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Post by clowncar on Mar 7, 2021 12:33:22 GMT -8
Question triggered by Ben_B's statement in his Tamiya Mercedes-AMG GT3 build thread: "These Tamiya kits are a joy to build! They just click together." Having a background in quality control and dimensional inspection, with my start in the plastic extrusion industry a thousand years ago, it made my inner Edwards Deming-lemming wonder, "What's baseline, these days? How well can one expect kit parts to fit? Which manufacturers, or specific kits, are paragons of seamless assembly? And which ones are to be avoided at all costs, lest the expense of Squadron putty and emery paper required to fix them surpass the price of dining out every night for a month?"
Styrene, resin, white metal, what have you. Tell me your war stories, please.
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Post by tatocorvette on Mar 7, 2021 15:47:37 GMT -8
I avoid AMT. Well, only about 99.9% of the time.
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Post by arcticwolf on Mar 7, 2021 16:07:04 GMT -8
Worst?
The Monogram Porsche 904. The full detail one that looks great until you start. Nothing fits. What's left of it got thrown back in a box somewhere.
Closely followed by anything by Heller, although they can be a great end result if you try hard enough. 
I haven't found the "best" one yet. Tamiya's 1/12th Renault F1 was really good.
But I like a challenge, so making a Revell kit work out properly is getting to be a weird kind of fun.  |
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Post by 4wheels on Mar 7, 2021 16:07:54 GMT -8
Worst = Tie - Jorgensen resin and Older Heller kits
Best = Tie - Chris Etzel/Fisher resin and MOST Tamiya
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Post by afx on Mar 8, 2021 4:08:08 GMT -8
Older Revell kits as an example the Porsche 914 are challenging to build. Tamiya, Hasegawa, Fujimi all go together well from my experience.
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Post by Ben_B on Mar 8, 2021 6:53:28 GMT -8
Tamiya is definitely the Gold Standard, both in cars and airplanes. I've only built a few of Hasegawa's late '80s-vintage kits, and they're just not up to the same standard as Tamiya's of the same vintage, as far as mold quality and fit. I haven't built Hasegawa's Nissan R91CP that was released in 2018, yet, so I don't know if they've improved with their newer kits. Just below Tamiya, I'd say Fujimi's kits from the 2000s on, Aoshima, and Nunu are all on the same level. Monogram's old 1/24 series of street cars are surprisingly good. They've made some compromises to keep the kits simple, but they fit well and are surprisingly accurate and well-molded. I think even Revell's more recent releases, like the Ford GTLM, C7R, and their DTM cars have a ways to go before they're up to the same standard as Aoshima/Nunu/Fujimi.
Ben
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Mar 8, 2021 7:21:25 GMT -8
Worst is a Tie Palmer, Premier and Pyro, the big 3 I guess, just stay away! dont buy them, they dont even represent the car on the Box! and the best I have to start with the Tomy 1/32 356 Porsche with metal engine and suspension but very accurate in size shape and easy to build. Rosso 1/43 Ferrari F-1 kits are a joy to build and for the size come out very nice. That's my 1 1/2 cents on that.... Chris
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Post by clowncar on Mar 8, 2021 14:17:09 GMT -8
Thank you all.
@ Ben_B: Surprised and pleased to hear Aoshima mentioned as Fujimi-level. Fujimi's auto kits are what I have the most experience with, apart from resin, and Aoshima's offerings have never been thick enough on the ground in local bricks-and-mortar retail to make me remember they exist. They have a couple of cute little Japanese-market microcars that look interesting, though, and the raving lunatics even make food trucks! Instant diorama ideas...
Must try something four-wheeled by Tamiya. Built a metric tonne of their 1/35th scale armor as a pre-teen, and don't remember ever needing putty. I shouldn't have wondered, really.
Please keep 'em coming, all scales. The wealth of hands-on anecdotal experience here is eye-opening.
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