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The Lousiest Fitting, Most Poorly Molded kit you have ever Tried to build

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  • Member since
    October 2019
  • From: New Braunfels, Texas
The Lousiest Fitting, Most Poorly Molded kit you have ever Tried to build
Posted by Tanker-Builder on Monday, August 15, 2022 1:52 PM

 I am Gonna Start!

            Years ago, I saw a neat little kit. It was called the "Shell Welder" A ship kit. At the time it was a FROG kit. Lousy tight in molding in the corners and angles. Poor fit and in some cases, No fit!

           Some years later ran across it again. Under the Heller label. Guess what? It did fit better. Some! Then years later, ran across it again. One of the things in this kit hadn't changed til then. The Rails were some kind of very pliable plastic.

           After better than Thirty years after that I ran across it again. This time it was a Russian label. Nothing changed except for the worse. To get the two levels of the deck and the stairs right, I had to cut those pieces apart, File and and Re-Assemble and use P.E. for the stairs. Don't ask me why, except, she is just such a neat little ship and once ballasted right, one of the sweetest sailing and looking Micro R.C. I have ever built. 

           It has the thickest plastic in what should be thin areas and the weirdest Wheelouse assembly that over time has NEVER fit right anyway. Still makes the neatest "Silk Purse out of a Sows Ear" kit I know of.

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Monday, August 15, 2022 1:59 PM

Mach 2 PBM. Horrible thing. Clear parts made out of dried dog drool.

Mach 2 Valiant bomber. And of course after I finished it Airfix came out with a decent one.

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    March 2015
  • From: Close to Chicago
Posted by JohnnyK on Monday, August 15, 2022 2:00 PM

 

This is an old Monogram B-58. I put this model on the Shelf of Doom for a year before I finally finished it.

Your comments and questions are always welcome.

  • Member since
    March 2015
Posted by Peaches on Monday, August 15, 2022 2:07 PM

F-15C MSIPII by Academy. Pieces fit, but they were just "off" and Deluxe Putty is to thick to really fit in the gaps.  

WIP:
Academy F-18 (1/72)

On Deck 

MH-60G 1:48 (Minicraft)

C-17 1/144

KC-135R 1/144

Academy F-18(1/72)

Ting Ting Ting, WTF is that....

  • Member since
    April 2009
  • From: Longmont, Colorado
Posted by Cadet Chuck on Monday, August 15, 2022 7:24 PM

.

Gimme a pigfoot, and a bottle of beer...

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Monday, August 15, 2022 8:28 PM

 Dragons one and only known 1/35th attemp of a Scud missle launcher....neat concept of subassembly process however each subassembky was designed by a different set of measurements...in different factories...and IF I hazard a guess on different continents.

    Axles had no hard points to frame, frame was warped, cab, launch cabin, and aft sponsons flat did not fit on akready mentioned warped frame.

   Ultimately the 5yr old mind overroad the 22yr old builder and it became the best 40.00 I ever smashed.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    December 2002
  • From: Fort Knox
Posted by Rob Gronovius on Monday, August 15, 2022 9:57 PM

A few that have hit my radar as "total waste of glue".

Glencoe reissued a bunch of ancient ITC/Ringo/Ideal kits from the 1950s in the early 1990s. A pair of the Soviet armor kits, the amphibious PT-76 and FROG missile launcher were very poor kits. But they were mainly for nostalgia and not serious model kist.

Around 1999, Trumpeter released an M60A1/A3 under the brand name Wasan. This kit was a poor copy of the Tamiya/Academy kits. Many parts were molded on in place. The entire upper hull looked like it had been put under a heat lamp. It used copies of the other companies' directions, showing the placement of parts that didn't exist because they were molded in place.

The final kit was an old USSR model kit of the Soviet WW2 light tank T-60. Another very crude model that didn't fit anywhere. It was illegal to sell it outside of the USSR. Yeah, it should have disappeared like the Soviet Union.

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 1:12 AM

STARFIX.  Nuff said.

Oh ya, and Mach Poo.

