Hello again, gentlemen.

Ever have a kit that truly frustrates you? I have a truck that I'm building for my girlfriend's uncle. So far, most of the pieces don't naturally fit when I dry fit them. I've had to "modify" them with a knife many times.

This is an AFV Club M35A3 1/35th scale truck. I'm just not made to build trucks. I like tanks. Gawd himself intended everything to have tracks and big guns.

I'm struggling to be altruistic here and do something nice but I'm pulling out my hair. Since I have the line of rabbits walking backwards already (receding hairline), I see a bad ending here.

I won't give up though. I have plans for this puppy. I will do my best to weather it and add plenty of accesories like fuel cans and sand bags.

Any Vietnam era extras you all could provide would be appreciated. (advice)

PS Was thinking of a clay model of a steel pot with a peace symbol in the passenger side seat.

From my experience AFV club´s biggest problem is all the little fine parts. But with some extra care generally build nice models.
If you want a lesson in frustration, try some of the eastern european kits floating around cheaply. Prices are usually attractive but thatswhere it ends!

Plasticbottle is RIGHT ON TARGET when he talks about frustration, especially ICM.

hmmmmm all AFV stuff i have build and i am now building fits just perfectly ...
If u wanna try frustration check out Trumpeters M1HA Abrams that i build........Never again

I guess some of these kits you wonder where quality control was on the day these came off line.
Now warpage would be kind of hard to see unless they fit each piece together, which I can see they wouldn't have time for that.
Now flash in excess, but that can always be cleaned off, but the reverse of flash, when they never got enough plastic in the mold to begin with, now that is a problem. Not to bad as long as it is on a straight piece, but a lot of people don't have the ability to cut out the misformed, and lay in the new pieces with body work.
Now quality control should of seen this when plastic is totally missing across the whole body. It is bad enough when it is the smaller pieces, but one of the main body pieces, people will notice that.
Italeri knows better then this, for that matter they all do.

i had some frustrating kits in years but my first and a real frustrating one was a Revell Huey Cobra with a shark mouth( cant remember the kit no because so many years ago) the canopy window was almost 7-8 mm.s shorter than the canopy.

hi there..
i agree with plasticbattle...
i have a few european kits (ex-USSR) ..they're frustrating to build..u have to add aftermarket stuff to get a decent models...

but there's not all..sometime this happen ( any of u??)
when i open my revell 1/72 TORNADO, some of the part were in bad shape...i didnot notice them untill construction has began...endup with lots of sanding, filling.etc..etc...the front fuselage wont mate with the back...and much more..at the end, i throw them back in the boxes for years now...maybe one day i will repair the kit...
Academy 1/35 SuperCObra (the black heli)...construction went well until decalling time..the decal wont stick...i also face this similiar problem with older Academy kits...

I will also have to agree with plasticbattle about the Eastern kits, they show promise in some places yet horrid fit and detail in another. I have the ICM T-28 that I am have put on temporary hiatus for a while.

The most frustrating has been the Academy/Minicraft Stug IV. This was a bad mold of the Tamiya kit. Awful, I do not think I will ever finish this mess. I bought this after finishing the new Academy Tiger expecting the same quality. Boy was I wrong. Never again will I get an early Academy kit.

Also, the Heller Leopard 2 ranks right near the top of frustrating kits. The plastic cracked while trying to assemble the turret. And on the bottom of the hull you can see the swirls of different color plastic where they are reusing plastic.

I guess its easy to pick out the eastern european or russian companies for poor detail or poor fit or just plain sloppiness, but if the kit was cheap ... as alot of them are .. one can put it down to a case of "you get what you pay for". Injection molding, of so many small parts aint that easy. If its the "only game in town" and its something you really want, problems like these are generally forgotten.

We all have aired views on frustrating injection kits which are mostly on the lower price range. What about the frustrations of "over the top" priced resin kits. Bubbles, short shots, warpage, bad fit, missing parts, impossible to remove casting blocks, conversions that are worse quality than the original parts, etc. Ive only built a few small resin kits like artillery pieces and figures and have seen all of these. These can be frustrating as well, plus the fact that they cost "top dollar".

I guess thats one of the best benifits of sites like armorama, one can ask for others opinion on almost anything and somebody has already built it or can give you the URL of a useful review.

Dragon's Scud launcher... Hobbycraft T-72...
Shaun

Historic 6 rad.
Hi pm's Vindicator.

A better question might have been " Have you ever built a kit that didn't frustrate you in some way?" I think once you have built enough kits everyone finds some that can be frustrating in one way or another. Even if it doesn't have to do directly with the build but maybe another aspect like painting, weathering, or perhaps decal problems. (oh and yes, I have built kits that were not frustrating)

Good luck,
Mike

Tamiya's Daimler scout car from the early 70's - built one box-stock a few years ago when it was reissued and even though it came out just fine there was a boatload of work correcting mold 'issues' as the tool is old and evidently fairly worn-out. Makes for a neat model, however.

