The Worst Kit

[chip55]

Hello
I gotta throw in with Craig about the Glencoe Austrian Albatros, it stunk.

But Glencoe's Pfalz DIII was the worst I have ever came across. I think they used a sunlamp on it.



I have great patience when it comes to model building (as should be) But this one had to be a star in my
movie *of "Godzilla squishes a German WWI aerodrome". It was amazing how many more pieces I ended up
with. And it went back in the box easier too. *


Be well

chip55 *;D

[Michael]

Now Glencoe's Pfalz was the old Aurora kit, if I remember Peter L's response on another thread. I don't remember the Aurora kit being that bad, but it was about 36 years ago... Grey plastic as I recall.

[Albatroid]

I give alot of the older mold lines like Aurora some credit because they're old and that was the limit of technology in those days. But then there's Blue Max. Their plastic is alright, but when you pay half a c-note for a 1/48 scale model and they include a piece of plastic rubbery pasta that's all folded up and tell you to cut straight struts out of it... yuk, are you kidding me? They might as well have just left them out and put a note in the instructions like: "Dear modeller, thank you for purchasing our limited run, very pricey kit- now put on some warm clothes and search the back yard for twigs that you can whittle struts from." I also don't appreciate the way they bag their white metal parts- they seem to get all bent up, requiring re-shaping & restoration.

[Michael]

Hey Albatroid - that's a great idea! Pasta for struts. Linguine has almost the right shape.

[Kirby]

Michael et al

You bring up an excellent point re something, about which, I was just about to start a thread.

I have a terrible time setting the struts and placing the upper wing straight and correctly.

Would any of you care to offer me some advice on the best method or technique of attaching the struts and upper wing? ???

VBR
Kirby

[PeterL]

Kirby, how does "it depends" grab you?
Some swear by jigs but I have never found the need. Generally I will fix in place just enough struts to support the wing (upper or lower, "it depends") and then feed the rest in when everything is set and secure. For my Farman F40 this was the four centre section struts two either side of the nacelle. In fact it's almost always the centre section struts.

hth but I suppose "it depends"

ps. All I can say to those who cite the Accademy kits is you must have led a charmed life. Wait until you've tried one of the more limited limited run kits.

[Volker_Nemsch]

I know that everybody will immediately start laughing ...

In the case of broken, short or damaged struts for 1:72 scale aircraft I found a pretty good replacement:

8) 8) *DRY FIR NEEDLES * 8) 8)

They are hard enough to work with, you can paint them without problems (they even look like wood without colour!) and glueing is no problem! They are cheap and there is no problem to have a few hundreds different of them in the spare-parts box.

I´m waiting for some answers ...



Best regards
Volker Nemsch

[Martin]

The worst Model I have ever come across was a KeilKraft 1/72nd scale Sopwith Camel. Infact its that bad that I still have several unmade examples left.

[Craig]

Martin,
I simply HAVE to know: did you buy all those Camel kits at once, or sequentially, in hopes that the next one wouldn't suck?

Chip55,
The Glencoe Pfalz is a stinker. It went together fairly easily, but the accuracy is poor. The struts are comically enlarged, and required so much modification that it would've been better to have fabricated them. Makes one appreciate the Good Folks at Eduard . . .

[BobE]

* * Volker,
* *This is me being annoyed with my wife and then reading your "pine needle" post.
* * * * * * * * *> ??? ;
That was a kick! I can see where it would really work though.
It certainly shows the creative side of us modelers. It's amazing how many ways can be found to solve a problem when you think "outside the box". The closest I can come to that one is years ago when I was in my early teens I built a very small model of a Viking ship to sail in the bathtub. The crew had heads made out of birdseed! Even the non-modelers in the family enjoyed that one.
* * *On the "Worst Model" subject, I refer you all to my earlier post captioned "Strombecker Models". You younger types have no idea just how bad "bad" can be. Even Dan-San gave up on them.
* * * Gonna go make up with ma sweetie now * :-* :-* :-* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Thanks Volker.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *Bob