What's the worst, or lousiest kit you've ever built?

[Jeff Sauber]

We've been hearing about some of the nicer kits out there, but out of curiosity, what's the worst kit you've ever built? You know, the one that just didn't want to go together very well, and had poor fitment, poor accuracy, and ended up as more of a division 1 NCAA wrestling match, rather than a nice and easy modeling session?

Ive certainly built up a few reject kits over the years but a certain rally car I built several years ago from Italeri, [sorry, I can't remember the kit number], was absolutely terrible!!

I had to literally shave off 1/16- 1/8 of an inch of plastic from nearly every major part in order to get it together. The front and rear window "glass" was warped, too small, and did not fit at all.

The side glass didn't allow the body to sit all the way down on the chassis and had to be trimmed in 1/16th of an inch, otherwise it would have left a huge gap between the body and floor.

The roll cage also needed serious trimming because it came in contact with the inner roof. To make matters worse, the dashboard bottomed out against the inner front glass long before the body was all the way down and mated to the chassis, and required yet another annoying trimming session.

The engine looked nothing like the protoype, and the upper cross brace did not allow the hood to shut. Even with the cross brace eliminated, I still had to shave an additional 1/16 of an inch off the hood lip to get it to close..

The chassis also didn't allow all four wheels to touch the ground without heavy modifcations to the front and rear suspensions.....I have never had to do this much work on a box stock model..........

Any horror stories of your own?

Edited November 24, 2009 by J. Sauber

[my name is nobody]

my own opinion;

AMT 1969 Chevelle SS396.

The absolute worst. took me a while but I did get one together,

built it up as a "Yenko" Chevelle.

the final assembly required 2 part epoxy to get it to stick together, the parts were so ill-fitting.

But had to do some kit bashing to make it presentable.

[Jeff Sauber]

my own opinion;

AMT 1969 Chevelle SS396.

The absolute worst. took me a while but I did get one together,

built it up as a "Yenko" Chevelle.

the final assembly required 2 part epoxy to get it to stick together, the parts were so ill-fitting.

But had to do some kit bashing to make it presentable.

That came out nice....

I built one of those several years ago....but yeah, the overall kit leaves alot to be desired.

[george 53]

Not just one, but three!! Revell's ORIGINAL '55 '56'and '57 Chevy kits. the '57 was one of the FIRST kits I EVER built. Couldn't build it then, STILL can't!!! BUT they ARE great for parts!!!

Edited November 24, 2009 by george 53

[my name is nobody]

That came out nice....

I built one of those several years ago....but yeah, the overall kit leaves alot to be desired.

Thanks, it does look okay. and displays well enough.

but the grille required alot of work, getting the taillights to fit correctly took some doing,

had to filch some high back bucket seats from the parts box, gauges, aftermarket decal......etc.etc.

Sad too. Because this is one of my very favorite Musclecar offerings from GM in a 1:1

And the wonder of it all, as popular as the 1:1 's were..............No one has yet to offer a decent kit of this car.

[JayC]

This thread sure has timing! I'm not working on a car at the moment, but Revell's 1/196 USS Constitution is driving me crazy (it was given to me). I haven't done anything with it the past few days. I just can't being myself to do anything with it. There is excess plastic residue on just about everything. I'm always having to shave it off. Holes are not done right. Either the part the hole is meant for doesn't fit, or there is some more left over plastic residue. It was a major PITA trying to fit 20 little cannons in their trucks because the pegs on the cannons didn't want to fit in their holes. I've forgotten what such a pain it is to work on such a small scale ship. I've got the hull pieces painted, 34 TINY little cannons painted (I never want to do that again ) and glued to their spots on the hull pieces. I haven't done anything since. I can already tell the main masts are going to need modifying to even fit in their spots. The holes aren't even done right. The masts have a half-circle peg and the hole has a half-circle "mold" in it so the mast, in theory, will fit properly. The half-circle mold in the hole is at an angle, so the mast would not be straight. I'm wishing I never even opened the dumb box!

[Lownslow]

this, never got finished threw it out in the garbage it was so bad i couldnt even build a beater out of it. the lindberg 48 lincoln is the runner up but at least that got finished

[Jeff Sauber]

this, never got finished threw it out in the garbage it was so bad i couldnt even build a beater out of it. the lindberg 48 lincoln is the runner up but at least that got finished

Funny you mention the lindberg 48 lincoln.

I'm doing one of those right now...The kit is a beast since all the darn panels are seperate pieces, but it's actually going along quite well for me...It's not going to be box stock of course, but I'm really surprised how well some of the body parts are lining up considering the age of the tooling.

