Worst Ship Model you have ever built

Wilbur Wright wrote:

After having built several Tamiya 350th ships which were fantastic , I made the mistake of buying a Hasegawa kit. It had no detail at all. I took it back into the shop and returned it after opening it in the parking lot.

Your LHS actually lets you *retun* opened boxes?  Nice.

I have the Airfix Repulse, which is a GREAT kit!  Did Airfix ever release Renown?

Bill Morrison

searat12 wrote:

I'm not sure about the Airfix kits you mentioned, but one really GREAT 1/600 Airfix kit is that of HMS Repulse.  An excellent kit for its day!

i didnt know they made 1 do you know where i could get hold of it?

Elsewhere in this subject, someone wrote about the Lindberg Sea Witch. I built that model and had the original Marx Swordfish (basically the same ship with different prow and a stamped metal deck). Didn't find the model that bad, actually. I guess building wooden models, and frequently having to do serious modifications means that I look at plastic as a similarly malleable material. I do recall the Lindberg had a few fit problems, due to the age of the dies.
There was a Revell 1/570 Bismarck (maybe someone mentioned that already). Not bad, but fit problems.
Aside from several wooden models (they have a whole different set of problems), the absolute worse plastic ship models I ever built were some of the Pyro/Life-Like small sailing ships. Not all of them, mind you, but a good chunk of them are just plain wrong.

Ironically, never had fit problems with the Lindberg ships, though, of course, they have other issues. Fun in the pond, though. 

Tankerbuilder,

There is an FSM review of the Aurora USS Halford in the July, 1997 issue called "Kit Classics #35: Aurora's USS Halford, Was it a scale model or a toy?"

Bill Morrison

  I built the Pyro USS Maine as a kid, and didn't know, or care, how inaccurate it was until, some years later, I found some photos of the real thing. It just looked classy, with all that gold paint!

I also built the Revell Sport Fisherman as a kid, and now realise that the fact that nothing fit wasn't my fault. I even bought another one when Revell Germany re-released it a couple of years ago as part of their 50th anniversary programme. I think I can do a decent job on it now - I even have some wood-effect decal for it when the time comes!

But the worst ship (actually boat) kit that I've actually built sice I returned to the hobby was undoubtably the Airfix 1/72 Severn-class RNLI Lifeboat. Nothing fit, soft,soapy  and inaccurate detail, worst decals, in terms of silvering, that I've seen for many a year. Lots of interior detail, none of it especially accurate, and none of it visible through the coke-bottle glazing once you've put the roof on. Even the parts layout on the sprues was so cramped and illogical that it became a major barrier to completing the kit, especially as anything thinner than about 60 thou split when you tried to cut it from the sprue. The plastic was reluctant to take either CA or liquid poly.

That said, I was building it for my LHS, so resisted the (very strong) temptation to bin it. They were very pleased with it, and have sold several of the kits on the strength of people coming into the shop and seeing the built-up model....

and it passed the capsize test:

Cheers,

Chris.

tankerbuilder wrote:

..... Do you remember the REVELL model of the SPORT FISHERMAN ?? The original model was just as bad . It was a 1955 era CHRIS-CRAFT tri cabin motor yacht . That model was baaad . The re-release (above )was even worse ......

Oh man!. I recieved one of those as a gift (the re-release). Its sitting on my shelf right now waiting to be started. Is it really that much of a stinker??

JMart wrote:

Eric- thanks for the info! Maybe my kid will want  to re-start the ship as a Disney kit ;) cheers

I have the model and have been collecting pictures to eventually try my hand at making the correct stern and figurehead so I can do a diorama of the Disneyland site. 

Eric... 

Eric- thanks for the info! Maybe my kid will want  to re-start the ship as a Disney kit ;) cheers

The worst for me was the Lindberg Sea Witch. Nothing on that kit fit without using and orbital sander. Everytime I see one on E bay I cringe.

Rod