About Us & Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When I place my order when can I expect it to ship?
A: We would like to ship every order the day it is received, and in many cases we will do just that. As a rule your orser should ship within 1-2 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 us and let us know and we will drop everything and get your order shipped. As the customer, you are our #1 priority.
Q: How much is International Shipping?
A: Please click on this image for a full explanation of international shipping
Q: When I recieved my order one of the 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 mishshapen. 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: I've never heard of your company, who are you? You seem to have popped up out of nowhere!
A: GameCraft Miniatures is a company that has been a dream of it's owner for about 30 years. Allen started gaming with Micro Armor in the late 1970's with his friends in Lomita, California on a sand table in his friend Robert's back yard. Allen built a pretty impressive collection of 1/285th scale modern armor and aircraft, much of it heavily modified and even some pieces scratch built. Eventually Allen graduated from 1/285th scale wargaming to full scale wargaming when he joined the US Army in 1983. After returning from service in the Army he went to work as a Wind Tunnel Model Maker for Northrop Aircraft in Hawthorne California. Since that time he moved around between a few companies as a professional model maker and eventually, along with a good friend, he ended up buying the company he was working for in the mid 1990's, A&M Model Makers. Many years later Allen sold his portion of A&M Model Makers to his business partner and started working on his dream of creating GameCraft Miniatures. So, while it may seem that GameCraft simply sprung up out of nowhere, it's really been in the works for about 30 years.
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"
Q. What adhesive is best for assembling your resin cast miniatures?
A. In our shop we use CA (cyano...) glue, comonly 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.
Got a question that should be on here? Submit it me.