The Little Mermaid Statue – J. Scott Campbell Fairytale Fantasies Collection

[nbr3bagshotrow]

Originally Posted by PermaGrin

I know the basics I how it works.
I understand they pull some off the line, not all.

But that is what I am getting at.

IF a company were to take the extra steps to actually QC them ALL and can help insure things are correct, then that would put said company...in my mind...steps above others.

If they want to keep doing (what I consider) bare minimum, then they will keep running into these issues. And when these issues are even smaller and easier to fix, then it makes it seem even more of a "not caring / dont give ----" attitude.

Plus you know what will happen to some people. They will ask for replacements and they will get "these are handmade items, blah blah blah.." or "ok, here is 20 bucks back".

Sort of like asking ford to do a 500 mile test drive on every single car to make sure there are no squeaks/rattles on any of their cars.

[crimsinwing1989]

Originally Posted by Chargersfan57

I don't understand how they don't do this...

Companys post factory progress pics sometimes and a lot of times we see them all assembled on the tables.

So what we're being told, is sometimes they don't fit the pieces together to keep them together...sometimes they just paint the random components and then gather them from the different stations and throw them in a box together...

And here I thought all the pieces we buy have been put together before we get them. So some statues apparently are being put together for the first time by us when we get them.

Yeah exactly, i thought test fitting was standard procedure.

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by nbr3bagshotrow

Sort of like asking ford to do a 500 mile test drive on every single car to make sure there are no squeaks/rattles on any of their cars.

Looking at a statue takes a few seconds, driving 500 miles would probably take around 12+ hours for each car..

Not quite the same thing.

The person who puts the parts in the box could quickly assemble it to verify QC before wrapping each individual piece and placing it in the box. Shouldn't take more than 5 mins... Plus we know they build these in batches so it's not like they have to do it for 2000+ pieces all at once...

[flico]

Hi All,

Thanks for the words of encouragement!

I emailed Sideshow about the issue and here are the two steps they recommended (copy/pasted):

Edited: Forgot this part. Sideshow said they inspected 6 statues to form their instructions.

"1. Insert the wrists first. When placing your mermaid on her base, line her up with the wrists above the hands, and the tail above the base hole. Using both your hands, gently grab her wrists at the bracelets between your fingers, line up the proper positioning, and then push the wrists down to meet the hand magnets until any gaps disappear. You may need to, very gently, spread apart or constrict together the arms to get a perfect fit.

2. Press down on the tail. Once the hand/wrist position is to your liking, you will need to make sure her legs… er… fin is also properly inserted into the base. To do this, gently press down on her posterior and she should snap into place. Note, this may cause the wrists to raise slightly off the hands, but you should be able wiggle her body slightly from side to side while pushing down to fix this. If you need to, gently grab her wrists again (per step one) and push down until they are back in the correct placement." -- Sideshow rep


I honestly think that will only work on edge cases where the fit is just barely off.

I took three more photos (attached here) with a tape measure to demonstrate the size of the gap. I tried to line up the tail section with the tail hole and attached the left arm to the left hand. I purposely left the right arm and right hand detached to avoid any triangle shenanigans. The gap is about 1/4 inch or 6.5 mm's. The left arm would need to move about 1/4 inch closer to the body for me to have a chance at a correct fit.

In looking at their packaging the arms were bound and any force would have been towards each other (though they had styrofoam to hold them in place). The problem with mine at least is that the left arm is too far from the body. I don't see anyway the left arm would have force pushing it away from the body in transit.

Unsure how much environmental factors could influence it. 1/4 inch seems like a lot to warp in one specific direction but who knows?

My guess is if the factory had a tolerance for keying the statues at 1-2 mm they went way over spec on an unknown quantity of statues and this is the result.

[Demona]

Given the widespread issue they have with this, they really should be taking numbers like they did with Thanos and just start cranking out new bodies. It’s not really an isolated issue.

Remember when Rogue was so badly painted that without question they have all EX owners two new portraits? Why not stand behind engineering in the same way?

[FROBAY]

Just opened mine. Doesn’t fit in the base, same issue as others.

[nbr3bagshotrow]

Originally Posted by built2shred

Looking at a statue takes a few seconds, driving 500 miles would probably take around 12+ hours for each car..

Not quite the same thing.

The person who puts the parts in the box could quickly assemble it to verify QC before wrapping each individual piece and placing it in the box. Shouldn't take more then 5 mins... Plus we know they build these in batches so it's not like they have to do it for 2000+ pieces all at once...

