Hey Gang...

I'm working on Revell's Sd.Kfz 2 NSU Kettenkrad 1:9 at the moment, and even I know this is an oldie, I have to say: "This is the kit with the poorest fit, and the most flash I ever saw!!!"
Anyone of you who built the kit experienced the same?


Thanks for your time!, John... (:-)

I started it a few years ago..... It now sits alone and forlong in the closet waiting for my patience and insanity to return.....
Got as far as putting the hull together, and wore out my arm sanding the ill fitting hull parts...... Perhaps it will make a nice retirement piece to finish in the golden years...... :-) :-) :-)

I don't know if this is the same critter, but I was noticing that great models has a NSU Tracked Kettenkrad for $103.30, by Revell Germany, and at that price, if it is the same critter, there should be something that should be able to be done. They put out pretty fine stuff on the smaller scales.

That is an awful lot of money to me, and to a lot of other people, and they shouldn't be selling junk for that price, it should be a pretty fine model, I'd believe, or they should be paying more attention to their molds, and not let them get that far worn out.

Kerry

You should see the Airfix 1/72 B-29!!!

cheers

Philip

Well I dunno if its just me but I picked up the Sd.Kfz.251 rivetted version by Dragon. I have never built a Dragon AFV so I dunno if its really that bad or its just me Well the bottom parts such as: the road wheels, bottom half of afv, and drivers area came together fine. But when I had to put on the lower sides I had some problems, there were no places that show where to put them on the right spot. Therefore they might have came out crooked. Then when putting on the armor for the back doors that did not fit hardly at all. I would have to resculpt the whole back part... TIA

The Revell Kettenkrad is the old ESCI one in a new box. And while new Revell stuff is nicely moulded, they don't do much when they rebox. So if it was a (radio edit) to start off with that's what it remains.

ESCI models suffered from being blobby when they were new, their SdKfz 10 will remain in my memory for a long time thanks to its all-around unbuildability. And their figures - oh dear!

I refuse to buy another revell model period, I remember as a kid
I didn't like their fit and finish on their car models, and the chrome was absolutely the pits, some parts missing chrome altogether. I 've given them another try since then , and they are still missing the mark, gaping holes where a tight fit should be, raised lines that should be recessed, poor decals. No MORE revell for me. Although I have 2 more in my stash :-) :-) .

Slug

revell 1/72 lancaster dambuster was the worst kit i ever buy... poor fit, raised panel lines,flash aplenty and very toy-like...

well knowing ur expectations on that after all the money u paid and the effort to carry it back home from far away ...i am sad that its not good kit. But still fight with it . Thats what i do with the total warped T35 from ICM ..were in the same boat Brother

Costas

Have a go at the Tamiya British 6-pnd Anti-Tank gun... I'm really sorry I ever bought the thing! I guess that's what happens though when a model company re-re-re-re-re-releases a 30 year old kit without retooling the moulds!

Yours have raised knockout pin marks on the joining surfaces of the gun barrel too?

About the only positive thing about the kit is the Mark II steel helmets, they're miles better than Tamiya have managed since. I'm saving mine up to re-equip the 8th Army figures, which are no masterpieces either... and they're got the wrong rifles

No, the gun barrel doesn't line up properly, no matter what you do. The moulding on the one side are smaller/larger than the other side, so either the larger pieces have to be reduced or the narrower/smaller mouldings have to be increased. The mussle-flash thing (sorry temporary memory loss) is not symmetrical at all, I'll have a heck of a time trying to get that right! I'm frustrated already and I've only just begun!! I'm not hassled about the figures as I will probably modify them, but , the gun barrel is arguably the most important thing on the model...

I bought this kit, the 25 pnd gun w/crew, the 8th army figures and the Brit infantry on patrol all at the same time... I just pray the rest are better than this one!

I've gone back to the photo in your original posting and I'm not sure that the gun in the picture has a muzzle brake. It might be one of the earlier marks with a shorter barrel (L43 instead of L50) and no brake. Which would solve some of your problems. You can either use a piece of tapered rod or (possibly) use the barrel of the Italeri 6pdr.

As for the other stuff, the 25pdr is really nice, the 8th Army figures are umm... good for 1974 and the British infantry on patrol are pretty recent. The 8th Army figures have No4 rifles instead of the SMLE No1 used in the desert. No4s are okay for Tunisia and Italy, so I think you're okay there.

As you may have noticed I'm not a fan of Tamiya British steel helmets.

You're doing yourself a disservice by saying that "I never buy Revell". Yes, if you buy one of their reboxes then you can get skunked, but a little bit of research will tell you the quality of the plastic. The new releases of kits such as the He-177, Me-262, and Ju-290 are proof positive that the new stuff from Revell Germany (at least) is top notch plastic.

Mika

Yes your right Mika:
I've heard alot of good things about Revell Germany, and will probably give them a try. I'm not sure what association the 2 companies have, if any , but the farther apart they stay the better. I'll do ALOT of research on the new kits , before a throw any money at them.

