horse and armour part.

He wanted me to send the kit back for a refund. It is a huge kit and costs me a lot to ship it back. I told him to send me the replacement horse parts instead and I would gladly pay for the Royal Mail tracking post. He indicated he had sold his last kit and needed to make new moulds for the casting.

After two months had passed and nothing happened. Meanwhile he was selling the same kit in various figure shows. So I messaged him again. His excuse was cyber attack on Royal Mail and he would send me the parts when the post was resumed. Another month had passed and Royal Mail had resumed international posting in February and still no parts and he was selling the same kit in figure shows. I messaged him again the end of February and he indicated he should be able to send me the parts the end of the week. 

So after numerous emails I finally received the replacement parts at the end of March. The replacements parts were not much better than the ones from December. Please refer to the attached pictures. The top ones are from December the bottom ones are the replacements. Looks like both castings are from the same set of moulds. 

This is a 1/9 scale kit casting should be perfect. What more can I say? So much nonsense and rubbish. Rude customer services and very bad casting. He really likes to intimidate his customers. If they ask too many questions and not happy with the situation or the castings he would ask them to find elsewhere to purchase their kits. 

Misleading! He always show an assemble kit from 3D printed parts and never from his casting parts. What you see is not what you get from his pre-sales 3D image. The following pictures are from his FB page. 

The kit is also badly printed. Check out the sashimono below.