Which Model Gave You a Whoopin'?

[10thumbs]

Something here hopefully on a lighter note.

When I was a kid, a new Revell model came out, the Orange Crate.  Geez, what an experience.  I broke several long chrome parts before they were even completely separated, and finally I just gave up.  That kit was over my head.

Decades later, the Heller model of the 5 mast ship Preussen, the very first step needed 150 very small loops made for the rigging.  The box is still waiting to be opened again, that was 30 years ago.

Which kits have kicked your butt?

Which kits just did not agree with you at the time.

Edited July 10, 2016 by 10thumbs

[bbowser]

Revell Mickey Thompson Challenger LSR car.  It finally won 

[Pete J.]

This is going to sound weird, but it is a Tamiya kit.  The Ford Focus RS! I have repainted the body at least 5 or 6 times(No I can't remember because I put it aside for a long time while I considered how to resolve the issues) and gone through at least 4 sets of decals.  The paint problem had to do this Mica Blue not going into the panel lines properly.  Finally wound up spraying a base coat of flat black to get them covered.  Then the decals were a pain because the side decals are a good 3" wide and 1.5" tall and go over several "Character grooves, not to mention the fender flairs and panel lines"  Finally got my solvent technique down get them on flat.  Next was the clear coat.  I sanded through it an ruined at least two sheets of decals.  I am going to get this bugger done this time!!

Edited July 11, 2016 by Pete J.
add photo

[curt raitz]

The Revell 1/12 Vincent Black Shadow...

A kit I always wanted to build, picked one up from a friend.

It musta been one of the 1st produced, because the plastic was extremely brittle and kept breaking and nothing fit!

Actually threw it in the trash, did not want to be tempted to play with it again!

[pack rat]

Years ago, I was one of the many tempted by this beautiful box......we all know the rest of the story

[Snake45]

Monogram 1/48 TBF Avenger, when it first came out, around 1963 or '64. Only model that's ever actually made me cry.

Built another one as an adult about 20 years ago and no problems whatsoever--smooth sailing all the way.

[10thumbs]

Thanks guys,  this stuff makes me smile. 

I have another mishap in memory.  An airplane though.  Revell Douglas AD6, I think it was 1:48.  Fairly big plane, with a ton of parts.  That thing beat me up good. 

The Orange Crate is one I'd like to build nowadays, cool model, my opinion.

@Snake, what was the deal with the Avenger?

Good to see that some are doing it all over again.

[Drake69]

Round 2 Dodge Charger Daytona.

They fly through the air quite nicely, BTW.

Edited July 10, 2016 by Drake69

[FordRodnKustom]

Years ago, I was one of the many tempted by this beautiful box......we all know the rest of the story

Same here with that one.

Also these two come to my traumatized mind quickly

I had them all when they were new releases in the 60's. Never finished them. Still have a few parts.

Edited July 10, 2016 by FordRodnKustom

[1972coronet]

Any and every old-in- a - new- box Revell kit in the 70s !! The 57 Chevy was oone which I attempted time and again only to toss it or give it away .

MPCs horrid decals in the 70s also . Absolute garbage !! Those pieces of dung would disintergrate instantly , even on new relaeses !!

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I made a glooey fingerprinted poorly-fitting gap-ridden mess of just about everything I built when I was a kid lacking sufficient eye-hand coordination, fine-motor control, and a well-developed self-critical feedback loop...and patience. I remember being horribly frustrated because my results looked like dog droppings, and try as I might, improvement in my skills was glacially slow.

By the time I was 14 or so, I'd learned to take my time, let things dry, test-fit before gluing, etc...and that if my models looked like carp, it was due more to my own incompetence, not "bad" kits...though there were certainly some that took a LOT more effort to fit and correct to become acceptable models than others. The IMC kits noted above, and others, the Revell Thompson Challenger I and opening-panel tri-5 Chebbys and '56 Ford pickup...there were quite a few I wasn't satisfied with on 'completion', but they looked pretty OK.

I really have to thank this hobby for kindling an interest in how cars and aircraft worked and what all the parts actually were supposed to do on the real versions. I'm also grateful that poorly translated models like Palmer produced made me realize early in life that the manufacturers weren't always right, and just because adults got paid to do something didn't guarantee they'd do it WELL. I'm also grateful that I learned patience, and to rely on my own judgement when things didn't fit, and the confidence to cut into something that wasn't designed intelligently and change it.

I wish I had the first Revell '57 Ford wagon that I think was my first 1/25 scale car kit. Man, it makes me cringe to remember how awful that was when I got done with it. I've come a long way since then. 

 

 

[pack rat]

Same here with that one.

Also these two come to my traumatized mind quickly

 

 

Oh yea...I forgot about that horrible J Car!  I had one too; my first IMC kit.  It was scrapped for parts about an hour after I (sort of) built it.

I recently bought another one; this time it will be done up right.    

 

 

[StevenGuthmiller]

Years ago, I was one of the many tempted by this beautiful box......we all know the rest of the story

Ain't that the truth!

