Poll--name the worst kit ever

[Einsamer_Wolf]

Hey pups,

I have been wondering what others would nominate as the worst model kit. I would probably say the Academy Type IX el garbage. The prop gear is all wrong. Pretty much everything would have to be redone except the hull:

http://www.uboat.net/forums/read.php?14,56675,56820

(beware of this review giving a high recommendation: http://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/kits/ ... 1442.shtml

Other (dis)honorable mentions would be:

Tamiya Hanomag 251 1 in 1/35 scale
The Amati U-boat. For a very skilled modeler, the kit is a reasonable basis for improvement (I suppose) but given the cost, and when juxtaposed with the Revell 1/72 series of kits, it is a real dog. Not nearly as bad the Academy kit. But when you pay the price of a five star meal and receive something not much more palatable than MacDonald's, well. . ..
I am particularly interested in nominations from the newest generation of kits. From what I gather some otherwise nice Trumpy ship kits have some glaring errors, as do a couple of DML kits.
What kits do other contributors condemn as the worst ever?

[David W]

The old Esci 1/72 M13/40 was a real "dog" & the Semovente 75/18 likewise. They get my vote.

[Jurrie]

Worst in the sense of accuracy or to build? In the last category, I've build some Airfix (not the latest releases( and Zvezda kits...they are baaaaaaaaaaaaad . Also build a Masterbox Panzer I kit, also very bad...huge gaps etc!

Greetz,

Jurrie

[David W]

I always assumed the worst to build/quality of manufacture. But unrealism is an issue as well.

[Ingsoc75]

I always assumed the worst to build/quality of manufacture. But unrealism is an issue as well.

I remember 20+ years ago when I started doing 1:35th scale stuff, the model kits (especially the figures) were awful in terms of manufacturing quality. Back then, Verlinden was one of the few manufactures that had higher quality and his stuff was $$$.

I bought a Dragon 1:35th scale Panther model kit about a year ago (my first in many years) and I was amazed at how much the quality has increased! Of course the prices and complexity are higher as well.

[Trackhead M2]

Dear EW,
The worst kits came from Aurora Models. Their 1/32 B-25 consisted of 15 parts and no air crew figures. Their X-15 Rocket plane was 8 parts and no pilot figure. Their 1/48 scale Armor wasn't much better, the infantry figures that came with them looked like they were all carrying Elmer Fudd's shotgun.
Strike Swiftly,
TH-M2

[Galahad]

--The Aurora kit of the USS Halford. Supposedly it was a Fletcher class DD, one of the ones where they replaced the #3 5 inch turret with a catapult for launching a Kingfisher float plane. Which idea didn't pan out. Anyway, I've yet to figure out what ship it actually represented. It wasn't a Fletcher, due to different superstructure and due to having four twin 5 inch turrets. Neither was it a Gearing or an Alan M. Sumner; they had the twin turrets, but none of them ever carried a floatplane.

--Not to mention, the detail was awful, even for 1954.

[flatus antiquatus]

Revell's F-94 Starfire. The scale is not 1/72, it is actually 1/53 (???) The fuselage and wings have raised lines in the shape of the decals, (national star and bar, lines, and letters that spell 'starfire'). Why they did this, (because it comes with decals), I don't understand. True, the decals are pretty wretched, but I can't imagine anyone handpainting the markings in those lines. So it means an incredible amount of sanding and rescribing. The detail and fit thoughout is crude and poor. There is no jet fan or exhaust detail and looking up the tailpipe, you can see past the cockpit into the nose. Cockpit and two pilot figures are very crude and my example came with the wrong canopy, (from some other aircraft--and it was broken, to boot!) Worst kit ever! I used the parts to practice painting techniques to try out ideas for a bare metal finish.