ruffkin gauntlets

Well, before I ask this question, I want you all to know that I don't mind putting in the work to build and get my hands dirty to get the job complete. After all, that is the best part of it for me.

I recently received a set of ESB gauntlets from Ruffkintoy and I must say that there is alot of rough spots and resin build up on the attachment pieces. More than I figured there would be. I knew that there would have to be sanding to do, trimming, spot filling etc.

In all of your experience on getting kits and getting them ready to put together, are they supposed to be that way when you receive them? I mean there is alot, alot of buildup, lots of holes to fill and lots and lots of sanding to do.

I'm not trying to put Ruffkin's stuff down or anything of that sort. I've seen lots of pictures of his stuff and it all turns out fine. I just don't know if this is what every kit looks like.

Please provide your imput on this as I am very curious. Thoughts?

Stussy

No usually. Fettpride, Bobamaker, Cruzer, Dark-Side, etc. sell products that need just a few minutes of work (if the product needs it).

Well, for the amount of money that was spent on these I guess I have mixed feelings now. On one hand I will just have to live with the fact that I have alot of work ahead of me if I want these to look good. And on the other hand I am wondering if I got these sent to me like this because I am a newbie and wouldn't know what other people usually get.

If you have gotten something lately from Ruffkin and it is in a very "choppy and rough" shape, then please provide your feedback as it might put me a little more at ease.

I know that Ruffkin has been very busy lately to get caught up with his orders, but he shouldn't be rushing that fast to send out stuff like what I got.

Thanks for listening to my venting.

Can you post a pic please?

I will soon.

Here are some pics. Please note that I have spent 45 min. on them already cleaning and sanding.

You might want to make the piccys a little smaller. There so big I cant see them :-)

Well, it's really a bad cast from what I can see, I don't want to speak bad about any member but... urgh... it's not the best casting that I have seen. I think that it's not because you're a new member, I don't meet Ruffkin, but I think that he's not so bad to do this because you're noob.

here they are again in a smaller file size.

Thanks for your thoughts KaanE.

Anyone else have some thoughts on this?

i waiting on some ruffkintoy gaunlets i ordered in september i think. but that is terrible. i bought some MOW gauntlets and they are marvelous. spend the extra money on MOW stuff and you will not be disappointed. i will be selling my ruffkin gauntlets when i recieve them.

not to bad mouth the man ,but come on. the wait, the product, his not answering emails.
i will not order anything from the man every again.

if the mods feel this post is out of line, please delete it.

i dont think you are out of line, Bungle...people need to know what they are getting into...i mean, if you cant post what you think, your experience, how you feel, then what is the point? you have expressed your thoughts in a professional and mature manner...if people praised Chuck for his work, and it turns out like Stussy has just received, people need to know about it... i had some issues with my gauntlets i got from him, and yes, they took some work, but Stussy's look really rough, and mine werent nearly that bad...looks like a new mold needs to be made... and second that Bungle, save your money, cause you get what you pay for!!

I appreciate all of your thoughts on this. I may email Chuck and show him the pictures and see what he says. (if he responds). The only thing is that I have already started sanding some of it.

Thanks again.
Stussy

Dude, those should have not been sent out to you at all...
your better off scratch building the hose parts, but you can buy the rocket off of a few makers and they will be CLEAN.

I bought a unfinished Jet Pack off a member and it was a Ruffkin.. I had to cut out the piano keys and redo it.
Link
http://www.thedentedhelmet.com/showt...sixxgunn13%27s

I'm not here to bash a makers work... but a kit like this may have been acceptable 10yrs ago, but with the information we have on the suit and improvements on mold and casting of parts, seems he is just being plain lazy.

Hey Well I figured I can chime in here.
Stussy I ordered gauntlets form him about a year ago and got mine finally this aug or sept. They look exactly like yours. That IS how he is making them now. Yeah they look like poodoo when you get them but I spent a lot of time and dremeled very carefully and I got them looking pretty good. Then again I am a little OCD when it comes to perfecting something I am working on. Plus when you add the paint and the weathering you can't really tell at all. I will get some picks up so you can see how mine turned out. But they looked just like yours. What I tell myself is that you saved a lot of money by going this route but my advice is go with the best. You want to be the Fett go all out. I want to redo alot of my stuff but I will do that later on the line after I got some troops unde my belt as a Fett. I'll get those pics up in a bit.
Cheers!

I had the same issue with Chuck a couple of years ago over a rocket pack and a set of gauntlets. I paid for the items in August and was told they would be ready some time in September. Five months later after repeatedly hearing 'it will ship out next week' when I could get an answer to an e-mail, and finally requesting a refund the first week of January (which Chuck told my I could not get, by the way), I received a rocket pack that looked like it had been slapped together over a weekend. The piano keys were all crooked, it was covered in bumps and pits, the lower part of the fuel tanks, where the thruster nozzles attach, looked like they had been hacked out with a coarse wire brush and the inside of the thrusters themselves looked like they had frosting swirled inside of them. Needless to say I was less than pleased. I sold the rocket pack and gauntlets and spent a little more money on Man of War's offerings.

this may have been acceptable 10yrs ago, but with the information we have on the suit and improvements on mold and casting of parts, seems he is just being plain lazy.

