Kit Manufacturers to Stay Away from?

[MossyOakClan]

I'm pragmatic in as much that I only stock one new build kit ahead of the one I am working on at the house. At least for the moment. My concern is that being new, and wishing to cash in on kit savings deals when I see them, I am not familiar with kit manufactuers individual pro's and con's. I'm assuming most are decent since they are still in business but are there key differences of "NOTE" that I need to be aware of from maker to maker? Are there any suppliers out there that I should NOT purchase due to quality issues, poor instruction drafting...etc?

 

[Neo]

Well most hasegawa and tamiya kits are great

What scale you building??
What era?

Makes a difference

Good site to check out reviews is cybermodeler.com

I normaly keep away from revell monogram airfix italery

Hope this helps

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

I normaly keep away from revell monogram airfix italery

No offense, but that paints those manufacturers with a pretty broad stroke. True, they have put out some duds, but they have also put out some gems.

Same can be said for pretty much any company for that matter, Hasegawa, Fujimi, Dragon, and even the might Tamiya have put out some pretty crappy kits as well.

 

[Peppylepugh]

Some of my favorites are from our very own members of
the 'Herd with their own youTube channels.

While SMA is starting to build a review section, small but
mighty. I don't believe I will be bonked on the head for
giving a mention of Modeling Madness either.

 

[MossyOakClan]

Too broad a question in retrospect. I assume all the manufacturers have "duds" on occasion, I was just looking for the companies that are "landmines". Sounds like most that are out there are fairly decent so if I make a few bulk stocking buys the statistics are in my favor on "good vs bad" models. I'm a big fan of Aircraft, hence the reason I posted in this category string.

Thanks for the feedback team.

 

[rookie]

I've found the Academy kits to be good value for money if you have a limted budget.

 

[04svt]

i have to agree with elm city on this one!!! all kit makers have some duds, but i think with a little scratch building any model can look good, it might not be as percise as the real vehicle, armor or aircraft ur building! but i have built some real duds but a little research and scratch building any dud can be made into a gem!!! ;D

 

[Neo]

I normaly keep away from revell monogram airfix italery

No offense, but that paints those manufacturers with a pretty broad stroke. True, they have put out some duds, but they have also put out some gems.

Same can be said for pretty much any company for that matter, Hasegawa, Fujimi, Dragon, and even the might Tamiya have put out some pretty crappy kits as well.

I aggre with that hence the question about scale and era. + the mention of cybermodeler for kit reviews!!

Normally dosent mean always!!! i just built a Revell B-25J in 1/48 cuz its the only show in town

I know the new 1/32 arado(the german seaplane) and the new red arow kits are really nice and quite cheap.

 

[the Baron]

Well most hasegawa and tamiya kits are great

What scale you building??
What era?

Makes a difference

Good site to check out reviews is cybermodeler.com

I normaly keep away from revell monogram airfix italery

Hope this helps

I'll come to the defense of Revell/Monogram. There are some very nice kits in the catalog, including some whose design goes back to the pre-merger days. The TBD-1, the B-17G, B-24J and the -J, the B-29 are all great kits, which can be built into decent models out of the box or superdetailed, if you'd like. If I may offer an example, here's a link to Jmac's thread here at SMA, building the B-17G kit: http://www.scalemodeladdict.com/index.php/topic,6357.msg103838/topicseen.html#new


And apart from the TBD, RM is the only game in town for those subjects. Same goes for the B-36, the Ju-52, He-111, and B-26. And I'd still build the old Monogram TBD and P-61, over the newer, more expensive offerings from Great Wall (though I do intend to build them). Same goes for the C-47 versus Trumpeter's kit.

Revell/Germany has some excellent kits in its catalog, as well.

As for Italeri, I haven't built but one of their aircraft kits, the Re 2011 in 1/72. It's not a bad kit, but it is short on interior detail. But with the canopy closed, you can't really see inside, anyway. However, they have a great range of diorama pieces, and their armor kits aren't bad.

Only saying that I wouldn't dismiss them out of hand. Heck, I even build old Aurora kits, they're an opportunity for scratchbuilding and detailing.

I'll second checking reviews, but I'd add Agape Modeling, Modeling Madness and Aircraft Resource Center to the list of sites to check. There are good modelers who visit those sites and have good insights. I'll add Hyperscale and FineScale to the mix, but caution you to take them with a grain of salt. Some of the guys there are like us Philly fans, who booed Santa Claus at an Eagles game once, and of whom it's said, if there's no game today, we'd go down to the airport and boo take-offs and landings. That is to say, I've seen some dumping on kits that wasn't really constructive criticism, and more like "That kit's crap, Manufacturer X always makes crap", which isn't really useful to anyone.

 

[the Baron]

I forgot to mention another kit, in support of my argument that Revell-Monogram is a brand to enjoy, and that's the recent PV-1 Ventura kit. Very much in the tradition of quality that Monogram achieved in its aircraft kits by the Seventies. I have it, and it is a great kit, right out of the box. It illustrates my point--I could build it without any modification, and have a nice model of a Ventura. Or I could go nuts and add more detail (which I plan to do--an Atlantic ASW Ventura, preparing for a mission, with the aft cabin door open and crew assembled on the tarmac).

