Who Has Not Built a "crap" kit?

Yes, I too have built some kits that were less than perfection, to put it mildly. But let me ask this: If you persevere with a marginal kit, does it not improve your modeling skills and tax your intellect and experience for solutions? You could probably train a chimpanzee to put together a "snap tite" kit, or some other that required little in the way of problem-solving.
When I think back on the hundreds of models I've made over a 50-year modeling career, those that stay in memory as "fun" were the ones that were also a challenge, a challenge that I rose to and won. And in the process, gained modeling skills. And isn't that a wonderful way to prepare youth for the challenges of the world?
Tony Ryan

I just love these intelligent replies. It makes you wonder why anyone comes into or back into the hobby.

Alexander, crap means POOP, fecal matter, toilet depth charges, dropping the kids off at the pool, swimming pool candy, stool sample

QUOTE: Originally posted by migs Stangely enough i've built great kits crap, crap kits great, great kits great, and crap kits crap

Wow!! Try saying that 3 times fast.

Ray

Stangely enough i've built great kits crap, crap kits great, great kits great, and crap kits crap...........(and i know i'm not alone !)
what i'm really after is an average kit that i can build averagely so i know i'm getting somewhere !

After reading all the replies I think I have a handle on this subject. I have built several monogram kits that I have felt were crap! However sitting on the shelf you would not know it. Test fit parts and decide do I keep it or go get my money back. I did that with an Airfix vulcan kit. After I get started on a kit and run into problems I use the customer relations 800 numbers (if given) or write the address given on the box or instruction sheet. But, most of all crap kits take time and patience. My worst was a PZL 23 (remain nameless, foreign), I just love the end result I acheived.

OK - I understood - well - everyday you can learn something new ;o) ! Regards! Aleksander

Aleksander - crap means not very good .... garbage ..... and a few other words can be used to describe, but not in this forum.

Hmmm, sorry - what does it really mean "crap" ? Aleksander

Nice opinion markuz226

I agree totally

All this stuff because people have opinions, probably posted just to wind people up.......seriously deranged

Brian - The Staghound is a resin kit from S-Models in Poland. Going to be quite a while before this gets a picture taken of it. Some major work is going to have to be done.

Hey, the ol' Type 97 is great kit!!!

Heh heh heh! Just my opinion, Mike!

Very good point. The meeting of expectations! When not met, in any area of our lives, our opinions tend to sink very low.

And what's this about a Staghound?

Somehow I just knew that the saga of the 97 would end up in this thread.

Keep chugging away at it Mike, and I'll keep banging my head on the Staghound.

Wow! where were you guys when they were bashing aztecs?

We all have an opinion of kits. I have a crappy kit from Tamiya (97 tank), I also have a crappy airfix B26. I think they're crappy, emphasis on "I". Because they didn't meet my expectations. We will always run into that. So my answer to the question monogram=crappy? If it doesn't meet your expectations, then yes. If you don't expect any more out of it than you receive, then no. If you want peoples opinion on a kit then ask for their opinion, don't put the question in a quantative measurement like "is this crappy?" Someone will always say yes or no based upon their own level of expectation that may not be equal to yours.

Mike

Apparently I see more in one's writing than others do, or inferr more, I should say. I guess I'll just keep my mouth shut from now on.


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I try no to rate kits as good or crap, some are just more of a challenge to build, and if a kit is not quite up to par then I believe that it's up to me ( as a fairly skilled modeller ) to bring it up to scratch.

If you build for fun, art or profession - the fact of the matter is that you build for your own reasons.

Accuracy and engineering have their place in this industry. Professionals and artists alike appreciate the finer details and excellent quality of Tamiya and Hasegawa. The investment in a high quality kit pays for itself in the end results. These folks don't want to see raised panel lines and mismatched cockpit details.

Likewise, entry-level modelers don't want to pay out $40 for a specific BF-109 variant with the proper tropical filter. A $12 P-51D Mustang with nifty decals is all that is needed for a father to sit down on Saturday morning with his 12 year old son and share the fun of the hobby.

Consider the factor of supply and demand as well. You don't often find good hobby shops in Podunk, Oklahoma. And Wal-Mart is not likely to be carrying Hasegawa kits any time soon. Some times you make do with what you have access to.

Personally, I'm glad that both high quality and "crappy" kits are available. It is essential to the survival of the industry.