I do agree with you to a piont, But first lets lay out all the details. I think we all know how the prop buisness goes and If your new to this I'll try my best describe it, beacuse I like most who start out in this kind of poject found out the Hard way. First You research what your going for: ESB ROTJ SE Concept Fett , Jango or Mando

(throwing out names usally gets the best responce, But I HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU READ THE STICKY OF " HOW MUCH WILL YOU SPEND" TO GET THE BEST INFO ON THE HOBBY )Then you order it wait 10 to 15 days to pass and if you get no product the Panic starts (becuase you only have 30 buisness days to file a claim ) God, help you if you use anything else. You'll try to e-mail, pm, start a thread and Phone (if you can find that out) to say Dude where's my Product? and then the threats for Legal Action, Pay Pal refund or reporting it to Admin. Then finally there's the worse possible outcome No Refund, and No Product .

Now with the above being mentioned, I've seen rush jobs to avoid this kind of outcome, So.. maybe Russ did just that (to avoid any conficts) I can't really be certain because the details are vauge. I have a set of his Gauntlets and they are in no way as bad as the above posting is, so if your new to this forum or any for that matter, Please lay out all the details Russ, Man of War, Bobamaker, make AWESOME stuff but If you rush them this may very well be the outcome.

Here is a photobucket link with the pics of my gaunt parts. Any advice on the rocket would help out. I am pretty happy with it but the rocket I feel does need some more weathering. The calc pad looks good but needed to dremel some buttons to shape. For the rocket I dremeled out the grooves and the holes on the nozzel. For the flame thrower I had to seperate the two nozzels and work on the textured pattern on the top. Lot of work but I got it Ok. I do want to redo the back of the rocket though as it still hase that bad pull look to it.
In all honesty, I will eventually sell these and upgrade and will not buy from him again. A seller of a product should offer two of the three: fast, quality, or cheap. He only offers cheap.
Lesson learned: you do get what you pay for.
Cheers and good luck!

http://s521.photobucket.com/albums/w...J%20Gauntlets/

Yes, lesson has been learned. Although with alot of hard work and patience I'm sure I can get these to look decent.

What I discovered when I built my Fett years ago (my first time working with resin things) was that most every resin thing I've personally run across has tiny pock mark air bubbles in it. I then learned of model putty or bondo spot putty or whatnot and lots of sandpapering to smooth things out. I've never seen any of MOWs things in real life, so if his castings come out awesome, then that's fantastic cause other pieces I've ran across are more like the ones shown in this thread. Heck, even my Fettpride left gauntlet rocket is more oval shaped than round, but as has been said, once things are weathered up, nobody notices.

wow... those are WAY rougher than i'd expect. i wouldn't send something out like that.

i always feel bad when my casts have ANY bubbles in them. i've defended ruffkin many many times here, but i'd be annoyed if i got something like that.

Cerillo.
I hear you bro
But I just think Ruffkin should not make stuff that he himself would not want to receive, unless the buyer is aware that the product will be that bad.

I know Ruffkin has his love for Pred props, cool. but I think he should let someone else sell to the potential buyer.
Honestly who want to work/spend extra when they don't have to.

Bottom line he should know when his plate is full.

I've got a set of Ruff gauntlets; they took some work to get them done. More recently I got some wrist launcher resin pieces from him for some custom Mandos I'm building. Communications were less than stellar. When they arrived, two of the launchers were ok. One seemed a little rough, and one was pretty bad. It took some work on all of his stuff. Now, working with resin pieces, I expect to have to do a lot more work than say, CNC aluminium. From some of the other threads I'm seeing though, Chuck's quality is starting to slide. I can fully understand if real life is getting in the way, or he's moved on to other hobbies, but if that is the case, he needs to let people know. Stussy, you can get those looking good; it'll take a lot of work but it can be done. Those are by far the worst quality I've seen from Ruffkin though.

Charlie

Thanks for all your words and thoughts on this. I do believe I can get these to look decent with alot of work. I have sent Chuck an email along with pictures to see what he has to say about it. We'll see if he agrees with everybody else. Again, I'm not trying to badmouth anybody and that would never be my intention. However, I would have to say that I have waited for this stuff since "March". That is a long time to wait for something and to arrive in this state.

I personally don't expect any response from Chuck on this as he seems to be way too busy. All I can do now is get to work on these. I'm off now to buy somemore sandpaper, maybe some chisels, some tissues and attempt to get a hug from my wife (who is furious with me right now about all of this ).

Thanks again everyone, at least I know is just isn't me thinking this.

Take care,
Stussy

Cheer up there stussy, It will all turn out ok in the end.

P.S I will give ya a hug if you like

Another unhappy customer on the account of chuck