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

  • Member since
    March 2022
  • From: Twin cities, MN
Posted by missileman2000 on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 8:28 AM

For me it was a Maquette kit of a Boeing 307.  The fuselage did not look like styrene, it looked more like composition or bakelite.  The wings were styrene.  The right side of the fuselage was about 1/8 inch taller than the left.  I pitched it.

 

  • Member since
    June 2018
  • From: Ohio (USA)
Posted by DRUMS01 on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 8:57 AM

It's kind of hard to look back over 50 years of modeling and remember some of the bad kits. I've slept since then and my memory is not what it used to be. So I may not highlight a specific kit, but I do remember some.

I will start off saying anything made by Linberg,... anything.

In general any 70's era Revell, MPC, or AMT automobile kits. The ones with the plastic tire halves. Some were so bad the box top photo was retouched to make the model look better than it actually was. One that comes to mind was an old 1/25 Revell or MPC Anglia gasser drag cars. Revell's 1/12 Ferrari F40 was another kit where everything was warped or designed by the three blind mice.

Some aircraft I found that while neat subjects had serious fit and accuracy issues in my opinion include the 1/48 Revell/Monogram P61 Black Widow, 1/24 Airfix AV8 Harrier, and the XB-70 in 1/72 by AMT/Testors. 

Now armor kits that qualify (IMHO) would be the early Monogram 1/35 Flak Panzer, 1/35 Revell Kfz251 German Rocket Launcher, and I have to agree with the previously stated 1/35 Dragon SCUD-B kits. 

Ben / DRUMS01

"Everyones the normal until you get to know them" (Unknown)

LAST COMPLETED:

1/35 Churchill Mk IV AVRE with bridge - DONE

NEXT PROJECT:

1/35 CH-54A Tarhe Helicopter

 

  • Member since
    August 2004
  • From: Forest Hill, Maryland
Posted by cwalker3 on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 12:27 PM

Not long after I got back into modeling I saw a neat little mine-roller called a  Minenraumer. It was made by RPM. I had never heard of them but it looked like a cool little build so I ordered one. When I got it the first thing I see is major warpage on parts of the body. Long story short, the kit ended up in the recycling bin, but not after more than a little cussing.

Years later, Meng came out with a new version of the Minenraumer and it was an absolute dream to build, so at least there's a happy ending.

Cary

 


  • Member since
    July 2008
  • From: Vancouver, the "wet coast"
Posted by castelnuovo on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 1:09 PM

Land Rover by, I think, Rewell. Maybe they made this kit on Friday afternoon but it ended up hitting the wall so hard my wife thought something broke the sound barrier in the basement. 

  • Member since
    May 2022
Posted by Eugene Rowe on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 1:15 PM

The newer Revell Land Rover is an excellent kit!

  • Member since
    May 2022
Posted by Eugene Rowe on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 1:17 PM

  • Member since
    September 2012
Posted by GMorrison on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 3:07 PM

missileman2000

For me it was a Maquette kit of a Boeing 307.  The fuselage did not look like styrene, it looked more like composition or bakelite.  The wings were styrene.  The right side of the fuselage was about 1/8 inch taller than the left.  I pitched it.

 

 

I still have mine about half built. Yes thats a bad one. The kit came with misc. B-17 parts from some other model. Compounded by the fact that if I were to finish the kit it was to be BMF!

 

Didn't you build a nice one in 1/144? That would be the better choice.

 

Bill

 Modeling is an excuse to buy books.

 

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Towson MD
Posted by gregbale on Tuesday, August 16, 2022 3:20 PM

For me it was <insert name of nearly any Lindberg kit here> in <nearly always some weird-a**> scale.

Fit? For rank amateurs! Accuracy?? We don't need no stinkin' accuracy!!

The sad part being...they've done some really interesting 'outlying' subjects that no one else has...they just (nearly) always do them badly.

I still build 'em. But each major project asks for months of therapy afterward! Propeller

I'm with DRUMS01 on this one. Big Smile

Greg

George Lewis:

"Every time you correct me on my grammar I love you a little fewer."
 
  • Member since
    August 2022
Posted by ThanosForever on Wednesday, August 17, 2022 9:52 PM

1) I tried that RPM Minenraumer too - a singularly terrible experience. I've never encountered a plastic that genuinely weird and awful to work with. I ended up in the garbage in short order.

