Hey fellow modellers!

Today I found the boxart of the worst model I ever TRIED to build a few years ago. It was the T-20 'Komsomolets' from AER.

I'm used to AER 'quality' as I builded some of their kits. With some scratchbuilding, a file and a lot of putty you can turn these into acceptable models.
But this one got me. It was absolutely not buildable; it was if the manufactorer did not finnish this model correct before put in production.
The construction sucked, it had egg-shaped wheels, the separate tracks broke to pieces every single one of them, it was very, very simplified in detail and most strange thing of all... the plastic smelled like urine when glueing it... (it really did!!!).

It didn't survive, only the boxart did, because I like the vehicle much (hope someone else brings it one day...)

But I know I'm not alone in this.
What was your nightmare kit?

PAUL

Has to be the Maquette Ilyushin DB-3 bomber. Loads of flash, poor parts fit, horid detail. I started it but as I went throught the build the repairs quickly eclipsed my talents. I may return to it in the future when I have learned more.

Right now, so far, it's the Tamiya Daimler Scout Car. I thought I could put it together fast, just to get me kick started on building again. Maybe I tried to put it together too fast. I couldn't get the right rear corner of the crew compartment to close up, all four of the springs for the suspension don't line up with the holes they need to go in, parts like the bumpers are crooked, in short it's a mess.

Even if I had built it properly this kit is the most toy like model I've ever seen Tamiya make. Above the wheel line it's not too bad, but the entire under carriage is a joke.

This will be my test bed for new paint techniques and such.

I got a couple for ya..

The Tamiya 251 original release with the rivited hull.. even after scrachbuilding an interier and sanding off the rivits this is the suckyiest model I actually finished. nothing seems to look good on it..

The AMT X-Wing...Tried to build this and the directions are so ambiguous that they are hard to figure out and the parts are like super flash and nothing fits right... quite it when i found out I had one landing gear bayon the bottom and one on the top of the model.......

Okay can anyone beat the old DML Nashorn? :-) :-) :-) I thought not!

DML old russian stuff!!
Also IEF resin!!
Ron

I have to say this is the worst kit ever, 1/48 Austro-Hungarian Albatros made by Glencoe Models. Every piece was ill fitting, and the left side fuselage was 1/8" bigger all around. No...notta one panel line. Every piece had a gap at least of 1/16" After I finished getting this togather somewhat, i wound up with more putty that plasic. The best thing about this kit was the box art. Never again.

ESCI's old Demag was impossible for me to complete. Flash and warped parts galore.

Patrick

Glenco Jupiter Booster with Explorer.

Nothing lined up, warpage, and lots of putty, lots of sanding......I was amazed it even came out ..round.

Glenco's stuff is like a crap shoot. Some good rolls, some lousy ones.

Steve

Academy 1:48 Challenger, maybe I should have opened the box, or maybe the warning "static model, remote control not included " should have given me some indication, but here it is



Note the exquisite detail of the wheels, the fine molding of the turret ( the underside must be seen to be believed) and the incredible detail throughout... The detailed fueldrums are in a class of their own...

Close, very close second comes the Trumpeter Challenger II.

Maybe I was not meant to built Challengers?

Cheers
Henk :-) :-)

The AER/maquette SU76M was the hardest for me. Cool vehicle, but fit and flash was terrible throughout. With a lot of advise from guys who previously built it, I was aware of all the pitfalls before hand, so I could plan for them. I finished it though! At a distance this looks quite good, but up close and personal is another thing!
After a lot of struggle, a lot of sanding a lot of foul language, here she is

Early Trumpeter T72 m3. Swan dive into the' BIN'!
capnjock

Mine was Tamiya German Army Infantry. All the gear was molded onto the figures. Also the gun handles were missing because you glued them directly onto the fists of the figures already in the hold position.

