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What's the worst kit you ever bought?

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  • Member since
    November 2005
What's the worst kit you ever bought?
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 15, 2003 12:47 PM
Two really bad kits come to mind, the Testors 1/72 F4U Corsair and the Revell/Monogram USS Missouri.

The first needed its fuselage to be fixed so it would match up, there was no detail whatsoever, and the spinner didn't fit into the engine.

The Missouri kit had seams everywhere, many that mismatched, parts that refused to fit, and no option to build the complete hull.

Have you had similar experiences?
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Racing capital of the world- Indy
Posted by kaleu on Saturday, March 15, 2003 1:02 PM
Two kits come to mind, first is the DML Brumbar. The only way I can describe this kit is awful. Too many warped parts, parts with excessive flash or sinkholes. I've been trying to build this kit for the past few years. It's still sitting on the shelf. The other kit is the Trumpeter T-69II. I had to use 3 different types of glue and when I weathered the tank, several parts fell off and had to be cleaned, glued and painted again. I swore off Trumpeter kits until they came out with their new kits in better plastic. I won't even get into the bad fit, inaccurate detail and crappy decals. I am so happy Tamiya put out a T-55.
Erik "Don't fruit the beer." Newest model buys: More than I care to think about. It's time for a support group.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Pominville, NY
Posted by BlackWolf3945 on Saturday, March 15, 2003 1:11 PM
For me it's invariably the one I'm currently working on! Wink [;)]

There are a few winners that I've come across, I just have to refresh the old memory banks...

Tentatively, I'll say an Imai copy of Otaki's 48th P-40. Talk about barking dogs, this was such a bad model that I simply tossed it. And I'm Mr P-40! LOL

It was really horrible. The Otaki kit had engraved lines, this one had what seemed to be a mixture of raised and recessed. It looked like the janitor had dumped his dust pan into the mold before they let plastic flow.

The clear parts... well let's just say that I use the word "clear" as a matter of form! Did you ever go out to your car after an ice storm (CA & FL residents ignore this reference!) and see the swirly cut-glass-look-typa patterns that the ice sometimes makes on your windshield? These clear parts were a real work of art, let me tell you.

Decals looked like they were made by hand with Crayola no-stain (RIGHT!) markers. The box art was even a bad copy of the original Otaki box art! I'm not kidding about any of this! LMAO

As I said, I tossed it. So I can't comment on fit problems, but it couldn't have fit too well. Either that or it fit like a glove! That would figure, too! Tongue [:P]

Fade to Black...
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: East Bethel, MN
Posted by midnightprowler on Saturday, March 15, 2003 1:39 PM
Revell of Germany's Trabant kit. Plastic tires , poor mouldings, curbside kit, expensive for the quality and what you got, never did finish it, anded up trashing it. One of only two I ever wrecked before completion.
Lee

Hi, I am Lee, I am a plastiholic.

Co. A, 682 Engineers, Ltchfield, MN, 1980-1986

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Ask me about Speedway Decals

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Canada / Czech Republic
Posted by upnorth on Saturday, March 15, 2003 1:58 PM
Just about anything Hobbycraft Canada made up to about a decade or so ago could be hell.

Their current stuff isn't bad since they cleaned up their act from the old days.

Two kits that come to mind were both from them. A 1/72 FW-190A, I don't know what its origins were, but it was terrible nose to tail. It was the only kit I was so unhappy with that I actually wrote a letter to the manufacturer and gave them hell for even thinking to put it out there. The fit was barely there, the panel lines were suspect and the decals looked like a high school shop class's silk screening experiment gone wrong.

The kit that really put me off of Hobbycraft for a long time was their 1/72 S2F Tracker. I later found out it was pirated from the Hasegawa kit. Oddly enough, the decals were the only good thing about this kit. There was poor fit all around, hazy clear parts. I don't know what sort of plastic they used, but it melted down like nothing I'd ever seen before and I wasn't using anything fancier than Testor liquid cement.

Other dishonorable mentions I can recall:

Aoshima's 1/72 Hawker Hurricane
Airfix's 1/72 Boulton Paul Defiant
Hasegawa's 1/72 EE Lightning F.6
Monogram's 1/72 Panavia Tornado
Revell's Visible Woman (great idea, poor engineering)

Even the best companies can release a dog of a kit that just leaves you shaking your head wondering what they were thinking when they engineered it.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: United Kingdom / Belgium
Posted by djmodels1999 on Saturday, March 15, 2003 5:06 PM
Several kits come to my mind, but the top spot could very well be the Dassault Mercure airliner from VEB (also known as Plasicard), from the former East Germany. Scale:1/100.