 

[Chris S]

Regarding Revell ...Airfix ...Italeri All three of these manufacturers are producing some really nice kits now , Just look in some of the latest aircraft modelling mags ,Airfix especially is becoming a much more common sight in the pages again And I can tell you first hand ,the 'NEW Tool' kits are superb . Go have a look at a new Airfix 1/48 or even the new 1/72 ..Im sure you will be very suprised Airfix new 1/72nd 109 just came out ...its a gem !!!

Chris.

 

[Neo]

PLease guys read my second reply before blasting away

NORMALY DOSENT MEAN ALWAYS OR RUN AWAY

plus its a question of taste 80% of the kits out there can be built to a beautiful masterpiece the variation is the amount of work/AM/ScratchBuild you put in it !

As mentionned before it depend alot on scale /era/ how much of PITA factor you want

The Revell F-18 is ok but the Hasegawa and hobby boss are superb more expensive but superb including movable surfaces. I do have 2 revell hornets in the stash that im going to build cuz i got them both for 8$ compare to the last Hasegawa i got for 50$

 

[Elm City Hobbies]

PLease guys read my second reply before blasting away

NORMALY DOSENT MEAN ALWAYS OR RUN AWAY

plus its a question of taste 80% of the kits out there can be built to a beautiful masterpiece the variation is the amount of work/AM/ScratchBuild you put in it !

As mentionned before it depend alot on scale /era/ how much of PITA factor you want

The Revell F-18 is ok but the Hasegawa and hobby boss are superb more expensive but superb including movable surfaces. I do have 2 revell hornets in the stash that im going to build cuz i got them both for 8$ compare to the last Hasegawa i got for 50$

I don't think anyone is blasting away.

And while "Normally" doesn't mean all, it does mean that "Normally the kits are crap", or "more times than not" which just isn't true, don't want to scare people away from companies that otherwise could find awesome kits with.

Chris S is right, the new tooled Airfix kits are great. The 1/48 MkXII Seafire, and Mk XV Spitfire are just a few of the gems of kits they are putting out, as well as their 2 new 1/72 Sabres among others.

I grew up building mostly Revell aircraft, no they aren't Hasegawa for the most part, but I have built my fair share of dogs from Hasegawa and Tamiya as well.

I just think "normally" is a pretty strong statement to say about a kit manufacture. Hobbycraft? Sure, some of the Eastern European companies, sure, but Revell, Airfix, Italeri? Nothing wrong with most of their kits, but just like all of the other mainstream manufacturers, they all produce their own number of crappy kits.

 

[ShutterAce]

I build a lot of the older Monogram, Fujimi, and Hasegawa kits because I get them cheap and I'm not afraid of raised panel lines. That said I like my Tamiya kits too. I have a few newer Hasegawa kits but to be honest I don't think they are as easy to build as the Tamiya stuff nor are they worth the money they ask. I don't think the Italeri stuff is worth the money they want either. Most of their new stuff are repops anyway.

The truth is I build all different "qualities" of kits depending on how involved I want to get at the time. Sometimes it's fun to just slam together a simple old kit and put her on the shelf. That can be just as satisfying for me as that one that I've spent the last few months on. It's just on a different level.

Build what you like and like what you build.

 

[JMac]

I'm just waiting in the airport and wanted to add a point that I didn't see earlier, and that is that often you see some companies re-releasing kits based on molds produced from another manufacturer. My example is a X-35 kit, Tamiya box, Italeri contents. Happens quite often. I totally agree with the comments of ECH, Baron and Chris when they say not to just lump companies into good vs bad categories. Check out online reviews, or poll builders on this forum, I'm sure that in many cases answer can be found.

BTW some of the most enjoyable kits I've built came from "crappy" companies like PM models...

Just my two cents.

(thanks for reminding me Baron, that I have to get the B-17G going again)

JMac

 

[Dusky]

Starfix.

 

[the Baron]

Starfix.

OK, I think I can agree with that one I have 2 copies of their Zero in 1/72 in my stash, and yes, I can see where most guys today would not want to build this kit. For that matter, the old Aoshima 1/72 fighters fall into that category, too, but they're a product of their times. I bought some as practice kits, because they really require some effort to make anything other than a toy. But they also point up the caution that you probably can't dismiss a manufacturer based on one or some kits, because they might produce some others that are really good.

 

[redraider56]

This is one of those things you're gonna have to find out for yourself. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on manufacturers. Me? I buy from alot of the main ones such as Revell/Monogram, Hasegawa, Tamiya, Accurate Miniatures and most recently, AMT/Ertl. Every manufacturer has been bad ones and great ones. Revell may not be up to standards on all their kits, but most of them are vintage 1970s and 1980s and are stilll ok by todays standards. I love bombers and thats why I love Revell. I prefer Hasegawa and Tamiya for fighters but that isnt to say Revell makes bad fighters.....its just my preference. You really have to see for yourself what you like.

 

[Ferris928]

If you want, Revell.com has the instructions on PDF for most of their kits. So you could check them out before buying.