10 worst model kits of all time

Oh, there were a lot of worse tank models than that out in the early 1960s. The Japanese used to make really awful tank models before Tamiya came along. The Leopard tank was a big step up by those standards.

Pat

Puky? Well, that was just *asking* for trouble, wasn't it? ;-)

had:

I did a copy of that Colt! Sort-of close to 1:72 scale with some of the thickest plastic that I've ever seen in a model and decals that were an absolute joke (come to think of it, I had a bottle of Absolut after working on that kit, to study my nerves). It made assembling the old Faller kits seem pleasant.

The Su-7 kit gives you the option of blue or red anti-glare panels:

Pat

The PM models Ta-154 is my choice. The guys making the wing molds were not on speaking terms with the guys making the fuselage molds, and neither group had really taken a good look at the Ta-154.

I still think the Zvezda T-60 is up there for worse tank model kit in

1/35 scale followed by the Trumpeter M60A1/A3 kit. Lousy copy of the Tamiya kit with a copy of the Tamiya instructions. It even points out Tamiya part numbers to add to the hull that Trumpeter molded in place on the hull.

Since this started out by talking cars, here is my nomination for the worst car kit. The Monogram 1/8 Jaguar XKE. It was big, expensive, and after spending hours and hours building and detailing the engine and chassis, then doing a nice finish on the body, the two (body / chassis) would not go together. Not without the assistance of a stick of dynamite (:>

Eastern Express IL-96 & the Testors B-2. I did manage to finish the B-2, after using a tube of putty.

well that's a bit of friggin' good news. got one of those in the attic. maybe I'll just leave out the engine and just build a shell...

Craig

Maybe, leave it in the box and sell it to some poor unsuspecting Jag lover. I threw the whole thing in the trash. That was probably 25 or

30 years ago. If I had to do it all over again. I would have just displayed the chassis / engine as I had painted and detailed it and not tried to force fit it together with the interior and body. (:>

I had a lot of fun building mine, but it was for a group build called "49 Schneider". The premise was what if the floatplane races were held after the war. I built my Czech Ta154 Moskito on floats... I just took it out in the sun to take a picture of it.. here:

My other entry was Israeli... a Bearcat on floats.

So, yes the PM Moskito is a POS, but it sure was excellent fodder for this hot rod kind of project! (price was right too)

---- Stephen

I think a lot of this comes down to who built which kits and when, and how much work you really wanted to put into the model. '

I built the "Big Jag" back in the 1960s when it first came out - I think it was a birthday present from my grandmother -- and had zero problems until it rolled off my dresser a year or so later. Not crash resistant.

Also having recently shown you can get a decent model out of an ancient kit (the Hawk/Testors F2H Banshee) I think it's not really fair to go after the 1950s kits. Ditto for Armor, as the ancient (pre Tamiya "Military Miniatures" series which began in 1969) it's also not fair.

Thinking of modern armor kits, would have to list the following in no particular order:

Tamiya M3 Lee/Grant -- just plain awful research Tamiya M551 Sheridan -- out of scale and not even close to the subject (the Academy one shows somebody at least LOOKED at a real Sheridan) Italeri M923/M925 Series 5 ton truck kits -- again, bogus details and a lot of bad plastic in one box. DML T-72 series kits -- Magic 140mm gun stuffed in a misshapen turret and a too-short hull with reversed glacis angles Tamiya T-72M1 -- they got to SEE a T-72 which DML did not and still screwed it up Don Express KV-1 Model 1940/41 - the closest thing to a Revell Sherman in the last 15 years, looks like a KV but has not a single accurate feature on it AER T-18/MS-1 -- alas, only game in town and one which needs a LOT of TLC; tracks will not fit as it comes out of the box Tauro Fiat 2000 -- ditto, but it is at least better molded SKIF T-55 -- great idea, right proportions and then they make it a "kiddie" model with big slots and crappy details DML Nashorn (Kit 6008) -- greatest kit I ever saw in the box and nearly impossible to build (also worst review I ever wrote as did not indicated it was a box rattler!)

Cookie Sewell

I have one of those; I've seen a lot worse than that over the years. Take a look at the size of the seats on the Revell of Germany 1/72 Ar-240 sometime. The aircraft was apparently crewed by Hobbits, or the model is really in HO scale. Actually, I think the PM Ta-183 is worse than the Ta-154.

Pat

Don't forget the AMT/ERTL 1/35 T-72 kit; length and link tracks are great...unless you mold them out of almost unglueable polyethylene.

Pat

That one really did suck; they should have told you to glue all three top and bottom wing sections together first, let them dry, the join them as two big pieces. Better would to have used a bigger box and mold the whole works as two big pieces - top and bottom wing.

Pat

I'm surprised that nobody has mentioned the very old MiG-17 kit (Aurora?) that was molded in pea soup-green back in the mid-Fifties. It bore about the same relationship to a MiG-17 as the SPAD does to a B-2.

I was stunned a year or so ago when I walked into a hobby shop here in northeast Ohio and the proprietor had one assembled, but not painted, on his counter. I tried to purchase it, but he wouldn't part with it.

Another one that no one seems to have considered is the old (first) model out of the Stealth. I've forgotten who put it out (Testor's?), but it closely resembled something molded out of chocolate and left out in the sun for a day or two - absolutely no relationship to the real thing when it ultimately went public.

Andy

Nice paint job! Those "rotating" props bring back memories of old MPC kits. Should have had an Israeli S-199 of floats. There might actually been a float version of the P-38 if the war had been fought a little differently:

very attractive aircraft if it had been built.

Pat

Comrade! The little green Mig:

though it never really existed, it was still a better kit than the red Me-109..in that case they had tons of detail on a real aircraft they could have consulted, but didn't. I wish I could find a photo of that assembled straight from the box so everyone could look on the pure horror of it. Meanwhile, back at models of non-existent Soviet aircraft, Aurora strikes again: what it ends up being advertised next to on that page. Here's where it came from: of this interesting article: those complaining about modern tank model quality; it's time to remember Aurora's tank kits: 've had most of these kits; the reviewer is being very kind to them...by today's standards, detail level would be unacceptable on a garage kit.