2) I don't celebrate a company going out of business but Kitty Hawk should have been ashamed of that first generation of kits they put out. I have no idea what their design philosophy was but "let's not bother to ensure that anything in the kit fits together" wasn't much of a business model to build a new company around. I tried their 1/48 MIG-25 PD/PDS Foxbat and it was a miserable experience from the beginning to then end when it ended up in the trash. Absolutely nothing fit right in the slightest. I'm not a rivet counter so inaccurate details don't bother me too much. But someone producing a kit where almost all the fits were terrible bothers me a great deal. I'd like to think that Kitty Hawk could have gotten better but the contempt they obviously had for the buyers of that first generation of their kits indicated that going out of business was the only way they'd learn. Not much sense IMO in putting out new kits of subjects that have been ignored too much if the models turn out to be near-unbuildable even for experienced modelers.

3) Most of the old AMT Star Trek kits can really get under my skin. They've pushed a lot of those ancient molds for far too many years and really need to retire them. I tried the reboxing of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refit recently and had trouble with it all the way through. Large distortions along the lenght nacelle seams that even a ton of putty couldn't fix. The attachment points for the engine struts to sit in the engineering section were wildly off-level. The viewing port inserts along the rim of the saucer section all sunk inwards too much and needed lots of work to bring them level to the rim surface. AMT couldn't even bother to mention that weights need to be added to the rear near the shuttlecraft bay to prevent the model from leaning forward due to the saucer section wildly out-weighing the aft portion of the ship. All it all it was unpleasant. I didn't bother finishing it and am using it instead as a test bed for airbrush practice. I wish someone else would get in the game and produce some brand-new Star Trek models. AMT's been complacent for far too long and they need someone to come along to give them a good kick in the pants to make them stop it with the ancient, inaccurate, and burnt-out molds they keep using to churn some of their kits out. 

  • Member since
    March 2007
  • From: Northeast WA State
Posted by armornut on Thursday, August 18, 2022 1:57 PM

  Must admit to the RPM Minenrimer as well, wow what a HORRIBlE kit for the " average" builder. The Meng kit is light years ahead but is still a bit fiddly, definitly buildabke however.

   As to Thanos I also agree abot the Star Trek kits. Some are very well done while others are abismal at best. Sci- Fi has alot of wiggle room but if you're gonna take the time and money to produce a model kit for retail atleast due some planning and put out a quality product.

we're modelers it's what we do

  • Member since
    February 2005
  • From: Nashotah, WI
Posted by Glamdring on Saturday, August 20, 2022 10:00 AM

My least enjoyable kit was one of Reveogram's P38s.  I am sure it can be made into a great kit, but I quickly ran out of steam for filling all those seams.

Robert 

"I can't get ahead no matter how hard I try, I'm gettin' really good at barely gettin' by"

  • Member since
    May 2022
Posted by Eugene Rowe on Saturday, August 20, 2022 11:38 AM

I agree that Monogram took a lot of filler but still can be made into a decent model .

  • Member since
    May 2022
Posted by Eugene Rowe on Saturday, August 20, 2022 11:42 AM

  • Member since
    September 2007
  • From: Finland funland
Posted by Trabi on Sunday, August 21, 2022 2:03 PM

"Space may be the final frontier, but it´s made in Hollywood basement." RHCP, Californication

  • Member since
    August 2013
  • From: Michigan
Posted by Straycat1911 on Wednesday, August 24, 2022 8:40 PM

The worst kit I've ever started(not sure if I'm ever gonna finish it) is the Collect-Aire 1/48 F-108 Rapier.

Last time I picked it up, the wing cracked at the join. (AGAIN!) It almost went out the second floor window at that point. 

It currently sits on the Shelf of Doom and will likely be the absolute last kit on there that I finish. 

  • Member since
    September 2022
  • From: South Carolina
Posted by Omni Yomni on Monday, September 19, 2022 5:15 PM

The worst fitting kit I ever tangled with was a Vampire in 1/48-don't recall who made it. Glencoe, maybe? I bought it in a bag at a show, and it turned out to be a short fight because the thing came with two right side fuselage halves. Guess that qualifies as lousy fit. A shame, too. Had a really nice decal sheet. 

