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FAQ

Welcome to the GCmini FAQ page! Here you can find answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about our products and services. If you have a question that isn't answered here, please feel free to contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: When I place my order when can I expect it to ship?

A: I make everything for every order, as ordered.  Often there is a backlog of orders of a few days or so.  I would like to ship every order the day it is received, and in some cases I will do just that. As a rule your order should ship within about 5 business days of reciept of your order, some very large orders can take an additional day or two. If you have an urgent need for a product simply write me and let me know and I will drop everything and get your order shipped. As the customer, you are my #1 priority.

Q: Are your products kits are fully assembled models?

A: With very few exceptions, everything on the site is a kit.  Some resin cast models are one piece solid models and come ready to paint.  You can be sure that if you are ordering anything made from MDF, MatBoard or Acrylic it will be a multipart kit.  Every item on the site has multiple product photos, some of the photos will show the model completely assembled and finished, there should also be at least one photo showing the model in pieces as it will be delivered to you.  Please scroll through all the photos of the kit you are interested in to get an idea of how the model will be delivered and get an idea of what it will take to assemble it.

Q: Do all your kits come with instruction sheets?

A: Most don't.  A majority of our kits are square or rectangle buildings with 4 walls and a roof.  I think for those kits you can look at the photos online and see how they go together.  Some kits, however, are very complex with many parts, for these kits sometimes there will be a downloadable PDF file on the product page that covers assembly, sometimes there may even be a tutorial video on the product page that takes you through the building process, step by step.  Often there is a fine line between a very simple kit and more complex kit and I make a decision whether or not to make an instruction sheet ... sometimes I get this decision right and sometimes I get it wrong.  If you ever have any question about how any of my kits go together, please do not hesitate to email me directly at allen@gcmini.com with your question and I will walk you through whatever problem you are having.  It is my goal that you successfully build my products and enjoy them for years to come.
We have created a special website for assembly instruction sheets and video tutorials for our products, you can find these documents by clicking here

Q: Can I place my order over the phone?

A: The short answer is yes.  However in most cases it's faster, easier and more secure for you to do it on the website.  You see, we do not have a traditional credit card terminal like you would see in a brick and mortar store, so we cannot run credit cards here at the shop.  The website software handles all that for us.  We actually never even see your credit card information,,, that's how secure it is.  
So, if you place a phone order, we will sit here at a computer, log on to the GameCraft store as you and place your order for you just as if we were you.  We will enter all your information into the system and at the end we will enter your credit card information and process to the order.  We won't actually be doing anything different than you would be doing, as a matter of fact, as far as the software knows, We are you.
So, yes, you can place a phone, but as you can see it's probably faster and easier for you to do it online.  But I'm always here for product questions and to help you answer any questions you might have about GameCraft products.

Q: How much is International Shipping?

A: Please click on this image for a full explanation of international shipping

Q: Do you do custom work or take suggestions for new products?

A: Absolutley. I get most of my best product ides from people just like you. Nobody knows what you need or want better than you.  If you have an idea for a new product, email me and send me sketch, a drawing, a photo of the real thing, a screencap from a video game, whatever you have to help explain your idea.  Perhaps there is already an item on the site you like but you want it a bit taller, a little wider, or some other detail changed, just let me know and I'll most likely modify the design and offer the modified building as a new product.  Perhaps there is a product on the site already but it's not in the scale you game in, I can probably re-scale it and offer it in your scale.  Never hesitate to let me know what you want. Obviously if you suggest a completely new product line I'll need to do my best to decide if there is enough demand to make it worth doing, but I will always consider every suggestion you make.    

Q: When I received my order one of the resin cast items is bent out of shape, can it straighten it out again?

A: Sometimes during shipping, a package will be exposed to high temperatures and an item may become misshapen. this can very easily be fixed by dropping the item in a pot of boiling water for a few seconds and then take it out and set it down on a flat, cool surface and let it cool naturally. After it cools it will be flat again. This tip also works for putting a curve in a straight item like a our stone wall material that you want curved.

Q: What is the best adhesive to use with matboard series buildings?

A: Any standard white glue like Elmers will work great. If you have an arts and crafts store in your area that caries Tacky Glue I would recommend it over standard white glue. As the name implies it is thicker than standard white glue and makes assembly of mat board models much easier. Tacky Glue (like almost anything on this planet) is also available on Amazon.com

Q: What is the best adhesive to use with parts that are made out of Acrylic?

A: In the photo below I show the products I have used on acrylics. From left to right in order of my preference. WeldOn can be hard to find... it's not really a "consumer" product, you'll need to go to a proper plastics supply house like the sort of place that sells sheets of acrylic. In the US you can also get it online from www.amazon.com or www.mcmaster.com ... but it's the best thing for acrylic. If you get some WeldOn you'll also need to get an applicator bottle (shown in the photo on the right), they are small plastic bottles with a needle applicator... or I guess you could use a brush. Plastruct Plastic Weld is available at some hobby shops and online from plastruct and it works very well. The testors model glue works too but is a bit slow. CA glues (Super glue) work too but they do not "weld" the pieces together in the way the others do.

Always make sure the surfaces being glued together are free of paint regardless of the type of glue you use, you always want to glue plastic to plastic, not paint to paint.

I've made a video tutorial on working with Acrylic, click here to see it.

 

Q: How can I learn how to finish and paint my miniatures like your examples?

A: We are putting together a collection of video tutorials that will teach you all the tricks of the pros for finishing your miniatures. Our model makers have many years of experience and are anxious to share their knowledge with you. Click here to see the video lessons that are online now. ...More coming soon.

Q: I've seen your cool 1/285th scale modular street system, do you have planning templates I can use to find out how many of each item I'll need?

A: Well of course we do. Click on the the icon right below this paragraph. Save the file (Right click "Save As...") and print as many as you want and cut them out and start planning your city or town.
Make sure that if your PDF program has a print scaling feature that it is set to "100%" or "Actual Size"

Streets1

Q. What adhesive is best for assembling your resin cast miniatures?

A. In our shop we use CA (cyano...) glue, commonly known as Super Glue. There are dozens of brands of CA glue and they are all pretty much the same. We use the "ZAP" line from Pacer Tech. For most applications we find the green "ZAP-A-GAP" formula to be best.

Q. I see that most of your parts have 9 digit part numbers, is there some logic to this system? What can I learn about the item by looking at the part number?

A. For the most part, yes the part numbers follow logic ... but not always.
Here's a tip for you.  If you see an item on the site and you are not immediately sure what scale it is just look at the part number. 

The first 3 or 4 characters of most part numbers are the scale.
For example:
285 = 1/285th scale (AKA 6mm)
EPIC = Epic scale, same as 1/285th scale
15M = 15mm
144 = 1/144th scale (AKA 12mm)
20M = 20mm (AKA 1/72nd scale
28M = 28mm

The middle three characters specify the series name or in many case the material

for example the following are kit materials:
MDF = 1/8" (3mm) MDF material
ACR = Acrylic model
CSS = Cardstock or Matboard series
FBS = FoamBoard material

The last three characters are the part number in that series.