What we modelers hate on models

That Partridge FAMO was actually pretty funny. C'mon, get Happy!

I'll go with the "mixing %'s of paint to get the'right' color." That really does bother me. Unclear instructions for parts that affect later stages of building is another thing I hate.

Overly thick parts- make the model look like a toy,
Ejector pin marks,
A manufacturer releasing one kit as a certain version, then changing the decals and calling it another. Like Hasegawas Hellcat, The F6F-5 is a kit of a F6F-3 but they tell you to remove a few bits and scribe panel lines to make it a -5. Lazy buggers.

And las, but not least......

The price tag.

Partridge FAMO make me upset...same with that NASTANK that was in a FSM a while back...

Inacurracies that are not only able to be spoted by rivet counters, but the average joe looking at the model.

Ejector pin marks in exposed areas

NUMBER ONE HATED ARMOR MODEL ATTRIBUTE!
Mold lines that wrap around the wheels on armor kits (takes forever to get em' off!)

Old revell kits where the decals are so thick you can see it if you hold the decal sheet flat.

NUMBER ONE HATED AIRCRAFT MODEL ATTRIBUTE!
Raised panels and rivets on A/C models

The things that i hate the most are:

1. AMT and Revell-monogram kits.
2. Clear parts.
3. Clear parts that are not baged seperately.
4. Revell AG instructions that recommend mixing 3 different paints to get the required colour.

Thats my

Cheers Trev

no landing gear details

warps

clear parts [all of them]

Anything with a Heller logo on it.....

Other than that, poorly molded on detail or small detail incorporated into the mold. I usually end up scraping it off and scrachbuilding the newer detail. I would much rather see things like engine screens left off or not part of the mold so that I could either use my own materials, PE or kit supplied PE.

QUOTE: Originally posted by Duke Maddog Directions that ask you to mix %'s of different colors to get another color.

Yeah I forgot about this one! Hello Tamiya....Are you listening?

Hmmmmm

Ejector Pin Marks...
Decals that fall apart while transferring them to the model...
Small Parts that fall apart....You know the ones that are so frail that you take extra care while painting them...as soon as you put glue on them and try to put them where they belong(taking the same special care!)they break!
Seam lines in impossible places...but they can still be seen...

I'm sure there's a few more but this will do for now.

when the boxart depicts something that isnt in the box... a 1/700 ship showing FLAGS FLYING when there are no flags in the box, for example. So now I'm supposed to buy some just to make it look realistic? I mean, who has ever seen ANY ship with no flags!!!!
Also, when the painting instructions only give one manufacturer reference, or none at all. I mean, come on, they sell these kits worldwide, thats why we cant have any swastikas, right?

lack of detail. the whole point of our hobby is to produce detailed scale replicas that look great. when i get a model that has detail comparable to something that can be shot off with a rubber band and fly "0ver 50 feet" i get unhappy.

What do I hate most?

Small detail parts with such huge sprue attachment points that no matter how hard you try, the part breaks apart before they seperate from the sprue!

Long thin pieces like the Revell/Germany M2A2 bradley's Bushmaster cannon attached to the sprue at both ends instead of at one end, so it snaps in half when you try to remove it from the sprue!

Unclear instruction sheets.

Directions that ask you to mix %'s of different colors to get another color.

Those last two were mentioned I believe. Still, the top two are my pet peeves, particularly when building Ships and Armor.

What do I hate on models? I'd have to say the price

Ships - Broken gun barrels in odd scales

Aircraft - Needlessly complex multi-piece canopies (The Academy OV-10 Bronco and Testors OV-10 Bronco are the most egregious examples of this)

Aircraft - Raised panel lines on a Corsair, and recessed panel lines on a C-47

End opening boxes

and 3 words that will strike fear into ALL modeler's hearts (read: most)

RESIN

PHOTO-ETCH

and tools that don't work, stuff like sprue cutters that nibble away parts, pitot tubes(when will the military make their new planes easier to reproduce in plastic?)

Expensive could mean Hasegawa new releases?

print up a new set of decals, bung them into an old (still good though) kit and sell them for AU$35-50. The old kit only sold for AU$15 max when it was released. Does this justify the new decal sheet. I think not!

In regards to disintegrating decals, I have a policy of using Microscale decal Film over any sheet older than 2 years old. Better to be safe than sorry!

