Who Made The 'worst Kit Ever' ? My Vote Goes To...

[HotRodaSaurus]

That is what is in the box against what is on the box.

My vote goes to;

Premier's Cadillac Eldorado, closley followed by their Lincoln Futura.

Anyone own these, post pics of boxes and models? I would post but never bought one after seeing the Cadillac at a swapmeet, then the Futura on the Bay.

Some have great box art though and seem to fetch some nice prices

John

[MrObsessive]

Well that can be subjective depending on how long one has been into models!

I'd say in recent memory, my nod goes to the 1995 issue of the Revellogram '70 'Cuda AAR. They show a nice real 1:1 on the box, however what turned up in the box was woefully inaccurate as everyone now knows. IIRC there was a builtup on the side which should have been the tip off of what would be a major disappointment. At least they did update that one for '07.............but............

Another subjective vote may go to the original '63-'64 release of the Chrysler Turbine Car. Beautiful box art, but it left many a modeler with what was probably the most difficult (ie: unbuildable) model ever to be squeezed out of a mold.

I'm sure there are a number of others..............

[ismaelg]

AMT '62 Corvette....

[gasman]

Fujimi 04-05 Subaru WRX. wrong truck lid, they used there 93-01 Impreza tooling as a base, so it has a two door interior, all they did to update is was to add shims to the interior sides so it matched the body

[Harry P.]

Don't forget anything made by Pyro or Palmer...

[MikeMc]

The firefighter Mustang II..........it does have nice tires!!

[Peter Lombardo]

In my mind, it's any and all models done by LS Models (a model producer from Japan in the 1990's). I built the Chaparral, which needed major surgury, no actually, it is now a bionic car with the major rebuild it required to get it close to acceptable. They also made a Ford GT40 and a Porsche 904 or 906, I think. There may have been one other car in their series, but who would care, you couldn't build anything worthwhile without a huge investment of time and talent. Such a disappointment to me. In fact, the fact that there are no real quality models of Chaparral cars in 1/24 scale has always been a mystery to me. I could see a couple of great kits from Fujimi or Tamiya...oh well. It is interesting how 1/43 scale guys have embraced that mark, but the main stream 1/24 scale kit manufacturers have stayed away.

[bobss396]

I had a bunch of Palmers as a kid and had fun with them. Some had motors which was quite a novelty. The Pyros were what they were, unless you expected too much out of a $0.69 1/32 scale kit with about 12 parts to it.

My vote for some of the worst kits ever has to go to the Revell "Unbuildables". These were things that at age 10-12 were impossible to finish. Candidates are: '31 Ford Woody, '56 Ford PU, '57 Nomad, any of the gassers of the era. Problems were things like too fragile parts, parts that had poor symmetry and registration.

Bob

[Dave Van]

First....the Pyro, Palmers etc were model made, most times to sell for under $1. Even in money of the time that was no easy task. And all work was done here in the old USA. Tools cut, boxes printed....everything. I give them a pass for 'you get what you pay for when you pay 49 cents'!

Modern era....AMT/ERTL 1983 stock csar models. When these were coming out I worked in a hobby shop. We were helpful in getting Ertl info on real stock cars. When them came...in place of the 'Monogram killer' kits we got BAD toys...not even a model. Ertl had the ability to blast Monogram at the time...and wasted it.......

Firefighter Mustang a dog?? Why....I like it.......

Box stock other than wheels and decals.

[Modelmartin]

Palmer, Premier, and Pyro are easy targets here, too easy! Some of the "mainstream" kits mentioned above are not truly competitors in the Olympics of Crud! AAR Cuda and Turbine Car! Sorry ,Bill, but your choices are not even close. The AMT 62 Vette! Ha! The Firefighter(Dyno Don) Mustang Pro stock! Bull feathers! The LS sports cars and many early Japanese kits like those were meant more to be unassembled toys than kits. Many had electric motors for the Happy-Go-Fun factor.

How about the Hawk Sandpiper "Dune Buggy"? How about those AMT NASCARs from the 80s that were styrene versions of polyethylene toys? The AMT moving van from the 70s that was another toy in styrene was another stellar piece of product planning - not!