Hey thunderbolt,

I Did not notice the ? at the end of Monogram=crap, sorry for
jumping on the bandwagon.

I loved the A-10. Sure their not Tamiya, just as Chevy isn't Ferrari, But i'd take a free vette anyday of the week.

Terry.

Hi it's me again T-Bolt well sorry about topic I wrote. As you look at the og post I put up it was ( monogram = crap (?). I didn't say they where, I was asking for opinions. I'm not a pro or anything..... I'm trying to get info here and make a few friends willing to help me out. In fact my first kit was a monogram A-10 thunderbolt. But whatever

Sorry T-Bolt

P.S. I have alot of "crapy" kits

Blackwolf:
I'm going to have to along with mwilliams on this, I don't think
TR's response was inappropriate either. I do not know these feller's personally but I believe their response was appropriate.
I have noticed and read most of your posts and you are very helpful. You've gone out of your way to help almost everyone in this forum.
I think for some reason your feathers or coat was a little ruffled.
It's just a hobby, I love it and passionate about it myself. Let's
have fun.

Fly Navy, USN-R (Ret)

Well Im building a 'crap' kit at the moment, and loving it. It is the Supermodel MB 339 A. It was reboxed in New Zealand with a set of decals for an RNZAF version, they are the only good parts of the kit! Nothing fits, the panel lines are not only raised but thick and uneven, the kit is actually for the wrong Mk, it should be a C/D version which has a completely different shaped nose and tail!

BUT with a lot of patience I have rescribed the panel lines, fixed the fit problems with lots of putty, reshaped the nose with milliput and added the antenna fairings to the leading and trailing edge of the tail. I even found a Hawk T MK1 detail set that has PE cockpit details that are pretty close to the Macchi, I found a couple of Mk 10 seats and super detailed these (I used to work on the real things) so with a lot of work it will (hopefully) end up as a very nice little replica of our jet trainer, and it must be the crappiest kit around!

Just because a kit doesn't fall together as you take the parts off the sprues, does not mean you can't enjoy the challenge of putting it together, you just need to think through the problems and invent solutions, and that can be more satisfying than making a kit that goes together perfectly.

I think I was misunderstood. I've liked most of the Monogram A/C that I have built. The only "crappy" one was the 1/72 P-40.

I should have made mention of the original thread, I neglected to do so and that was my mistake.

But I retract none of what I wrote. And I'm not going to explain any further, 'cuz it's rather plain and obvious as to the intent of what was written by TR.



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Thanks Wayne,

I hadn't read the original thread ( Monogram=Crap? ) which started this controversary. You are correct. I only took exception to Blackwolf because TR's topic for this thread was appropriate and not at all mean-spirited. Thanks for the clarification.

TR made comments about typing and grammer in his opening sentence, and an elitist comment also. None of that helps Tbolt who says he is returning to the hobby. He needs information about modeling, not typing lessons, which we all could use from time to time.

I just build, that's all.

Quote: Originally posted by Blackwolfscd

Perhaps you should think before you open your mouth and rudely bash someone for simply voicing their opinion. You have a right to your opinion, I grant you that. But you have no justification in insulting someone for expressing THEIR opinion as T-Bolt has. 'Cuz if you do, you're gonna get it back tenfold.


Blackwolf,

I didn't hear any bashing in TR's post. T-bolt had an opinion and TR had a different one. And he stated it. There was no insult, no bash. Offering up a different opinion is not an insult, it is how things get accomplished. The only one who needs to appologize is you, for your threat, "you're gonna get it back tenfold." What was the point of that?

However, TR's response ( in the "Monogram
= Crap?" post) to T-bolts post was innapropriate, there is no need to reduce a disagreement to a personal level. If that, Blackwolf, is what you are taking exception to, then I agree that he is out of line. However, you only quote this topic in your response.

maybe some of you need to work in a room w/ more ventilation ! :-)

i build what i like, and make my purchase decision based on my desire and the health of my wallet. i read reviews in FSM, get online check for the buzz, read more reviews, ask around the hobbyshop and make a choice.