Cody

Most general kits I buy are OK, some offer a few fitting problems. I get frustrated with the after-market stuff. I know in advance that it'll need trimming and shapping, my deal is Superglue. Stuff either comes out too much dries to quickly (before I can get the piece perfectly set) or for some strange reason to slow which then causes me to stick my fingers to part or each other. Think I'm going to have to go out and buy some debonder.

Kelley I'm with you on this one. I hate small dinky parts that go balistic...

Hehehee You wanna know frustration...

Try the Zvezda White Scout car... It`s like the devil made it personally to annoy and torment modelers. Nothing in the kit was good. To start of with the plastic.... Soft and vomit green
Ok then I examined the pieces in the sprues... Well that was some fantastic molding they did at Zvezda headquarters. There was so much flash on that kit that some parts were fused together creating an absolute unique piece wich you cannot find on the instruction sheet.
Ok with the instruction sheet in the neighbourhood I started to clean the parts wich was an absolute Job on it`s own. Spend more then 2 weeks completely cleaning away all the flash and another extra week to fill all the sinkholes. It looked like the rats have eaten from the kit.
Well After all teh cleaning another saga began on this kit.......... Assembling I Still can get furious about it. Nothing, and I say NOTHING fitted on the bloody thing. Parts were terribly warped, Wrong molded and I can go on. Well after three weeks of cleaning and 4 weeks of trying to get it assembled I came to the conclusion that it was better for my health that I should stop this kit immediately or else I would go Crazy. So after part D14 Broke I grabbed the whole Vehicle and threw it in Pieces against the wall. This was an action for my own sanity and I still don`t regret that I did it.

Ever since I have always refused to buy a Zvezda kit, Even not when it gets Reviews better then the latest DML stuff I will not ever buy a single Zvezda kit in my life just because of the fear to get a kit that has the same terrible things inside the box as the scoutcar.

My Frustrating 2 Euro`s

Okay, so I don't feel so all alone any more.

I guess i was spoiled by the simple Tamiya tanks I put together.

I have a 1/72 Airfix Boston III that for the life of me will not sit on it's nose gear. I swear I've pot more lead weight in the nose of this pig than in any 1/48 airplane! ARGGGGGHHHHH!!!

Academy Panzer IV, 'nuff said!!!!

I agree with the sentiment that EVERY kit can be frustrating is some ways. I seem to have difficulty building every kit in one way or the other. I also believe that for some reason some pieces of equipment have more difficulties than others. I've always had trouble in the past with the Sdkfz 251, either from Tamiya or an earlier kit that I can't remember the maker. I think it may be the complicated rear doors of the C model but the rest of the body has some fit problems to me. Another item seems to be the B26 Martin Marauder. I've made, or tried to make, several kits and all seem to have bad fit around the body and wings. I'm sure both of these items can be made, but I just have bad feelings about them.

Even 'good' companies can make for frustrations as I spent 45 min tonight with the optivisor, sharp scissors and the @$!#%#% Fine Molds Tie Interceptor #$!#$!#$ canopy masks...

Imagine maksing all the panels of the Tie fighter front and top glass with peel off sticker material, imagine doing it in 1/72 scale, now imagine the pre-printed masks are printed in the right size, but are NOT diecut. You have to cut them off the sheet, then try to seperate the mask from the backing paper you have just trimmed to size...

After that I went to a set of WWII Productions T55 tracks. I've had GREAT luck with their stuff in the past, a pass or two with an old tooth brush and the minor flash is gone.
Tonight all I was clicking was the pins... OFF! looks like each link is going to take some cleaning with a sharp x-acto blade to actually 'click' together..

I'm done for the night..

Mike

ICM's BM-21! I love the look of the vehicle, but nothing in the suspension fits right! It's been put on hold and remains there. I'm just not experienced enought to build it and create good results.

I had a bit of a bad run with a couple of iteleri kits....well not bad but a bit annoying. I just got a bit fed-up with the cleanup processes involved with a couple of their kits. I'm doing well to be able to say that's my worst experience so far.

Well, just about any of earlier models! But no, really, the Revell-Monogram Bf-109G and the Spitfire Mk. II. I mean, really, nice starter kits, but nothing else, except for testing new techniques and testing new fireworks , he he he he he.......... Oh, and I have to agree with you, Halfyank, I HATE the Tamiya's Hanomag's doors! There so confusing! It causes me to think, and I shouldn't do that! Trust me! Thanks for your time.

I'll sell you some old Tamiya, cheap. You tell me how easy they are to build. he he he ...




Back in the old days, Academy copied several Tamiya kits. This is one of those copies -- just goes to show that every dog may have more than one day.

You know, building a "frustrating kit" is just one of the challenges we have to meet as modelers. Otherwise, we'd just be "assemblers."

Here's a lovely SU-76M from Alan that I found to be "challenging" --