When it comes to 1/43rd there were John Day kits from England. He did a group of 4 mid 70s NASCAR cars that were exquisitely atrocious. They looked like they were done from memory by someone who had seen one picture of the car a year ago! In fairness to the late Mr.Day- 1/43rds when he was producing in the 70s were meant to be companion pieces to Dinky and Corgi toys. 1/43rd morphed into a nutzoid hobby later and everyone looked back at his kits and thought he was a total hack. Not true! He was only a partial hack! He produced over 500 different kits and some were OK.

Then there are the kits that were executed well but were conceptually the "Worst Kit Idea Ever". My vote goes to most of the early 70s AMT Showrods. Royal Rail, Depth Charger, Stogie something or other. Man, those were turds! How about MPC's Elegant Farmer and Jolly Roger? AMTs Quarter Mile Smile, the Jimmy Carter Funny car? MPC's Gridiron Grabber and Hardhat Hauler do not have one useful part on them! These are all wastes of tool steel and styrene! I would rather see 3 more new 57 Chevy kits tooled up than one more of those!

I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the nominees!

[VW Dave]

I'd say in recent memory, my nod goes to the 1995 issue of the Revellogram '70 'Cuda AAR.

As it is a great parts donor, I'm a teeny bit reluctant to call it the worst kit ever(although it was the first one that came to mind).....however, if anyone ever questions which kit was the 'biggest letdown,' that AAR is a shoo-in.

[ismaelg]

In the category of "Execution" , my vote goes to the AMT Sink Mark Special Concept Camaro. I've never been that close to set a model on fire in public.

[gasman]

need to add another recent kit. the AMT Fast and Furious Eclipse. its horrible, flat chassis, engine is just brick of plastic. the turbo that was'nt connected to anything, interior is wrong (but I do give AMT credit for the seperate door window cranks, but thats incorrect for the movie car as it had power windows),

[FactoryStock54]

Probably the Revell 1/32 '56 Ford Sunliner. While it had some very nice molded-in surface detail and a half-way commendable attempt at an engine, trying to get the sectional body pieces to line up properly (not to mention all the sanding and filling required) defeated even my legendary patience! If I wanted that much frustration on a regular basis I'd build aircraft models full time!

I also have to come to the defense of the old Pyro Table Top Classics. Considering the price one paid (about 60 cents a pop back in the late 60s) they were never meant to compete with state of the art gems from JoHan or Monogram, but they offered their own particular brand of fun, and some of the subjects they did were absolutely unique (and sometimes mind-bogglingly off the wall!); what model company today in their right mind would even think about releasing a '52 Chevy wagon (!!!!!) or a '32 Plymouth FOUR DOOR SEDAN!!!!!!? I've been buying some of my old favorites on Ebay in the last few years and building them with modern methods and materials (Bare Metal Foil, Tenax, acrylic paint). With a little TLC and patience it's actually possible to come up with something approaching the proverbial silk purse from a sow's ear!

Another long-term project of mine is the Lindberg (ex Pyro) '48 Lincoln Continental (which is "not quite" 1/25. . .more like 1/28). By today's standards this kit can only be described as "crude," but again, I think it will be possible to do something interesting with it given careful planning and patience. I am working on kit-bashing a presentable engine and passenger compartment as well as up-grading some of the brightwork. It ought to be quite nice when finished!

[Olle F]

I hate kits where the parts won't fit right, but you can always make them come together with some work. If the subject is right and the body is ok, it's usually doable. Instead, I would vote for all the models that are so grossly out of proportion that you just can't make them look like the real thing. Some of the models I hate with a vengeance are Monogram's '57 Chevy and '69 "Rampage" Camaro. They do resemble the real cars and (as far as I remember) the parts fit nicely, but that's about it. Unless you perform major surgery, they will look like Chinese toy cars. I never finished these models, just because I got so turned off by the looks.

Another great disappointment (although probably a good kit if you're into this kind of models) was the submarine I bought when I was 11-12 years old. It was a big, expensive model, but when I opened the box I found about 10 parts... Two halves for the hull, propellers and rudders, that was about it. I slapped it together in about 15 minutes, took it to the pond and put it out of it's misery with a BB gun.

[Harry P.]

Pyros and Palmers weren't meant to compete with JoHan and Monogram, it's true, but a bad kit is a bad kit, no matter what.