some of the kits turn out to be disappointing or frustrating (but the worst i have ever encountered was an AMT car kit - and that is a bit off of this conversation's track). for my skill level (medium at best), better fitting kits are more satisfying. i don't mind an occasional 'challenge', but i don't want the kit to fight me on every step. perhaps it is due to my weak skills or inexperience, but this moves from 'challenging' to 'frustrating' somewhat quickly. if i wanted to be thwarted at every turn, i'd go to work! unlike you, blackwolf, no one is paying me to build anything. i have to do it for fun! :-) maybe i could get people to watch me like a pay-per-view. a comedy of errors. but i would like (and expect!) the majority of the parts to actual mate up.

i think that in a mostly capitalist world, the continued existence of the various model companies shows that they must all be filling some role and serving a purpose. can anyone really believe that they could stay in business if all their stuff was 'crap' ? they have all made some stinkers over the years. and in the cases where it is 'the only game in town' (say the 1/24 Airfix Mustang until recently), it will still sell on its merits. one of those merits is: it may be the only kit of that subject in that scale.

the hobby (or business) of building plastic models spans a vast variety of participants from first time children and bumble-fingered adults to artists producing amazingly detailed replicas. some of the stuff i have seen online is so 'beyond' the kit that it amazes me the kit maker is even mentioned. my buddy and i joke that by the time they have removed and replaced all the detail w/ scratchbuilt parts and corrected all the kit's errors there is no "kit" left !

there is room for all of us. and all of our opinions.
if we were all in agreement on everything, there would not be much to discuss here. it would be like some radio show where everyone calls in to agree w/ the host.

- keep gluing pieces together until there is only one piece left.
then paint it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by T.R.Bridges What I'm getting at here is this. It's a hobby folks. When we sit down to our work benches or tables, we're not performing brain surgery...

TR,

Perhaps you should consider that you are only ONE of (at the time of this writing) 16,648 users registered on this site. We ALL build for our OWN reasons.

Some build for casual enjoyment, some for less than casual enjoyment and some folks are DOWNRIGHT SERIOUS about what they consider to be MORE than just a hobby.

There are some damned talented builders out there who are akin to the likes of Michelangelo or Robert Taylor or Jeremy Brett. One of them, a guy whose models have graced the cover of FSM more than once, is a member of my club. This fella and those mentioned above each have excelled and/or continue to excel in their chosen art, and that's just what modeling has been elevated to in this day and age. ART.

Not everyone has to approach the hobby as an art form, but those who choose to do so have just as much right to do so as you have to continue to build your "crap kits", as you put it.

QUOTE: Originally posted by T.R.Bridges Even if you get paid to build models, you are still supposed to enjoy what you are doing.

BULL. Says who? I am a professional builder; that is, I get paid for building models. I ain't a big shot, I ain't a "name" in the modeling community, but I have built professionally and been paid to do it for quite some time. I have built stuff for people that I had absolutely NO interest in. Why? Because when you choose to build professionally, it usually becomes a JOB. Not every one likes their job, even if they "like their job". I had to build a buncha seaplanes for a guy about a year and a half ago. They weren't the greatest kits and I found the subject matter to be VERY boring. But I built them. You know why? Because I was getting a good dollar to build the stupid things, that's why.

QUOTE: Originally posted by T.R.Bridges Maybe Mr. Thunderbolt2 should think about that next time sits down to his project.

Perhaps you should think before you open your mouth and rudely bash someone for simply voicing their opinion. You have a right to your opinion, I grant you that. But you have no justification in insulting someone for expressing THEIR opinion as T-Bolt has. 'Cuz if you do, you're gonna get it back tenfold.

QUOTE: Originally posted by T.R.Bridges When I get home tonight, I am going to continue working on my many crap kits.

And having written what I just did, I don't look down upon you if you like to build "crap" kits just for the fun of it, nor for expressing your opinion. Part of me still shares a similar desire for simple enjoyment of what I have made a passionate hobby. Matter of fact, I see that you are a veteran. Whether or not you have been in combat, you deserve my thanks for having served, and for that I extend just such a sentiment.

But I do look down on you for being obstinate, narrow minded and discourteous in what you have written. T-Bolt deserves some apologistic recompense from your quarter.

And for those of you who are inclined to tell me to "calm down", save it. Also, if this post is edited in any way, shape or form I am finished with this forum. I'm getting weary of the height to which the PC BS has been taken. I ain't one for mouthing off and cursing left and right, but there is sometimes a place for it. And this was such a case. Just be thankful that I didn't express my TRUE sentiments.

Don't like my view? TOO BAD.


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