Hard plastic but very brittle, horrible decals (problem since Air Inter's decals don't come too often!), oversized windows, raised panel lines, few details... Still, I haven't completely abandonned it, and I even have other VEB kits surfacing time to time on my workbench. Madness...
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 15, 2003 8:47 PM
dans1120, I built the Revell USS Missouri way back in my teenage years, before I cared about seams, so I have fond memories of my Mighty Mo. It eventually suffered the fate of many models, destructive testing via the firecracker.

More recently, a horrible kit I worked on was the Matchbox He-219 in 1/72. Poorly formed landing gear and the bottom of the starboard wing was significantly (1/8" in real inches) shorter than the top of the wing. A true disgrace to the He-219 plane. I've completed it, but I can't stand it so it may be headed for a catapult launch off my third floor deck.
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Canada / Czech Republic
Posted by upnorth on Sunday, March 16, 2003 2:17 PM
djmodels,

Yeah those VEB kits could be a real trial.

You knocked a modeling memory of mine awake.

I got my hands on a VEB Let 410 Turbolet in 1/100. I was so enthusiastic about having it in any scale as the 410 has some of the nicest lines of any Eastern European originated aircraft.

I ran into a lot of the problems you mentioned: hard and brittle plastic that didn't go together without super glue, decals were roughly printed and barely adhered, oversized and hazy windows.

I love the Let 410 but not enough to have completed that particular representation of it.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: United Kingdom
Posted by cmtaylor on Sunday, March 16, 2003 3:09 PM
Without a doubt, Maximum Warp Models 1/72 Skydiver. I bought it back in about 1990 and have made virtually no progress . I'm not sure that there is a single part that is the right shape or size.. Indeed, since it's a vacform, I'll probably have to make every piece from scratch anyway
Gentlemen! You can't fight in here; this is the WAR ROOM!
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: Warwick, RI
Posted by paulnchamp on Sunday, March 16, 2003 4:56 PM
How about everything by AMT, or later AMT/ERTL! As a hard-core Trekker, I've build every one of their Star Trek kits, and each is a major disappointment.
Paul "A man's GOT to know his limitations."
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Tochigi, Japan
Posted by J-Hulk on Sunday, March 16, 2003 6:47 PM
Yeah, paulnchamp, I can remember never being able to get the warp engines to stay on with the early AMT Enterprise kits. Of course, I was a kid and didn't know what I was doing. Like most companies, though, their later efforts weren't so bad. But I understand their "Slave I" is supposed to be horrendous.
I recall almost anything by Lindberg as being particularly substandard.
~Brian
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Sunday, March 16, 2003 7:33 PM
My vote for worst kit is the 'orginal' Tamiya Shinano in 1/800 scale (they just re-released it in Japan). It is just a put together toy. More current is the Glencoe re-issue of the Strombecker Space Station. After a pack of sandpaper the ring is almost smooth.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Tochigi, Japan
Posted by J-Hulk on Sunday, March 16, 2003 8:44 PM
Funny how my memory of awful kits is mainly SF stuff. Accuracy, fit, all kinds of problems. I wonder why? Manufacturers didn't think SF modelers cared about accuracy? Too bad.
I built more military than SF growing up, but I can't recall any real stinkers from that genre.
Again, I was just a kid!
~Brian
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: USA
Posted by woody0369 on Sunday, March 16, 2003 10:49 PM
Wow! The worst is the one I'm currently doing. Revelle-Monograms representation of the P-38. I've had to sand so much I'll have to go back and rescribe all of the lines and rivets, (they looked so good in the box). More flashing than I have ever seen, some pieces i've cut off were bigger than the actual part. Horrible model, I'll never buy another one from these folks
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Monday, March 17, 2003 12:54 PM
revell of germany 1/32 a6m5 zero - re issue of the 1987 kit, no detail. had to scratchbuild the entire cockpit, even the floor. and as for the cannons, WHAT CANNONS?!?!!? another bad kit was the monogram Acura nsx. the decals SUX! any amt car, expecially the '78 firebird (at least i think it is). nothing fits, nothing works, no detail.
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Panama City, Florida, Hurricane Alley
Posted by berny13 on Monday, March 17, 2003 3:49 PM
Lindburg F-8E. Nothing fit. I think the people that designed it went their own way making the parts without checking to see if they would even fit or was the correct size. It was suppose to be 1/48 scale but most of parts, not all, were 1/50 scale. I tried to do something with it and finally drop kicked it out the door.

Berny

 Phormer Phantom Phixer

On the bench

TF-102A Delta Dagger, 32nd FIS, 54-1370, 1/48 scale. Monogram Pro Modeler with C&H conversion.  

Revell F-4E Phantom II 33rd TFW, 58th TFS, 69-260, 1/32 scale. 

Tamiya F-4D Phantom II, 13th TFS, 66-8711, 1/32 scale.  F-4 Phantom Group Build. 