A Yugo wasn't meant to compete with a Rolls Royce...but it was still a bad car!

[monkeyclaw]

I have to go with Bill on the chrysler turbine car; although the pieces were nice; they just never amounted to anything nice when assembled...followed closely by the airfix 1/12 scale bentley ....the surface texture on that kit is horrible; and I have had several of them...all poorly packed with warped tires....not even a reasonable parts donor....classic case of silk purse from a sows ear.......matt

[Rob Hall]

need to add another recent kit. the AMT Fast and Furious Eclipse. its horrible, flat chassis, engine is just brick of plastic. the turbo that was'nt connected to anything, interior is wrong (but I do give AMT credit for the seperate door window cranks, but thats incorrect for the movie car as it had power windows),

The AMT F&F Evo and 350Z look pretty dreadful also...cartoon wheels, cartoonish proportions, just plain bad.

Their F&F "70" Charger and '69 Yenko Camaro were pretty bad also ...

As far as first appearing bad but turning out nice,

when I was a teenager I got the Revell '59 Skyliner (Skip's Drive In issue) and remember quite well opening the box and wondering where the body was...it was the first time I'd encountered a multi-piece body...pretty scary, but it did build up into a nice looking kit.

As far as worst ever, I'm not sure what I'd pick.. Palmers are in a different reality and don't really qualify, IMHO.

I do remember being severely dissapointed by the first Revell '70 AAR Cuda..just hideously malformed. I was also dissapointed by the recent Trumpeter '60 Pontiac ht (the roof is so nasty).

Edited February 13, 2008 by Rob Hall

[bob paeth]

"factorystock" mentioned the old cliche about silk purses and sows ears, when attempting to build a bad kit. REMEMBER THIS: When you use a sows ear to make a silk purse ..............all you get is a lousy looking purse and a half-deaf pig.

Now, to the subject at hand. The worst kit ever made should be judged, in my opinion, on the end result and not on the experience, or lack of, of the builder. The kits aforementioned, Turbine Car, and the several Revell kits, '56 Ford, '57 Nomad, etc may be difficult to asemble but with diligenge and a certain amount of talent, these kits make into a superb scale model of the real thing. With Palmer, Premier and some of Pyros kits, it didn't matter how good you were. As the say in computer land, GARBAGE IN, GARBAGE OUT. To pick the worst kit ever, price should not be ignored, as has been previously mentioned in this topic. I do agree that the 3 P's weren't meant to be great kits due to their design and engineering, getting what you pay for is paramount here.

Guess my candidate fo the "worst" would have to be kit that, as I remember, was of an Oldsmobile convertible in a large scale. It could have been Premier but I am not sure. It was expensive, for its time, the parts didn't fit very well and the only thing that really looked like the Olds was the box art. The kit itself, couldn't even be used for parts.

bob

[ismaelg]

In the category of "Worst Stance right off the box": My vote goes to the AMT Corvette ZR-1. With a stance any 4x4 Jeep would envy. Not to mention, are the wheels supposed to be centered in the wheel well? Stance is arguably the most important aspect of a model next to the paint job.

[dub]

one of the blandest, most uninspiring vehicles ever produced by GM.

That's not fair... GM made plenty of cars like that in the 80's!

[Harry P.]

In the category of "Worst Stance right off the box": My vote goes to the AMT Corvette ZR-1. With a stance any 4x4 Jeep would envy. Not to mention, are the wheels supposed to be centered in the wheel well? Stance is arguably the most important aspect of a model next to the paint job.

Assuming your model is a representation of a "real" car, wouldn't the most important aspect of a model be accuracy???

[ismaelg]

Assuming your model is a representation of a "real" car, wouldn't the most important aspect of a model be accuracy???

Yes, and stance is a big part of accuracy. They are not mutually exclusive.......

[dodgefever]

How about Hasegawas '66 Cadillac, T-bird & Wildcat kits from the '80s? I had the Wildcat and while the body was nice, that was about all it had going for it. They were expensive kits, but had no engines, wildly inaccurate interiors, no wheel or hubcap detail, crappy rubber tyres with plastic whitewalls which didn't fit...

[Clay]

I think that the GTO build that I am working on is the worst on yet.