  • Member since
    May 2022
Posted by Eugene Rowe on Wednesday, September 21, 2022 3:47 PM

Worse yet,what if a beginner buys one of those poor kits and thinks that he or she doesn't have the skill to build them and gives up scale modeling entirely!That would really be bad!

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Thursday, October 20, 2022 12:54 PM

I could never make the Hasegawa 1/48 Tomcat work,complete fail on my part.

  • Member since
    August 2013
  • From: Michigan
Posted by Straycat1911 on Thursday, October 20, 2022 2:47 PM

ThanosForever

1) I tried that RPM Minenraumer too - a singularly terrible experience. I've never encountered a plastic that genuinely weird and awful to work with. I ended up in the garbage in short order.

2) I don't celebrate a company going out of business but Kitty Hawk should have been ashamed of that first generation of kits they put out. I have no idea what their design philosophy was but "let's not bother to ensure that anything in the kit fits together" wasn't much of a business model to build a new company around. I tried their 1/48 MIG-25 PD/PDS Foxbat and it was a miserable experience from the beginning to then end when it ended up in the trash. Absolutely nothing fit right in the slightest. I'm not a rivet counter so inaccurate details don't bother me too much. But someone producing a kit where almost all the fits were terrible bothers me a great deal. I'd like to think that Kitty Hawk could have gotten better but the contempt they obviously had for the buyers of that first generation of their kits indicated that going out of business was the only way they'd learn. Not much sense IMO in putting out new kits of subjects that have been ignored too much if the models turn out to be near-unbuildable even for experienced modelers.

3) Most of the old AMT Star Trek kits can really get under my skin. They've pushed a lot of those ancient molds for far too many years and really need to retire them. I tried the reboxing of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 refit recently and had trouble with it all the way through. Large distortions along the lenght nacelle seams that even a ton of putty couldn't fix. The attachment points for the engine struts to sit in the engineering section were wildly off-level. The viewing port inserts along the rim of the saucer section all sunk inwards too much and needed lots of work to bring them level to the rim surface. AMT couldn't even bother to mention that weights need to be added to the rear near the shuttlecraft bay to prevent the model from leaning forward due to the saucer section wildly out-weighing the aft portion of the ship. All it all it was unpleasant. I didn't bother finishing it and am using it instead as a test bed for airbrush practice. I wish someone else would get in the game and produce some brand-new Star Trek models. AMT's been complacent for far too long and they need someone to come along to give them a good kick in the pants to make them stop it with the ancient, inaccurate, and burnt-out molds they keep using to churn some of their kits out. 

 

I have the Kitty Hawk 1/48 Russian airfield service trucks. They look nice in the box; hope they don't give me too many fits.

Have you looked at the 1/350 Starship Enterprise refit by Polar Lights? 

  • Member since
    August 2013
  • From: Michigan
Posted by Straycat1911 on Thursday, October 20, 2022 2:50 PM

Tojo72

I could never make the Hasegawa 1/48 Tomcat work,complete fail on my part.

 

Tojo, I've heard they modified the molds on the later kits to make them more user friendly. Only have one in the stash so I couldn't tell you how much easier it is.(If at all). 

  • Member since
    March 2003
  • From: Western North Carolina
Posted by Tojo72 on Thursday, October 20, 2022 3:49 PM

Straycat1911

 

 
Tojo72

I could never make the Hasegawa 1/48 Tomcat work,complete fail on my part.

 

 

 

Tojo, I've heard they modified the molds on the later kits to make them more user friendly. Only have one in the stash so I couldn't tell you how much easier it is.(If at all). 

 

Thanks,I recently completed a Tamiya Tomcat,much more fun.

  • Member since
    May 2011
  • From: Honolulu, Hawaii
Posted by Real G on Thursday, October 20, 2022 7:58 PM

Aww you guys...

I challenge anyone to find more exquisite moldings than these, outside the realm of resin kits produced in caves, with fire heated plastic forced by hand into old rubber molds.

Mach 2.  The best of the best of the best.  With honors, sir.

 

“Ya ya ya, unicorn papoi!”

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