assemblies that cause frustration

i fell your pain i have had canopys that have had scratched up holes and largwe holes in them

Pin marks are what aggrivates me. Putting them on landing gear oleos or areas where they can't be removed without destroying the adjacent detail.
Pits, short-shots & mold parting lines are also frustrating on a limited-run kit.

thyamis writes: am annoyed of the following

1. Props that need to be plugged at an early stage, and the shaft is too short to allow later stage assembly, you know the ones with the back cap thing

Thyamis,

Don't put the cap on the back. I don't put the cap on the bottom of my heli main rotors because it makes the model easier to transport. You can remove the prop or the main rotor and stow it until you reach a particular destination (to a show or new domicile). I wish I could do the same with landing gear!

I also sleeve my main rotors (without a cap) in brass, on peice glued into the transmission, the other around the main rotor shaft, so that they turn easier. If you bump a sticky main rotor, you may break a blade. If it turns freely, then you are safe.

As for the rest of the items you listed, all I can say is, oh well, welcome to modeling! . Some of the better quality kits will obviously have less deformations.

--Jon

i tried that but the prop looks as if bends by its own weight....if the space is long enough there is no problem with that but occassionally this happens, especially if the shaft hole is not bored right.

Seam lines down the center of a canopy.

Round parts come out oval when glued together (Bombs, drop tanks, missiles, etc).

Mis-matched panel lines when parts a joined together.

Holes for attaching parts that have to be filled in because you aren't installing that part.

I HATE when tires and wheels are one piece. That makes it almost IMPOSSIBLE to paint the tires black & the wheel whatever color and make it look good. Occasionally, a kit will have the tires and wheels as separate pieces, which makes it EASY to paint, but this is a rarity. I think all kits should have rubber tires and plastic wheels (or hubs, if you prefer), just like the Academy 1/32 F/A-18C has.

Two-piece nose cones are another pet peeve. Once you glue them together and sand them a little, they're not the correct shape any more. Kinda like ordnance..................

Ejection pin marks also cause my blood pressure to rise. I understand why they're there, but you would think that the kit designers would come up with another way to eject the plastic from the molds.

The mold line down the middle of a bubble canopy is another anger-maker. I've learned (from other GREAT modelers) how to overcome this with a sanding stick and Future Floor Polish, but just the fact that you have to sand on a clear part is disconcerting.

I find shallow gear wells to be my biggest annoyance.

What I find annoying, in addition to what Thyamis already mentioned:

-Parts with no obvious means of attachment.

-Landing gear that won't align or fit correctly, even with much sanding and other fiddling.

-Really tiny, fragile parts - I'm clumsy, you know!!

-Cockpits that won't allow fuselage halves to join smoothly (this has happened three times, so perhaps I need to check cockpit installation more carefully!!).

Well, I guess these are not fatal annoyances, as I'm still building models!

I really hate it when the manufactures put sprue attach points near the weak points on spall parts... then you end up breaking the part just trying to get it off the tree.

I also dislike warped kits. Its no fun when you need some clamps, CA and accelerator just to get your fuselage to meet up at both ends. And when one wing is warped to a different dihedral from the other.

I have to say jet intakes often annoy me too. So often they are either over simplified into one piece and almost imposible to effectively paint or they come in a bunch of pieces and just getting a smooth connection to the rest of the aircraft becomes the problem.

Landing gear doors are frequently a pain. They rarely have a solid attach point and the surface area for the cement is so small that I usually have to reattach at least one door several times on a kit.

I also hate window that have to be installed before closing a fuselage... I am always afraid that I will end up knocking one out of place during the rest of construction and finishing and then I wont have any way to reattach the window from the outside. Same holds true for almost any small part that could be bumped out of place during construction. I lost the exhaust pipes on one side of a P-51 kit, forever to be rattleing around inside the model....I conveniently display it with the other side facing out.

I also have to agree with the mold lines on canopies. I understand that they come from the more complicated molds these days, but it is still a pain in the rear.