Well it was an obvious exaggeration to impress on the expense of checking every one. And it would take much more than a few seconds considering the pieces aren't all set together to be able to put the statue together.


I know they do batches but the batches are all of the same "piece" (e.g tail, base, body in the mermaid case). The same piece is laid out side by side on large / long tables so the painters can come by and start painting them. The next piece is laid out side by side on a different large / long table and so on based on how many pieces the statue is comprised of. After the pieces are all painted and dry (which can take different times due to size, complexity and intricacy) then they are ready to box. Once the pieces are painted the QC person(s) takes various pieces and takes them off to the side for assembly testing and general examination. Once he gives the "OK" then there are other employees pushing carts between the tables with the Styrofoam pieces (usually the bottom) the statue is going in. These employees grab a piece and wrap it in the protective paper (or whatever is used) and place it in the Styrofoam piece. He/she does the same for how ever many Styrofoam pieces they have on their cart. They then proceed to the next piece and repeat the process until all the Styrofoam pieces are full with each piece. They take their cart to another area where another team/individual will put the top Styrofoam piece on, place them in the 4 color box and then in the shipper. During this process someone had stuck a label on the bottom of the base so that the person(s) doing the boxing up can put the same number on the art box and the shipper.


Now each manufacturer is different. I was explained this process by someone affiliated with a mid-size manufacturer. Each one is a little different. Some more automated some less. Some can do more molds at a time than others. It's not like they are molding these one at a time. The more molds they have the faster they can spit them out but still the painting is what takes the longest of all the processes. Also, some manufacturers have multiple injection mold machines so they can mold more than one piece at a time. But even if they do, they still take each piece and place them in different "areas/tables" for the painting process.

[built2shred]

Originally Posted by nbr3bagshotrow

Well it was an obvious exaggeration to impress on the expense of checking every one. And it would take much more than a few seconds considering the pieces aren't all set together to be able to put the statue together.


I know they do batches but the batches are all of the same "piece" (e.g tail, base, body in the mermaid case). The same piece is laid out side by side on large / long tables so the painters can come by and start painting them. The next piece is laid out side by side on a different large / long table and so on based on how many pieces the statue is comprised of. After the pieces are all painted and dry (which can take different times due to size, complexity and intricacy) then they are ready to box. Once the pieces are painted the QC person(s) takes various pieces and takes them off to the side for assembly testing and general examination. Once he gives the "OK" then there are other employees pushing carts between the tables with the Styrofoam pieces (usually the bottom) the statue is going in. These employees grab a piece and wrap it in the protective paper (or whatever is used) and place it in the Styrofoam piece. He/she does the same for how ever many Styrofoam pieces they have on their cart. They then proceed to the next piece and repeat the process until all the Styrofoam pieces are full with each piece. They take their cart to another area where another team/individual will put the top Styrofoam piece on, place them in the 4 color box and then in the shipper. During this process someone had stuck a label on the bottom of the base so that the person(s) doing the boxing up can put the same number on the art box and the shipper.


Now each manufacturer is different. I was explained this process by someone affiliated with a mid-size manufacturer. Each one is a little different. Some more automated some less. Some can do more molds at a time than others. It's not like they are molding these one at a time. The more molds they have the faster they can spit them out but still the painting is what takes the longest of all the processes. Also, some manufacturers have multiple injection mold machines so they can mold more than one piece at a time. But even if they do, they still take each piece and place them in different "areas/tables" for the painting process.

I didn't know that... That is interesting... I get they need to stream line their time to get this shipped out as it seems most of the time they're behind schedule but they need to figure out some sort of system that allows for QC fittings, to make sure all the parts fit properly together….

That said the more obvious stuff like googly eyes, the factories really don't have any defense for that, doesn't take a high IQ to look at a portrait and see the eyes are messed up...

I still think SS needs to actually hire a QC team that lives by the factories they could trust to do random quality checks to make sure everything is up to snuff... I know some companies actually visit the factories during production to make sure everything is going smoothly...

[omigeo]

I got an email from my CS for my ex and hopefully I'll have her by Monday or Tuesday

[Otter]

Just tried to assemble mine, and am having the same fit issues.

Also have what looks to be overspray, and a lavender shimmer on her right shoulder. At least, I don't think that's supposed to be there.

A shame, because it's a beautiful statue otherwise.