BUT the worst things are end opening boxes (Revell and Italeri take note!) and not bagging the plastic parts so that they fall off the sprue and the clear parts get scratched..AHHHH!!!!!!

cheers

Mike

I-beam -- It sounds like you've got it all straight, and just don't realize it. The little circles (usually in a hidden area of the part) are from pins in the molds that eject the parts from the molds. The sprue attachment points are just that -- the points where the parts attach to the sprues.

Anyway, on topic -- my biggest pet peeve is poor fitting parts. There's no excuse, given the resources available today, to have two fuselage halves that don't line up properly.

-Jonathan

I wish that some of the manufacturers out there would start making more Australian models..ship,aircraft and armour..

cheers mike

The thing I hate most on my models?


Those GD IPMS flashlight/magnifying glass combos at shows!

All of the above plus poor quality canopies ( thick, cloudy, scratched, wrong shape, wrong size, wrong frames)

1. Lack of a harness either molded on, or at worst supplied as a decal on aircraft seats.

2. Instructions calling for obscure mixing ratios of three paints to obtain a particular color (Revell AG).

3. Soft detail.

Later
Darren

QUOTE: Originally posted by hou_ge2000 raised panel lines

Right on brother. I would like to have a small collection of planes on the shelf, but I check for this before I even look at a kit.

I also hate mould parting seams and misleading instructions, particularly where multiple versions are involved.

I agree with all the posts, especially ejector pin marks. What was the point of a clear model if you could see all the pin marks?
I also hate that you have to buy PE to make the kit better, especially in the seat belt area.
And most new kits now don`t have any rivet detail when there were flush rivets (why can`t they recess them all with the panel lines)

Lots are mentioning ejector pins. Are these the same as sprue attachment points? What are the big circles usually on the inside of fuselages and wings? I thought those were used for ejection from the molds.

Anyway I have two peeves. (1) Warped or twisted fuselages. There should be no reason for this with injection molding. It just indicates lower quality plastic is being used. (2) Sprue attachment points right smack in the top middle seam of fuselages

Poor detail, bad instructions and large heavy boxes!

I think my biggest peeve is the cost of new kits. There is a certain manufacturer of Far East location that has a really nasty habit of introducing "new" kits every 8 to 12 months which are the same basic kit as the "old" kit but with new box art, new decals (which are usually so thick as to be useless) and a new instruction page reflecting the "changes" and the price of the kit goes up 3 to 5 dollars with each issuance. And when they introduce a truly new kit to their line, the price is usually in the absurd range. (40 bucks suggested retail for a 1/72 WW II medium bomber??? - I don't think so)

And don't tell me that the latest model is the absolutely "perfect" model. The "perfect" model shouldn't need a PE set. But one of the LHS that I frequent had the PE set on the shelves before the model showed up. And I would be willing to bet the kit has the same crappy decals that all that manufacturers kits have. Plus the cost of paint and glue. So now we have $40 for the model, $20 for the PE set, $10 for the decals and say $10 for the paint and glue. Ok, I now have $80 in a 1/72 airplane kit that isn't started and the knowledge that I could have gotten the same airplane from a different manufacturer and with a little work had about the same model when finished. And had 30 to 40 dollars that I could have spent on something else. I sometimes think that some modelers are like a lot of the people who buy 4 wheel drive SUVs. You know the ones I'm talking about, pay 5 to 6 figures for the vehicle and it never leaves the asphalt street. But it's the "in" thing to do to impress other people who can't afford one. (Don't get me wrong, I absolutely lust after a Hummvee - not one of the civilian models, but a military surplus version - I drove them for a long time in the Guard and know what they are capable of. And it ain't running on asphalt and concrete)

Sorry about ranting but had to get it off my chest.

Absolute worst thing I hate to have happen is to buy a kit from a known manufacturer that I've had great experiences with previously and going off namebrand recognition, get a re-issued or "new" kit that has old parts of sub-standard quality thrown in.

Hmmm lets see how bout the manufacturer stamping info on the exposed surfaces? Or pieces that could be molded as 1 piece (unless extra detail would benefit of course).

Molded-on handrails on ships. Just leave 'em off, for cryin' out loud! That's what photo-etch is for!

And poor instructions that aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
Paul