 

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: East Bethel, MN
Posted by midnightprowler on Monday, March 17, 2003 4:20 PM
Unnamed player, have you looked at AMT's new tools? They are chock full of detail. I'mnot talking reissues, but new tools. Like the 57 chrysler, 60 Ford, and many others. Check 'em out! You'll change your mind!
Lee

Hi, I am Lee, I am a plastiholic.

Co. A, 682 Engineers, Ltchfield, MN, 1980-1986

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Ask me about Speedway Decals

  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: Tochigi, Japan
Posted by J-Hulk on Monday, March 17, 2003 6:38 PM
Yeah, the newer stuff isn't bad at all.
But is it AMT, or AMT/Ertl? The last kits I bought were the two '71 Duster 340 (what?? no '70???) kits, and they look great.
~Brian
  • Member since
    February 2003
  • From: East Bethel, MN
Posted by midnightprowler on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 4:48 AM
To be accurate, AMT/Ertl. I just say AMT to simplify things.
Lee

Hi, I am Lee, I am a plastiholic.

Co. A, 682 Engineers, Ltchfield, MN, 1980-1986

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 1 Corinthians 15:51-54

Ask me about Speedway Decals

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 7:43 AM
The Special Hobby stuff have a special place in my heart. This kits, though they have nice subjects, the plastic moulding is just enough to pay my sins. I am sure that I will be going directly to Heaven after that.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 1:39 PM
not so much the worst kit,but biggest let down,was the airfix (sorry!) bf (yes correct designation)110 after getting back into modelling after ten years i tried to get my hands on a 110 kit from 90 to about 95 when i built both the nightfighter and the zerstorer kit from,i think italerie,they were both brilliant. so, a coupleyears ago airfix re realease the 110 from my youth.same box art from 74.but the kit! spinners that were flattend off,a chunky stick for a rear gun,chunky one piece canopy and general lack of detail.but the thing was i loved it! possibly the first kit i ever built and it hadnt changed a bit like a long lost friend.it got finished but lives at the back of a cupboard now
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 2:20 PM
well the amt/ertle mustang is pretty good...
  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: USA
Posted by jcarlberg on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 4:06 PM
Leaving out the ancients of the field, Airfix and Frog, Aurora and Revell in the old days, the most recent disappointing kit I've bought is the Model News A-36 A Apache. Besides the usual limited run concerns, fit is atrocious, the canopy is not clear, and does not fit, and the dive brakes are scratched into the wing surface.
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 6:04 PM
Lindburg.......... need i saymore???

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 9:36 PM
In this order#3 Williams Bros. #2 Lindberg. And #1(drum roll please?)Glencoe. Any thing made buy these guys are dogs.I did build a kit of a 1/30 scale su-152(the manufacturer name i cannot pronounce) which was so bad I built it becouse I felt sorry for it.That was the worst kit I ever saw .However it looks good in the display case..
  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Newport News VA
Posted by Buddho on Tuesday, March 18, 2003 9:37 PM
My worst model kit is a 1/35th scale Super Sherman from MP "Adversary Series". It was named correctly because it opposed me at every bend...sheesh. One thing I can't figure out is why I still have the unfinished kit...maybe to remind me of how bad things can get!

  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Thursday, March 20, 2003 5:58 PM
The worst kit bought would have to be the Revell (Germany) Titanic. From the hull upwards, the kit is grossly out of scale and a pain to put together. I finished the model for a friend who had family on the ship, he placed the finished model in his display cabinet and caught the mast on the shelf, breaking it. Never again! ... not even as a favour!
  • Member since
    January 2003
  • From: NE Georgia
Posted by Keyworth on Thursday, March 20, 2003 6:55 PM
The old Air Lines Martin Baltimore-Didn't even look like an airplane when I finished with it. Just threw it away...didn't want to waste a perfectly good firecracker!
"There's no problem that can't be solved with a suitable application of high explosives"
  • Member since
    November 2005
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, March 22, 2003 6:24 AM
I just got an model of the Antonov An-26 'Curl' transport plane from a company called Russian Project. It's short-run kit and it makes other short-run kits look like Tamiya. The flash is as thick as the part in some places and the windshield suffers from a short shot (hole). "Crude" is an understatement!
  • Member since
    February 2003
Posted by Anthony on Sunday, March 23, 2003 12:22 AM
Anyone ever tried the Testor 1/72 SBD Dauntless? If you have not, lucky you. I bought that terrible thing years ago. It was unbelievably crude. Surface finishing was bad; cockpit almost non-exixted; canopy too thick; landing gears had no details and the pilot figures looked lifeless. Boy, I did not even had the heart to build it. Gave it to an nine year old kid.
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