Just a little question I'd like to pose. does any manufacturer make a totally accurate kit?

Now I know we all shouldtake scale intoi account and I kn ow that some are better than others, but has anybody managed to produce a kit that is in no way in need of any sort of after market addidtions and can be purely built, 'out of the box'?

Paul

just thought I'd throw this out there and see what sort of a discusssion can be had

As far as I remember nobody has produces a totally accurate kit
Even DML makes some minor mistakes

Anyway I think it would be impossible because a plastic kit isn't a steel tank
Companies have to semplify the parts because they have to be molded Part thickness in scale will be always thicker than the actual ones

Anyway if kits were "perfect" I think it wouldn't be so fun to assemble them. Improving kits is the most fun thing of our hobby

Cheers

I've never seen a perfect kit in plastic. I usually rebuilt several parts which are not very accurate or wrong.

Maybe full resin kits are more accurate than full plastic kits, but I don't know because I don't make this sort of kits.

Ignorance is bliss!!!

What's your definition of "need"?

There are plenty of kits that are very good from just out of the box items.

YES that's it!!

What is your definition of perfect? Here are a few scenarios with questions I would have:

1) Let's say we are modelling a 35 mm long rod in 1/35th scale.

Q - To what decimal place are we talking about? Should or model rod be 1.0 mm long or should it be 1.0000 mm long? How do we want to measure a 1.0000 mm long rod. The temperature of the rod will also alter our results. Should we assume a model at room temperature?

Q - What tolerance are we going to put on the part. Let's assume that our real 35mm long rod has a tolerance of +/- 1 mm (a rather large tolerance, almost 5% of the total length can vary). Should the model rod then have a tolerance of +/- 1mm divided by 35, thus making the scale tolerance +/- 0.0028 mm?

Human hair averages around ~0.1 mm. So are we supposing our tolerance of +/- 0.0028 mm is fair? Our tolerance is about 35 times smaller than a human hair. Can you see 35 divisions in a human hair? Can you split a hair 35 times?

SO, should our model have "perfect" dimensions that most of the population could not see with the naked eye or even detect with measurement tools? How thick is the paint you are putting on the model? Does that thickness ruin the final sizing? Should the model makers mold the models undersize to account for our painting?

There is no true perfection. Ever. Unless you want to talk about spiritual, artistic, or theoretical stuff. Even if you go to the atomic level, there are theoroms that basically amount to if you try to measure something (ex: electrons orbiting an atom), you will alter the physical state in doing so and what you measured is no longer what was there before you measured.

Now if you do want to talk about what things are possible within reason and what are acceptable tolerances, well hell, let's get a beer and talk about that. I think perfection is one of those things. It just isn't.

If you want to display that Dragon kit you are very proud of and a AFV Club fanboy comes up and says, "oh, well that barrel is 0.5 mm too short. The whole model is crap". I think then the most proper response would be to high five them with a chair.