The hood needed some serious styrene strip added on in order to lessen the panel gaps. The door lines are also too wide and strip plastic needed to be used there as well. The up-top roof isn't bad, but needs attention for realism, and the headlight bezels need to be drilled out, and re-shaped for lenses and addtional accuracy. The windsheild glass will need to be replaced with clear sheet.

The chassis pan on the other hand is atrocious, and the engine represents nothing more than a chrome plated block of plastic. The steering wheel is out of scale and is too thick, as are the suspension parts.

Alot of kit bashing and scratchbuilding is neccesary, but I think I may have a decent model when it's all said and done....It's ashame that nobody offers a serious version of this car.....The '48 lincoln is a gorgeous automobile.

Edited November 24, 2009 by J. Sauber

[Craig Irwin]

The old Monogram 69 1/24 Camaro. It's so out of shape it looks like a caricature instead of a replica.

[Jeff Sauber]

The old Monogram 69 1/24 Camaro. It's so out of shape it looks like a caricature instead of a replica.

Thats true....I forgot about that one...

Yeah, that body looks absolutely terrible. It's not even close. The guys in the tooling department must have been on some heavy drugs and booze that day....

[David@MinidreamsInc.]

by far the worst i have built or should i say try to would be the testors 48 ford coupe ! trash if you ask my just not very good !

[screwhead]

im gonna say any versions of the revell/ mono 59 impalas just b/c of the floorboard not fitting all the way into the body and b/c its really hard to glue the hood chromes on and get them even....

[oldscool]

Any of the kits i built as a kid that were made by Palmer.

[Eshaver]

That would be the Industrio motive Ford Gt in 1965 ! the body had gaps at least a sixteenth of an inch wide at the doors and then the body itself was a 32 of an inch thicker too Wheel houses wernt semetrical and the engine had to be trimmed to fit too. Ed Shaver

[gasman]

Fujimi's 04-05 WRX STi kit. its horrible, its got a two door interior. body is wrong, the Revell kit is MUCH better (even though the body is incorrect on that one too)

[Abell82]

I don't think there is a bad model.

Some are just more challenging then others,(sometimes more challenging then they should be).

[Modelmartin]

Some of you guys are LIGHT! Try a Heller Mercedes 540 K or Porsche 917! Those kits separate the model builders from the assemblers! Those old Palmer and Premier kits were bad but they did go together. I guess we need to name the kits that are worst in appearance and accuracy and then those that were impossible to build. There is a big difference between the two. That awful Monogram 69 Camaro went together easily enough, it just looked terrible. The Heller 917 looks good when done but was nearly unbuildable. The only way I could do it was to glue the body into one piece and make it curbside. The assembled engine was nearly as tall as the entire car so I had to leave out a lot to get it under the body work. Besides the engine was supremely inaccurate.

Personally, I don't think there was anything put out from the Little 4 (AMT, MPC, Monogram, Revell) that was bad enough to be top of the list. The exception is some of the toy tooling that got styrene shot into it and packaged as a kit. Some of the IMC kits were murderous to build. The Pyro Lincoln, Cord, Auburn, and Beetle were pretty tough but they do go together after a fashion. Some of the 60s Revell stuff was real tough like the Challenger I and Orange Crate but I don't think bad enough to be considered the worst. The 70s Gassers like the Henry J, Austin and Willys PU are real bad and in my opinion the worst Revell kits ever.

It's an interesting debate and opinions here are like bellybuttons.

[Jeff Sauber]

Some of you guys are LIGHT! Try a Heller Mercedes 540 K or Porsche 917! Those kits separate the model builders from the assemblers! Those old Palmer and Premier kits were bad but they did go together. I guess we need to name the kits that are worst in appearance and accuracy and then those that were impossible to build. There is a big difference between the two. That awful Monogram 69 Camaro went together easily enough, it just looked terrible. The Heller 917 looks good when done but was nearly unbuildable. The only way I could do it was to glue the body into one piece and make it curbside. The assembled engine was nearly as tall as the entire car so I had to leave out a lot to get it under the body work. Besides the engine was supremely inaccurate.

Personally, I don't think there was anything put out from the Little 4 (AMT, MPC, Monogram, Revell) that was bad enough to be top of the list. The exception is some of the toy tooling that got styrene shot into it and packaged as a kit. Some of the IMC kits were murderous to build. The Pyro Lincoln, Cord, Auburn, and Beetle were pretty tough but they do go together after a fashion. Some of the 60s Revell stuff was real tough like the Challenger I and Orange Crate but I don't think bad enough to be considered the worst. The 70s Gassers like the Henry J, Austin and Willys PU are real bad and in my opinion the worst Revell kits ever.

