Holes in Model: Sure Sign of Recasts?

I recently picked up some Empire infantry for cheap and was a little surprised to see many minor casting issues with them once they arrived. Now, I have opened a pack of GW miniatures and gotten the odd miscast foot before, but the problem with these infantry are little holes and tiny cavities in hard to reach corners. To me, that seems like a sure sign of recasts, because I've never had a new GW model with this problem. But how can one be sure? The slotta tabs are also miscast on two or three models (out of 30). These designs date back to 1993... Has anyone heard of poor casting issues with GW in the early 90's?

I've repaired all the tiny cavities with extremely small patches of green stuff, so they look alright now, but is there anything else that I should do? I am slightly irked at having paid for (what seem to be) recasts in the first place, however. Should I be so annoyed?

Yes. There was a thread on here somewhere showing a 90s or 00s GW cast of an earlier model, and it had a lot of problems and slight design alterations. It was posted by someone knowledgable and not just speculation. Hmm. Can't find it right now.

Are the casts bright and shiny, and otherwise crisp details? If so I think they were just poor casts from GW in a period that quality control wasn't great.
Are the casts bright shiny, with poor, soft details, and 'air bubbles'? Probably recasts.
Are they dull and the holes brittle and jagged, maybe white ? Lead rot - unlikely with the late80's early 90s alloy, but not an impossibility.

What Zhu said, particularly the bit about bubbles.

If they were from ebay and you were unhappy with them (for any reason) you could have asked for a refund. If the seller didnt oblige then you could have taken it to a paypal dispute. Feel free to upload pics of the figures here and we can take a look.

If they are not from ebay then any trader worth his/her salt should offer you with a refund if you are not happy.

A badly cast figure is a badly cast figure regardless of whether it is recast or not.

I wrote a blog giving examples of times when apparently odd looking details are in fact legitimate:

http://eldritchepistles.blogspot.co.uk/ ... s-and.html

I also blogged about a time when I thought I had obtained legitimate castings but they turned out to be recasts. This will show you what I mean by "bubbles":

http://eldritchepistles.blogspot.co.uk/ ... art-2.html

Thanks guys, that is extemely helpful. So the models have sharp and strong detail, just like a normal GW model, and no air bubbles. They are shiny, white metal (I think GW was into the "white metal" period by early/mid 90's, so I wouldn't expect lead rot). It's just the weird, little cavities and several misformed slotta-tabs (as well as some blank tabs). I did find one spearmen with a gap in his spear haft (the bottom haft was still attached to his foot, so it hadn't fallen away) and I bridged the gap with some green stuff, but other than that most of the patching was for the little holes. I looked and couldn't find any mold lines anywhere on the model.

I could also swear the models are ever so slightly smaller. My other Empire infantry of these types (spearmen, halberdiers and swordsmen) are in storage, so I cannot check any time soon, but I compared one to a Reiksguard Command model that I had laying around and he seemed ever so slightly smaller in comparison.

I could post a picture, but I patched all the holes so I am not sure if it would be that useful. From your descriptions, however, maybe I just have some poorly cast GW models?

I've opened some of the original metal longbeards from their blister to find holes in the models. In fact, that was my first experience using putty!

And search for that thread Zhu mentioned. It showed an example of slightly smaller, legit figures. It appears that during the transition to white metal, many of the figures had to be recast by GW USA, which could account for the perceived size difference.

I bought some recent casts from older moulds from GW directly in about 2006ish, before they made the swap to Finecast stuff... and some of them were abysmal. One Genestealer hybrid was just ruined (luckily I bought 3 of the same model), and a few Skaven had badly damaged feet (easily fixed with some GS) and weapons (swapped easily enough).
The Van Saar I bought had some terribly miscast parts, and I returned them at the time for replacements.
I have gotten a few 'shiny' models off eBay, but mostly these seem down to the type of cleaning/paints they go through before they get to me. I clean everything metal in some pretty harsh furniture polish remover, so it can have some fun with patina that older models can have.
The stuff I'm always wary of is when I see models with very limited detail, or models that look brand new and are missing tabs, or never photographed outside of a slottabase. Even though I remove the tabs on the models I paint 90% of the time, I still want to know I'm paying for an original model. I'll pay more for stuff that's unpainted, never glued, etc. If it has flash on it, so much the better!

saw this squig on ebay today and it looks full of bubbles. would anyone hazard a guess as to whether this is real or a recast?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Warhammer-40K ... 1923642548?

I've come across that store and a lot of the casts look dodgy to me. Not sure if it is just the lighting, but the figures seem to have lost a lot of definition. If they have been cleaned of previous paint jobs, was that done with a wire brush?

What Subedai said. Furthermore, some of those figures (if I'm not mistaken) seem to have double mold-lines.

I know the seller and he's a very nice chap with a good reputation. Also, double mould lines are zero indication (in themselves) of a figure being dodgy.

If you can vouch for him, then I too trust in him. Now I might even buy something from him, should I find something interesting in his shop

Check the thread here: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=2312

Many of the initial models from the lead to pewter switch were horrid & had the issues you describe. I have a Skrag model that came straight out of one of the dark green blisters & it looks like Skrag's smaller, more melted, brother. :/

I actually just painted up a Roborg from YeAlchemist. Decent model, sold as is. Got it for a good price because it was missing an arm and a gun. Can't imagine a recaster selling an incomplete model. I'd swear I've bought other things from him in the past. Quite happy doing business with him.

I've had nothing but good dealings with YeAlchemist either.