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What's the worst kit you ever built? (60s-today)


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On Sat May 20 2017 at 7:23 PM, Darren Roberts said:

Hands down the Testor's 1/72 scale B-2. I finally made it through, but only because it was part of a display at Whiteman AFB. If it hadn't been for that, it would flown into a wall. I've never had a kit defeat me in 40 years of modeling, but that's as close as one came to making me give up.

I have one with decals for the "Spirit of Alaska" i havent built because of tge horror stories.

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I have been following this thread and while I have a few in my stash that look too scary to build, I could not think of one that I actually built.  Then, I finally recalled my experience with the Testors RF-4B.  It required tons of putty, and the  windows for the camera windows had no positive location, they just fit into the opening, and of course they fell into the nose, never to be retrieved.

 

Those sorts of things can be forgiven, or at least tolerated on an old kit, but the part that was the real problem was the canopy was too narrow, it did not cover the cockpit, there was 1/16th of an inch on either side.

 

I have been disappointed in other kits, but the Testors F-4 is the only one I actually finished which was just a bad kit.

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On 5/20/2017 at 8:20 PM, Darren Roberts said:

I did the same thing to mine...made it into a T-45A, that is. I still remember I pissed off a pilot at an airshow. I needed pictures of the speed brakes, so I pulled them away from the fuselage to get a picture. I was young and stupid and didn't think to ask the pilot, as I didn't see him around. When I got the pictures developed, there he was in the background with a look of "What the *&%*#&^%" is that kid doing to my airplane? I feel guilty about it to this day!

 

Haaa haaaaa....man, I bet that was talked about on Monday morning back at the home base;

 

"Yeah, and then I look over and some jackwagon is yanking on the friggin' speedbrake! Screw that, I'm not taking another plane to an airshow..."

 

Thanks Darren!

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Seems I'm a real puss* when it comes to really bad kits. I tend to avoid them, especially nowadays, when living with two kids. 

 

I guess of the recent builds, it has to be Cooperativa La-15 in 1/72 (Made in "Rassia" label already tells something...). I've still not finished it. There are parts that are utterly unrecognizable and one can not even know for sure where they belong to. 

 

From the earlier modeling period I still remember the Airfix MiG-21F-13 (or was it actually just an F,  I'm not sure). Was to be a FinAF bird, needed a lot of putty, was never finished...

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1 hour ago, janman said:

Seems I'm a real puss* when it comes to really bad kits. I tend to avoid them, especially nowadays, when living with two kids. 

 

I guess of the recent builds, it has to be Cooperativa La-15 in 1/72 (Made in "Rassia" label already tells something...). I've still not finished it. There are parts that are utterly unrecognizable and one can not even know for sure where they belong to. 

 

From the earlier modeling period I still remember the Airfix MiG-21F-13 (or was it actually just an F,  I'm not sure). Was to be a FinAF bird, needed a lot of putty, was never finished...

Ah, yes, the Cooperativa La-15. I built one and it was a rough, tough kit alright. 

 

La-15-38

 

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You youngsters should have seen the Aurora P-38 of the mid 50s. Metallic blue plastic, gaps begging for large amounts of putty (which was unknown back then) and lots of space for lots of nose weight. It was bad and still remembered in 2017!

Box scale but around 1/48.

Rick in Maine

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  • 4 months later...

Worst Kit Ever!!!!

 

The 1/72 scale Kitech EA-6B Prowler.

 

This is the worst model every produced, nothing fits, there are gaps a mile wide, incomplete molding, the canopy is an inch thick, and the detail sucks!!

 

I was going to use this kit as a what if project, got the fuselage together, was going to put the wings on and notices that it would take 3 feet of scrap plastic and ten pounds of putty to make the wing/fuselage joint look right. I just glued the wings on and hung the model from a tree in the yard, it is now a target for my Arisoft gun. I would have thrown it against the wall but I didn't want to smear crap all over the wall.

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Back when I was doing my web page(s) on F-16 kits (before scalemates.com) I tried to obtain every release I knew of for review and inclusion on my website. The Zhengdefu/Kitech 1/48 Viper kits were poor copies of the Hasegawa molds. What baffled me was that Z/K changed all the Hasegawa engraved panel lines to raised....

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1/72 Airfix Eurofighter EFA. I built it, painted it, decaled it then binned it. In the dark

with the lights off the shape wasn't bad, but when I turned the lights on it was

too simplistic and no detail what so ever. I fell for the box art which was much

more accurate than the kit.---John

Edited by john53
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On 5/25/2017 at 9:10 AM, Falconxlvi said:

1/72 Sword T-38A.  After half a tube of filler and half a bottle of CA glue, it flew its way into the trash...I'm not proud of that, but the kit was beyond my modeling skills and patience.   

