Product review of Master Crafted Miniatures Large Gothic Shoulder Pads

Today I am reviewing Master Crafted Miniatures Large Gothic Shoulder Pads, both studded and non-studded. Unholy crap, do I love these things.

First off, I would like to say that Master Crafted Miniatures is top notch with their customer service. I purchased these pads during a time when they were really busy filling orders due to a sale they were running. Some of my purchase needed to be cast in to order to fill my order. Any questions I asked via e-mail were promptly answered by Ben with detailed ETA's and deadlines, which was actually a real fast turn around. I very much appreciated that, even though I was not in a super hurry. Also, once they did ship, it only took about a week for them to arrive. This company is in the UK, I live in TX. It sometimes takes longer for me to get letters from my mom who only lives in Oregon. So from a professionalism and shipping standpoint, Master Crafted gets a 5 out of 5 from me. Honestly, I am often hard to please in this category.

Once I got my package it was double bubble wrapped, in a zip lock baggie and then packed in a small, fairly sturdy box. The material was packed tightly so there was no jostling of the items during shipping. I cannot say the same for other UK based resin mini companies... Another 5 out of 5 from me

The pads themselves are 5 to a sprue. The sprue is a nice, thick brick of resin that will not warp, bend or break easily which will help to secure your parts during shipping. The shoulder pads are then attached to the sprue from the whole bottom of the pad. This attachment piece is thinner than the pads and cuts really easily from the sprue.

The quality of the resin is very high. It is in that sweet spot between firm and pliable, not brittle but also not soft. The details are crisp and pristine, with very little to no flash and no warping. Also, the quality of the studs is on point. There is no flash to clean up, not odd fill in and lastly, no gaps between the studs and the pad face. Amazing! The only flash I had to cut away was at the bottom here between the base of the pads and that was very thin and easy to clean.

To remove the pads it is as easy as taking a sharp exact-o and cutting right where the pads meet the sprue. That will leave a significant chunk of resin left to clean off the pads however, this is a real easy task using a hobby knife and round file.

I basically slowly cut away the filler until there was just a little flash-sized amount left and then filed that down with a round file. Because of the curved shape of the bottom part I took extra care not to cut too fast or too hard. I didn't want to cut into the pads, only the excess resin. (I know not to cut towards my thumb, I am just holding the pad up with the knife in it for the pic. Remember to always cut away from you.)

Now, how do they look compared to other pads you may ask? Here they are next to a Chaos Space Marine Terminator pad from Games Workshop and a MkIII Marine pad from Forgeworld. As you can see, they are a little bit bigger than both. I am curious how the other, large, true-scale style pads from Master Crafted size up. I may order some of those next, especially interested in the large pads with spikes.

Here is a pic on a Space Wolf Terminator lightening claw also with a CSM Terminator pad for scale.

And a pic on some primed World Eater Terminators that I have been too lazy to paint up...

Here is a pic of them on a True-Scale Iron Warrior Warmsmith I am converting. Being that I purchased these for True-scaling I am thrilled with how they look on the larger scale Space Marine.

Lastly, the actual model I purchased them for, the Death Guard Dark Apostle. These really help this model stand out and make him look massive and menacing, IMO.

All in all, I am extremely pleased with the product I purchased. 5/5 in Customer service, shipping, quality and price. I will not hesitate to visit Master Crafted Miniatures again!

Please feel free to ask me any questions in the comments, I would be happy to answer them.

Cheers and KMB!!!

-andrew