All of these Revell tri-five Chevies were a real paint in the backside!

 

Steve

[GrumpyGrowly]

AMT 53 Corvette, man that thing kick my butt up and down the work bench. I'm not accustomed to that kind of beating, so it sits on a shelf watching my every move like a vulture. 

I was quitting smoking and trying the patch for the first time. I ended up using a heavier dose patch after running out of the 7mg ones. went out to work on the 53 and nothing fit parts were way to hard to put in. For some reason I chopped the front fenders off, maybe in some hallucination I thought it looked good. I ended up a green pile of goo on the floor; I was ODing on nicotine patch. After clearing my head for a few I got back to the 53, What a mess! I did my best to clean it up but chopping those fenders off was just wrong, still dont know what I was thinking. It does look like i need new carbs

I do not smoke any more and only chop off fenders as last resort. The Vulture is my nemesis, a reminder and a prize all in one. kind of a love hate thing. Now i do know know it was the patch that kick my A but at the time the 53 was what stood out.

I too have tried my hand at several Nomads and have never been happy with them, so unhappy with them I'm not sure what Ive done with them. I would guess trashcan.

Jonathan

Edited July 10, 2016 by GrumpyGrowly

[unclescott58]

As a kid I got a model of the Kon Tiki. You had to build just like the rear thing. It came with little wood logs that you lashed together with the string/twine provided. There is no way I could even build that kit today. I wish I still had it though. Ive seen the kits come up on eBay from time to time, and it's now worth a small fortune.

[KeithJackson]

I remember many years ago I bought a model of some type of muscle car that came with a body that was so twisted that I didn't even try to fix it.  If I had the same car now, I would just build it up and claim that I had put in hydraulics or an air bag system.  Other than that, if you look at my signature, it sums up my childhood efforts at building model planes.

 

[CometMan]

Not sure why, but the AMT '58 Belvedere really gave me a beating! I had heard that there were some parts in the kit that MIGHT be a little stubborn, but I thought it was a nice diversion from the same old Fords and Chevys, it would be really cool to build one that wasn't just another red/white clone car. So, with the help of a PE set, and some gold BMF, I set out to make what SHOULD have been a simple conversion to a real Fury. Boy, was I wrong!! It had to go swimming at least a half-dozen times, and nothing, and I mean NOTHING, fit together quite right! I FINALLY got it "together", but it now sits on my shelf as a reminder of how NOT to build a model kit! I still like the idea of building a model of a rather unusual subject that is a great looking car, is not just another red/white clone, maybe I will get the nerve to try this one again sometime!

[philo426]

This vac form 1/72 Contrail HP42 was one of the most difficult kits i have ever built.Very complex.  

[Snake45]

 

@Snake, what was the deal with the Avenger?

 

The fuselage, with all its working this and operating that, didn't want to go together like a good little fuselage.

I know the Revell AD-6 you speak of. It's an oddball scale, about 1/40. I started on in 1972 and didn't get far with it. It's still around here somewhere.

[bbowser]

I built the U.S.S. Constitution way back when I got out of the service and was going to school, don't remember who made it or what scale, I think it was Revell?  Only that it had 17 different sizes of string rigging and roughly 8,000 tiny little belaying pins for you to tie all those ropes onto.  Vacu-formed sails, a bunch of tiny little cannons, it took me about 3 years to finish and then it collected dust like a magnet.  Never did another boat, never will!

[Harry P.]

No way to say this without sounding like an egotistical snot... but I have never built a kit that I couldn't handle, ever since I was a kid. I dunno, maybe I just have some sort of special talent or something. And I doubt there is a kit out there that I couldn't handle. If I can correct, re-engineer, rework, alter, and modify a Pocher kit into a presentable model, there just ain't anything out there I couldn't handle. 

[Snake45]

Thought of another one: The first-issue Revell '70 AAR Cuda.

I took that thing out of the box many, many times over the years and tried to figure out what I had to do to make that wretched backbirth of a body look anything like an actual 1970 Plymouth Barracuda. I finally admitted defeat, and just started grafting the grille into the Monogram '71 body. There! At least now I'll never be tempted to build that horrid AAR '70 again.

(Their second try was almost as bad, but in completely different ways. I DID figure out how to get something like a Cuda out of that one.)

[Deathgoblin]

Generally only a few gluebombs more recently.  I've suspended one or two, but went back to complete them later.

[slusher]

This one years ago but i am going to build it again...

[unclescott58]

I built the U.S.S. Constitution way back when I got out of the service and was going to school, don't remember who made it or what scale, I think it was Revell?  Only that it had 17 different sizes of string rigging and roughly 8,000 tiny little belaying pins for you to tie all those ropes onto.  Vacu-formed sails, a bunch of tiny little cannons, it took me about 3 years to finish and then it collected dust like a magnet.  Never did another boat, never will!

Tying rigging on model anything is my worst nightmare. That's why the Kon Tiki never got built. And why I'll never buy a model of any sailing ship ever.