Oh no, I have this kit in the stash! :crying:

 

Looks nice in the box but don't be fooled, eh?

 

-Derek

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Mine might be the one I've had on my bench for sometime now - the Mach 2, 1/72 Convair C-131 kit.  Nothing fits without a ton of putty and lots of sanding.  I've got the fuselage together and smooth after lots of work.  Now the wings and engine cowlings are giving me fits.  I shuddered when I dry fitted the wing to fuselage joints.  "The horror"...

 

To top it all off, I recently noticed that one the (semi) clear windshield pieces is short shot.  Oh boy, can this kit get any better?!  Thanks Mach 2. 

 

-Derek

 

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Just quickly scanning through these, it looks like most but not all of them are short run kits or from a long time ago, i.e. the Aurora P-38 of the late 50s. Being more positive, and not trying to stop this thread, seems like we are in much better shape than we were. Maybe the advent of computerized mold-making has made a big impact to the good. Also, I hope, the feedback we have given model kit makers has helped a lot.

I've got an MRAP that is just awful. It's soon to begone.

Rick in Maine 

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 Over the last few years my horror stories can be summed up with one Manufacture: Kitty Hawk. I bought their F-94-C with Lizzard skin and tossed it a few days later. Next up was their 4 piece to each fuselage half Cougar. Boxed up eventually was sent to the recycling center. I'm actually planning on buying the kit again. Then there was their AV-10 Bronco. Fit issues galore on my kit with major wing issues. Just wore me down to the point of boxing it up.  I still have their Kingfisher, and I'm determined to get this one across the finish line some day. Just not sure when that day will be.

 

Joel

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I’m currently working on a Nichimo 1/200 Yamato and boy howdy does it ever suck! No locator tabs. It’s molded in two different types of plastic that react differently with different glues. Nothing fits right. Gaps everywhere. Because of its size there’s severe warping. It’s just a total nightmare of a model. 

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Since coming back to the hobby in 2007 I've avoided the real garbage that I built as a youngster.  The one that gave me fits was the Classic Airframes Claude... and of course it did because after I finished it, there were announcements of new tool kits on the market.  Anyhow - that thing was just a real pain but I would not let it defeat me.  

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On ‎5‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 8:23 PM, Darren Roberts said:

Hands down the Testor's 1/72 scale B-2. I finally made it through, but only because it was part of a display at Whiteman AFB. If it hadn't been for that, it would flown into a wall. I've never had a kit defeat me in 40 years of modeling, but that's as close as one came to making me give up.

 

Darren,

  Now that's a great record you should be proud of. Not many here can honestly say that. I know I can't.  :cheers:

Joel

 

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22 hours ago, Joe Hegedus said:

Unicraft XF14C. 

 

Get one, build it, and THEN tell me just how bad your Kitty Hawk whatever is.  I DARE you.

 Jim,

    Honestly, I don't remember the company or the kit. But as a Senior in his Golden Years I spend my modeling time on builds that are both challenging and enjoyable with good to excellent engineering.  I'm sure that the XF14C must be horrific. 

 

  To give you an idea of how bad my KH OV-10 kit is, the top wing is comprised of not one large top piece but 3 sections. I added stiffeners to prevent warping and add strength, as the wing will have to support both engine booms. The bottom of the wing is comprised of 4 sections, one on each side of a engine boom.  The inside bottom panel was both to short in width, and the dihedral was just about completely  missing resulting the  section being completely under the fuselage wing faring.  You can see in the picture below that if I just wedge it up, the back of the section would be completely inside the matting surface of the bottom section. Really poor engineering. 

 

l4Usq8.jpg

 

    while I could easily live with the short width, there is no easy fix to the dihedral issue and still keep the transition proportions correct. So I cut the section in the middle, and used wedges to raise the center so that the panel met the fuselage correctly. 

 

7ksVON.jpg

 

 Then I dry fitted the engine boom for the that side of the wing, and I had the same issue.  Just didn't want to  keep on banging my head against the wall fighting the kit to the finish line. I look at it this way, it didn't defeat me per say, but my Mojo was down to rock bottom 0 at that point.  And this is after I spent a good month on the cockpit. So I figure it's a draw.

 

C3p5zl.jpg

 

Joel

Edited by Joel_W
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