Saturday, March 31, 2012

Review of Fernando Enterprises Painting Service

Moustaches on 10mm Cuirassiers
I met Sanarth the owner of Fernanado Enterprises at Cancon, displaying his company's work in a number of impressive displays. While he had no 10mm on display, he assured me that the wargamer standard would be more than enough for the results I was seeking. So I brought back some of my backlog to see what he could do with them.

I had detailed instructions with uniform guides from http://centjours.mont-saint-jean.com/ for each of the units. I think this is important to make it easier for the painters and less chance of disappointment.

I was really impressed with the communication during the process. They sent through pictures of a sample of each unit for approval before continuing to paint the rest. Overall it took just on 8 weeks to paint and freight them back. The return freight service was very quick and I tracked it online to see its progress.

The packaging was impressive. Each 10mm figure was wrapped in a strip of bubble wrap, then in an individual plastic bag, then grouped and labeled in a larger bag. There was no missing figures.

The units I had painted were from Bend Sinister's Redline range :

  • 36 Household Cavalry
  • 24 1st Dragoon Guards
  • 24 6th Dragoons
  • 4 x 30 KGL Battalions
  • 24 Cuirassiers
  • 24 Empress Dragoons
  • 48 Carabiniers
  • 32 Guard Lancers
  • 3 x 36 French Line
212 Cavalry ready for flocking
The price was very reasonable - $1 USD per cavalry, and 50c USD per infantry. Sanarth also offers a service to order directly from the manufacturer. This would mean a unit of 24 painted cavalry would cost about $36USD sent to me.

The results were great, better than I could do. Nice clean edge lines, moustaches on the Cuirassiers (in 10mm!) clean bridles with silver buckles, socks on the horses. Really fine work for such small figures. To blend them into the rest of my collection I glued them on bases, did a quick magic wash, then flocked them.

I am very happy with the service from Sanarth and his friendly team, and will definitely be using them again. Their professional communication, fast turn around and great work is to be commended. Waterloo in 2015 looks very achievable from here.

The box was very well packed, nothing damaged

Each unit was in a separate bag and labeled

Each figure was it ints own bag, most were bubble wrapped
Before magic washing
See the detail on the saddle edging
Very clean work, especially on cuffs and collars



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