The Heller 1/72 YF-22 aircraft. We had a contest build in my IPMS chapter. Either the airplane or a car model of a Triumph 4, I forget the kit maker.
The YF22 kit was horrible, body halves didn't quite match. much filler to smooth the wings to the body. miniscule glue points for the tail planes. I never could get the canopy to fit right. I finished it, but I ain't proud of it...........
But, I did remember the nose weight. LOL

I have not encountered any 'nightmare' kits, yet.

The worst i did was DML's old M1a2 Abrams (can be seen in my gallery). Fit wasnt good, plastic parts are too hard (ended up with lots of broken parts when trying to disconnect them from sprue).

The tracks are the worst, doesnt fit at all and lots of sanding and filing are required. Luckily it's those link-length types.

Hands down Togas ASU-57! Poor instructions thick molded parts, and POOR FIT! I will need buckets of filler when I try this nightmare again. I never throw a model out.

Runner up for me was Hellers LeClerc! Gaps Gaps Gaps! Tamiyas new LeClerc may inspire me to finish it.

My two worst would be 1) the Zvezda T-60 light tank and 2) Trumpeter M60A3.

Hands down the ESCI 1/48 OH-58. Being its a small Helo anyway the molding was already set up for failure.
The interior is vague at most, with most of the parts a blob. The exterior has some of the most out of scale scribing I've ever seen(rivits that would 1/2" in 1/1) The fit of the fuselage and clear parts are way to thick and difficult to see thru. The plastic is not knife cutting or glue friendly at all. (its to soft) and deforms very easily.
Suffice to say it GOT the FILE 13 treatment. My 58 of choice will still be the fujimi kit reguardless of type. 206
or Oh-58.

There have been loads over the years, but the worst I can remember was Airfix's original Spitfire IX. I made this kit back in the 1960s and then it was about the only spit available. I revisited it when my son started to get interested and wished I hadn't. Solid wings, warped mould, heavy rivets - everything a Spit shouldn't have were there. But then I suppose the moulds were made in the mid1950s so............

Paul,
What a coincidence :-) my worst model was an AER product, too. That was the GAZ which I used on my last diorama. A real nightmare..

Has anyone of your tried the first release of Academy? I mean those really old ones.

I tried to build the their Sherman. Tried. Not succesful.

My worst model was (or maybe it still is because I had to stop because I was a step from going crazy) Bismark by Kagumi I think. The scale was 1/350 or 1/400. Yes I'm not sure what the scale was because on the box and in instruction were diffirent scales.
The kit contains a small motor. I installed it and decided to try it in bath tub. I terned on the motor and .....
the hull stood in a place. why because both shafts were turning the same direction and srew propeller were cast to turn in diffirent directions.
It was only the begining.
The deck doesn't fit to hull. It suposed to not be glued in case of need to chage batteries. I decided to glue it because there was no other way to hold deck in right place (beside the model stood in place during my "ocean tests"). I used a lot of sand paper and putty.
Superstructure was a nightmare. in the instruction sheet and on frames were often diffirent numbers of parts. Also drawings in sheet were rubbish. They often look like in mirror image of kit or parts.
I'm rather patient but this time a put Bismark away and I'm not sure If I ever take it to my hand again.

Tauro A7V. Egads, talk about AKC-registered styrene. The tracks, oh man, the tracks...

For me it's the reboxed version from Revell's 1:9 Kettenkrad.
Very bad fit, wrapped items, and even after heavy scratch-building it still looks toy-like.

Grtz, John.

mine was a tamiya modl of the lotus JPS F1 that Emerson Fitipaldi won his first championship in . The Decals just would not come of and when the did twisted all over themselves- the gold trim was aweful and all the clipon suspension struts broke -I did get it finished but my younger brother dropped a sheet over it and it broke its back. My friend built one had similar probs but my plastic seemed so much brittler. and for a school kid it was one EXPENSIVE model
The other was the 1/72 esci 250's the track just fell apart the side took a lot to line up and it took me three goes to finally get it to stop sitting up like a frog
Ian