Friday, January 13, 2017

Wizard Kraft Kickstarter Rivers

After having jumped into Wizard Kraft's Kickstarter last fall on the recommendation of several friends, I waited anxiously to see the product.  Although promised for a November delivery date, the package finally arrived around the first of January.

When I opened the slender box, I found the contents of my Kickstarter Backer Reward.  I selected the  one inch Temperate Muddy configuration package containing the following pieces:
  • 1 x Lake
  • 1 x Swamp
  • 1 x 12" straight ford
  • Left & Right fork
  • 2 x 12" straight sections
  • 1 x 8" & 1 x 4" straight section
  • 1 medium 45º bend set (2 x 6" long pcs)
  • 1 x small 45º bend set (3 x 4" long pcs)
Note that "one inch" river section denotes the width of the water feature, itself and does not include the width of bank on either side.  The final width of a one inch river is about two inches.  Upon first review, the pieces are much thinner than expected.  The profile on these pieces is quite slim.  No built up embankments and the pieces lay flat with ease. 
The joins between each piece match up very well and are practically invisible from a distance.  The craftsmanship on the flocking and hand-painting is brilliantly executed.  The couple behind Wizard Kraft seem to take great pride in the work they produce.  High quality rivers.  
Having backed the kickstarter beyond my initial $75 pledge, I took advantage of the free shipping to spend the remainder of my pledge for several other river packages.  All additional rivers packages were of the one inch, temperate muddy river variety to match this batch.

Great stuff!  

21 comments:

  1. The variable bank line gives a broken up view that really helps hide the joins. Very natural looking.

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  2. I'm glad your stuff came in. I am still waiting for mine. (Apparently he placed the biggest orders last....) That said, getting a kickstarter within 4 months of the end date is actually better than average...

    I like the look of the muddy rivers. I was waiting to see how mine turned out before deciding on those or the normal blue ones I have already. I plan on picking up some roads as well.

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    1. Your order will be arriving soon, I bet. I can understand knocking out many of the smaller orders first to satisfy the most backers.

      I like the look of the muddy rivers a lot. The blue on the regular river sections seems a bit bright to my eye. I look forward to seeing your roads.

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  3. Well, now that you showed me what the new muddy rivers look like, I went ahead and used my voucher. I have a collection of 1/2"and 1" roads coming with some river pieces to bring me up to a healthy collection of 1/2" muddy and 1" blue rivers.

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  4. It looks wonderful and quite useful. Do you think these products would work well with smaller scales (15 and 6mm)??

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    1. I plan to use the 1" rivers for all of my collections, 6mm-30mm. 1/2" would be useful as would 2" and 4" river sections.

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    2. 1/2" or 1" rivers would work fine with the smaller scales. although perhaps the 1/2" might be best for 6mm. The 4" rivers would be very, very wide (about 5" total width) - too wide fro all but special uses, IMHO.

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    3. I was thinking the 4 inch sections would work well for my 28mm collections. I have one massive bridge that would look great spanning a wide river.

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  5. I picked up my Wizard craft rivers at an Enfilade a few year ago - they gave quite a deal too! :)

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  6. I am so pleased that you got your Wizardkraft KS product, and that you're pleased with it. It is hard to do the quality of these items justice in pictures. Like Jake, I am, still awaiting mine, but I have a huge order with a wide variety of products and styles (I got more than a but carried away in my determination to see that this was funded). I think that had William not had both a serious illness and then a problem with some of the materials he ordered, he would have had the bulk of the backer packages out by the end of December.

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    1. I had not heard of a delay due to illness. Hope all is well now. I know he under-estimated the amount of work his kickstarter would generate. Hopefully, you and a Jake will get your backer rewards soon and my voucher order will see production soon.

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    2. I am in no rush, so waiting isn't a problem for me. The KS site updates section has some information on the problems encountered, but it is good to hear that many have received their product now. Seriously, the new backers are the most important, as they haven't seen the product before(and are also likely candidates for additional sales!)

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  7. Great looking and really useful river sections, something I lack and must address, but due to budgeting I'll be making them!
    Best Iain

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