Bruce

Slug,

I think Revell Germany is owned by Revell - Monogram, and do the research on Revell G as well, since they re-pop old Matchbox and Frog kits.

Mika

Oh boy, that brings back memories...that Lancaster kit must be 40 years old now! Also courtesy of Revell, there is a reissue of their ancient Triumph Tiger 100, I remember my Dad making that in the early sixties. My un-favourite could well be Nitto's Hanomag - this had everything, very toy-like, wrong (rubber!) tracks, wrong sprockets, frame aerial used with rockets!!! & a weird trailer that held the batteries for the motor. Gruesome! I've seen a couple advertised on ebay, this definitely one kit that is worth more in the box - and thats not because mint kits are worth more....

I have had the same opinion of Revell for years. Only bought one of their kits (used to only do 48th scale planes and 25th scale cars way back when) when nothing else was available. Recently got the 72nd scale U-boat and all I can say is OHHHH WOWEEE. For the price this is one super jewel and shoul be on everyone's Christmas list.

I recently bought one Revell Jeep and M34 kit I haven't even begun to put it together and I can just look at it and tell it is a cheap kit. Model guru Sabot has informed me it is a re-tread of a 1950's model and boy let me tell you it looks it. Even the plastic is some bright funky green color. They were to cheap to spring for OD green plastic. I've dry fitted a few parts and it looks like it is going to be a long sad loosing battle to get it to go together right.

For me I'll NEVER buy another Revell kit ... from the looks of this one. But if I can indentify quality kits I might, but I'm feeling a bit burned on this one. Maybe Revell should read this thread or we should send it to them.

Dave

I think this just highlights the fact that you can get your fingers burnt on these retreads. The dies aren't going to improve with age, especially when they weren't very good in the first place! Unless you've been modelling a long time, the alarm bells won't ring when you see some of these subjects. Revell seem to be especially guilty of this, seems they'll issue anything! The other thing is Revell tend to be quite cheap compared to other makers so are especially tempting, particularly if it's a subject not available elsewhere (cf Triumph - the only other British bikes available are the ex- Matchbox Vincent & Protars offerings, strange, they're being re-released by Italaer1/Revell!).

Ever tried the P-40 B from monogram?

*don't*

Revell is a major kit reboxer. You will find old Monogram, new Italeri, old Esci, Eastern Express, AFV Club, and even DML kits inside their boxes.

Right now, their 1/72 scale armor is tops. Although they do have some former Matchbox and Hasegawa kits in these boxes, most of their original 1/72 scale kits are state of the art. No one can touch the quality of their Bundeswehr armor in 1/72 scale.

If you wanted the best M60 tank in 1/35 scale, their M60A3 is the old Esci M60A3 tank and the top kit of that tank.

The AFV Club M88A1, a superb kit, is reboxed by Revell along with some extra German parts and photoetch to give us the M88A1G Bergepanzer.

Revell also does a few modern German vehicles like the SpPz Luchs, TPz Fuch, PzHbz2000, Unimog, Man and Marder 1A3 that are great kits.

The thing about dealing with Revell is that you have to know what's inside the box before you buy. If someone else makes the exact same kit, you can bet that the Revell kit is a rebox.

I put the Big Scale Tamiya BMWR90S together for my Dad (he used to ride a BMW). The engine cases on Beemers are supposed to blend smoothly together, just showing the joins. Ha! By the time I'd got it looking anything like there was more filler than plastic - forget the panel lines! The cylinders halves didn't line up, this is kind of crucial on a BMW, they stick out the sides so are rather noticeable. A guy at work suggested that "surely, making something out a bad kit gives you more satisfaction than an easy build!" My answer to that is, this is supposed to be a hobby you ENJOY, not a slow torture (are we masochists?), and you'll always get a better result from a good well fitting kit than you ever will from a wrong 'un, even with a lot of work.

On one hand you got us, the buyers, then on the other hand, you got the sellers. They haft to be smart, have you ever stopped and figured out how many millions they make every time they switch to a new box with a new seller names on an old kit, without the costs of making a new mold, and we the buyers think it is a new kit.

Now I've heard that it can cost around 15,000 dollars, just for one mold, and that doesn't include the cost of the information, and measurements they had to get, all them people need paid to. So this is all clear profit, all for a little deception.

I imagine they will keep on doing this over and over again until they won't sell at all, before they haft to stick any money back into it, but as long as it can make money, they won't.

Then when they get somebody like Revell Germany that has a good reputation built up, so a lot of people take things for granite, by word of mouth everybody has been talking about their 1/72 to how good it is.

Now some of the older more wiser ones know better, but look at how many thousands of new modelers come into the art every month.

How many thousands of stores around the world, that is a lot of money.
Kerry

So from the above posts, can i assume that the Revell MARS is a rebox of the DML MLRS Nato version?