It's an interesting debate and opinions here are like bellybuttons.

Good points, Andy.

Yeah the Heller kits seem like real monsters. The instructional booklets are nearly a quarter inch thick of reading material!.

I've never bothered to build one however. The Pocher kits on the other hand are quite complex, but go together well....[at least thats what I've been told].

Your right though, we should try and seperate the kits that simply look awful, from the one's that just can't be built without serious hassles.

[styromaniac]

Not just one, but three!! Revell's ORIGINAL '55 '56'and '57 Chevy kits. the '57 was one of the FIRST kits I EVER built. Couldn't build it then, STILL can't!!! BUT they ARE great for parts!!!

Funny you should mention those three...cuz I just picked up all three of them on e-bay...original vintage editions too because I loved the old box art...and all three were reasonably priced and in good shape. I remember them from the old days but never bought them because I somehow sensed that Revell kits were bears to deal with ...I had a time getting that Revell Mooneyes

dragster's stance to sit straight...and a kit like the Orange Crate ? Forget about it ! I built mostly AMT kits back in the day.

So even though I have a couple of those AMT classic '57 Chevy Bel Air kits..plus a couple of the "new tools"..I thought I'd revisit my distant past and see if I could tackle those Revell "Tri-Fives" now.

Thanks for the warning.

Edited November 25, 2009 by styromaniac

[styromaniac]

Thats true....I forgot about that one...

Yeah, that body looks absolutely terrible. It's not even close. The guys in the tooling department must have been on some heavy drugs and booze that day....

Speaking of "not even close"...just for grins I took out my old AMT '32 5 window coupe kit and compared it to the new Revell '32 5 window . Talk about a body that looks absolutely terrible...it's nice to have a decent 5 window now.

[wgflatliner]

my latest horror was the Aoshima C-West FD3S RX-7.

from the box, it had at least a mm gap between the headlight hole and the fender.

every piece that is glued to the body is proportioned incorrectly. The side vent scoops are mis-aligned. it didn't want to sit all 4 tires without some manipulation.

before that, was the AMT 55 Chevy Stepside street machine. the one molded in maroon. I don't know if i had a really defective kit, but even after sanding and priming and sanding and priming, the body simply refused to accept any paint. I have no idea how i got it to hold the paint, but when i was trying to restore it (stupid me) all it took was a knick in the paint and the rest of it just flaked off. The glue also wouldn't adhere to the plastic whatsoever.

The interior detail, like most AMT models i've worked on, lacked any bit of detail, and it felt like you had to go an extra 10 miles to get it to look semi-decent. The same effort on a monogram equivalent would net a much better end result.

also, the hood never seated properly.

the one thing i did like about the stepside was that the oil pan was a single unit within itself so it didn't have a crack down the middle of it. That and it had edelbrock engine details.

[David@MinidreamsInc.]

although those old Monogram '69 Camaro's are horribly proportioned they do have some very cool period speed equipment and do build up easily.

Fujimi's Toyota AE86 kit's are pretty crude and horrible. pretty much motorized toys that are packaged as model kits.

i'm not sure who made it, but i had a model of a 70's Volkswagen Beetle that was pretty much the same way too, a motorized toy packaged as a model kit. paid more than i should have because it was an "imported" kit and was pretty disappointed.

Dave

Awh its just takes a builder to give it some life !

LOL ! You got an extra to spare hit me up and i'll twist it out ! LOL !

[Joe Handley]

Never built it, but I did have the Testors snap together late 70's Trans-Am that was re-issued in the mid-late 90's, it was so bad that I felt ripped off just by opening the box and looking at the parts through the bag! It ende up back in the box and stashed somewhere, I just can't remember if I ever got rid of it or not.....................

[RodneyBad]

Awh its just takes a builder to give it some life !

LOL ! You got an extra to spare hit me up and i'll twist it out ! LOL !

Looks Awesome.

IMO for me is the Soo far off the beatin Path Porsche 959 Paris-Dakar.

I had super High hopes it was as good as the Tamiya Peugeot or Pajero Paris-Dakar kits

I Payed Tamiya Price for a bad toy. Grrrrrrrrrrrr.

[lonewolf01]

the worst model i have done so far is the amt reissue 69 mach one. so much flash, mold marks,and the motors are even out of scale. was supposed to used for a model club build but i refused to even finish it