Oh come on Mauro, you're talking to a man who built and finished an AER T-28 for no other reason except I wasn't going to let it beat me. Straight from the box. Including the kit tracks. How many guys on this board have tried that kit and tossed it against a wall? Probably less than who were told it was unbuildable and either sold it or threw it out.

Then there was the BattleAxe Fokker D.VII. I was getting paid for that kit so I had to build it. And about 250 hours later (and this one required scratchbuilding) there it was, in spite of the fact that everything that could go wrong on the kit did; yet I completed it and did a fairly good job.

One thing I learned in the long journey to posting this is that when you build a kit and you run into problems, it's not the kit you're facing-- it's you, so I don't accept when someone says to me that they're 'disappointed' by a release, then they sit on their hands and whine and complain for years or until the next time something catches their MSG-damaged attention span, nor do I accept that 'everyone enters this hobby with different needs, requirements and expectations'. That's BS, and a cop-out. We've stopped becoming modelers and have turned for the most part into a bunch of sniveling, fashionista fanboisie assemblers crying into our Big Gulps every time a kit we've been waiting for 'forever' doesn't meet up to our lofty expectations, and the squealing, epicene outrage at the thought of parting with the 'good money' (lol) we were going to shake out of our increasingly lard-tightened trousers to pay for it gets to be a bit much.

Go back and build your MTLB, Matt. We're all looking forward to seeing it done, Captain America.

Most of all me.

Wow. Does Canada have cheap prescriptions for "small man complex"?

Back to the subject on hand, I have a problem and are thus disappointed when new expensive kits have been poorly executed - DML's kettenraft without muffler, T 34's with incorrect rear plates or turret detail, Trumpeter's botch up with the Merkava suspension, DML's RSO with incorrect seats, etc. Older kits with soft ot missing detail is understandable.

i just like puttin em together, i like accuracy and well fitting parts, but sometimes it aint happening, sorta like a italeri m113 prob i had, so i fixed it best i could and had a lot of spare parts, lol.

reb

Well, bear in mind that DML's Kettenkrad is 12 years old, and really... how much work is it to make a muffler? 30 minutes?
T34s with incorrect rear plates? Addressed in another post, but an afternoon of work with white plastic.
Trumpeter's botch up with the Merkava suspension? I'm not that familiar with this kit, but can you see much of it after the side panels go on? If so, ??? there might be options.
RSO with incorrect seats? If you ave a butt in them, it's hard to tell, otherwise, white plastic.

About SMC, I'm not sure Julian, I've never had too many complaints in that department. As far as Matt's concerned though, he may be able to order some on-line pharma from Quebec.

That said Matt's an OK guy, he just has trouble digesting inconvenient truths. And applying Academy decals.

Well Kevin, personally I mind mounting my kits straight from the box. I allways try to improve them using just my head my hand, plasticard, metal wires, metal foils and little else. I hardly ever buy expensive extra sets. I got used to it because I've begun this hobby in the eighties. Younger modellers can't imagine how used to be poor the modeller market at that time. Nowadays we have new stunning releases every month, in those days there were at most two or three new rough kits a year , few finishing products and getting reference pics was a challenge indeed. Anyway I think that doing things by myself is more fun and gets me more satisfied
I agree with you when you say that modellers have become too be too consumerist and too demanding and personally I don't pretend that all the kits which I try to build have the DML quality (...and to be honest I have just two DML kits in my stash).
On the other hand, considering that my goal is, as much as I can, doing a correct model, I have to consider the building time. As you know for sure, improving kits needs time, a lots of time and having only a pile of unfinished projects on the workbench could be frustrating indeed. When I decide to buy an “old dog” kit I try to evaluate if it worth the payn. If it needs details improvment and I can complete it in a reasonable time I'm very glad to “accept the challenge”. If I notice that I pratically need to rebuild it to abtain a decent result, well I give it up.
For exemple recently I've bought the SKIF BMD 1-P



It has plenty of rough details and for sure it needs to be improved a lot. Otherwise has a perfect shape and correct dimension. I've already begun to collect references and i hope i'll be able to do a good job

cheers

We're on the same page more than you think Mauro.

Skif is one of my favorite companies. I have an in progress Gvozdika stored away right now. A very challenging, enjoyable build, and I have nothing against improving a kit with what's available, or creating something when there isn't.

But if a kit defeats you for whatever reason, then it defeats you, as simple as that.

Well Kevin i'll be glad to see your Gvozdika




Well, I think that's true, I agree.All depends on us, the kit doesn't get together by itself (and it would be very boring this way...). If a kit defeats us, it means that our skill hasn't been good enough for it yet and so we need to improve.
On the other hand I think is quite normal having expectations when a new project starts, so it's also quite normal getting disappointed when you notice that your kit is.... awful

Regards

...regarding what it's possible to do with skill and a "dog kit"

look here

https://armorama.kitmaker.net/forums/167815&ord=&page=1

impressive!

I think WJ is one of Trumpeter's master builders. He missed the lift rings on the hull, but otherwise he's amazing

Revell's rerelease of the Monogram 1/48 A-10 Thunderbolt, the instructions were a nightmare and the parts just didnt fit well together at all.

I was kind of a bit disappointed with the Hobby Boss Land Rover WMIK kit, mainly because I was so excited to build it, but found the engine, transmission and axels etc to be of a poor fit. The body of the the Land Rover was far better.

Apart from that I've been quite happy with the standard of the kits I've bought!

I remember laughing when I opened the ESCI LAV TOW that came with "12 figures", they were soft brown toy soldiers!!!

2nd worst disappointment - Bronco's Bailey bridge. How can you get the panels a (scale) foot wrong?
1st worst disappointment - Bronco's supposed M1 D-S Bailey bridge. The same problems but just with more of them!

Yup,

The Bronco Bailey Bridge....I have two of them..... I was stuuned by the panel error, I mean the bridge is all over the world and the measurments are in the public domain. You can add a lot of Italeri kits if the kit has wheels as they usually guess or invent the tread pattern.....Not a dog but the Hobby Boss WMIK the SA80's are plain wrong, but nothing in the kit that can't be put right.

Regards

Brian

For my money it has to be Emhar`s WWI Male tank - soft detail,and then to add insult to injury the tracks did`nt fit around the hull !
That was £20 i could have used elsewhere

Airfix 1/72 Ju-88 Anti-Shipping. Fit was so bad that it almost made me cry. I was really looking forward to it and it was the most horrible kit I ever built.