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"Unbuildable"


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The term "almost unbuildable" was used in one of the other forums earlier today. In my many years of modeling, I can honestly say that, while some kits were certainly not a joy to assemble, I found nothing to actually be unbuildable. I remember my Dad helping here and there: fitting a stubborn chassis to a '65 'Vette, fitting wheel backs into un-cooperative tires, holding things while the "glue dried" or fixing stuff that I broke during assembly. Heck, I built the first issue Revell '55 Bel Air when I was 9 or 10 with no problems. OK, maybe the wheels didn't steer (too much glue on the tie rod ends), but I completed the model. About 30 years ago, I destroyed a '73 Road Runner due to a decal problem, but that was due to my impatience. And, I currently have a lot of work-in-progress projects that have stalled for various reasons, but they're far from box stock; most problems associated with those were induced by my modifications. But, "unbuildable"? Nope, none. How about you- can you nominate any kit for "unbuildable" or even "almost unbuildable" status?

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I suppose anything is "buildable" if you want to put enough effort into it, and/or are willing to lower your standards as to what the finished product looks like.

Worst car I can recall building was the '80s reissue of the MPC GTO. It took three times as much time and effort as a typical build, but I'm proud of the finished result.

Worst airplane kit I've ever built was the old Revell 1/48 F-4E/F Phantom. What a pig THAT thing was.

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It's a relative term. We've seen folks on here make incredible museum pieces from the humblest of beginnings, and vice-versa. Do some kits take more work than others? Of course! It's all in how much time, effort, talent the builder wants to expend.

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Sometimes it seems to be one specific kit (of any model) that's unbuildable,where the thing fights you all the way.I've had that with a few AMT kits over the years.Then your fellow modelers get their own kit of the same subject and have no problems at all.

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It's a relative term. We've seen folks on here make incredible museum pieces from the humblest of beginnings, and vice-versa. Do some kits take more work than others? Of course! It's all in how much time, effort, talent the builder wants to expend.

Very true, Some kits simply take more work. We learn so much from those tuff builds.

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The Barnabas Vampire Van is another one that comes to mind...not completely unbuildable, but it's origins as a slapped-together custom based on a well-worn tooling are evident (and not helped by the years between its original release and current reissue). The chrome tree was almost completely unusable, even after stripping, which led me to do a minimalist take on it:

m354a.jpg

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I've never encountered an unbuildable kit but there are many that aren't worth the effort to fix them when better alternatives exist. The AMT 69 Daytona was one for me, I already had the Revell ProModeler version but picked up the AMT kit up to see what it was about. I picked over the few parts worth keeping, used the body for paint testing, and the rest went in the trash can. To me there was no point in using my time polishing excrement when I had a better alternative. There are times when a bad kit is all we have and I don't mind putting the work in but I try not to punish myself when I don't have to.

Edited by Fat Brian
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seemed like a pretty simple kit to me. :mellow:

It is, and with just the slightest bit of effort.

It can be made into a very presentable build.

Especially considering this kit came out ,,what nearly 20 years ago ?

Plus,,,,,,,I like the shape of the door scallops on the AMT body WAAAAAAY better than the ones on the Revell example .

I used the 1968 Roadrunner chassis and suspension under this ,,,but otherwise it's all AMT

Edited by gtx6970
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I've never encountered anything that was "unbuildable", but I've encountered a few that were so awful that I thought to myself "what's the point??" Probably the worst kit I have is a Lindberg '40 Ford that's short-shotted AND warped badly...just not worth the effort to save, 'cause there are so many nice '40 Ford kits on the shelf.

But I keep even the really really horrible stuff, 'cause you just never know when a part from something otherwise useless might be just the thing you need for something cool.

And yes, "unbuildable" is in the eye of the beholder...entirely.

DSCN5053.jpg

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Yeah, the AMT Charger/Daytona would have to be included on that list...an absolute horror of a model kit that one.

It's not the best kit ever made, but it's definitely buildable. I built this last year:

3e38bcdf-4186-4a03-995a-f929075e0724.jpg

679bcee3-3a11-4644-abce-26a992f713b5.jpg

I believe every kit can be built well. Some just take lots of more work than others. MPC '57 Flip Nose Corvette is definitely one of them. :D

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As mentioned "unbuildable" is in the eyes of the beholder, and the from the viewpoint of their current skill set. What they may deem unbuildable today may become an easy build later when they've developed those skills to the point of building that model.

Many years ago one of my clubs had a guy in his 50s who was all thumbs. The model he screamed as unbuildable was a diecast Hummer, one of those marked for "Ten And Under". The glass was one piece and was supposed to be snapped onto a peg that stuck out of the headliner area. Well, our boy just pressed, pounded and fumbled until he broke the glass. Oh was he steamed! He was going to go back to that hobby shop and tell them good! How dare they sell this unbuildable thing!

I'd expect that everyone reading this would have put the glass shot over the peg, realized it was a bit tight, and we would've made the appropriate adjustment to the receiving hole in the glass with an exacto knife. Rookie fix, but to this one character it was indeed "unbuildable". At least he couldn't figure it out!

Edited by Tom Geiger
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