Italeri = poor quality

so I purchased the Italeri Mercedes Dakar G-wagon kit today for an astonishing $47 ....before hand I had never heard of this brand before, nor have I had any experience with their kits, but for how much it costs, I expected the utmost precision and quality....I expected quality rivaling Tamiya's if not tromping it.

Needless to say, I am very dissappointed and somewhat angry even.

the entire kit has such an awful quality about it. firstly, opening the box, I was delighted (sarcasm) to discover a few parts that were broken, like the bullbar had broken off one of it's upper support sticks, and one of the sway bar link mounts on the frame rail, were snapped. And to find only 1 parts tree in a bag, and why are most of the seams on the back doors open instead of molded in like the rest of the body?

and that was BEFORE I had even started to build it. The parts trees were absolutely shoddy, lots of the parts are supported at un- necessary points making them difficult to get off without pliers and then alot (if not ALL) parts fit so horribly, the driveshafts don't even contact the transfer case, the fuel tank and exhaust pipe interfeared (sp?) with each other so badly, I could only put one of them on (chose to keep the exhaust pipe) as they would not fit with each other at all. The frame rails are tweaked somehow and one of the center bars won't even stay together as tension keeps pulling it apart....also making it hard to set onto the car chassis.

the Revell and Tamiya kits I had built the week before went together flawlessly and look brilliant, can't say that at all for this Italeri model.

not even sure I want to continue with it, but needless to say, this is one mistake I will not make again, no matter how cool of car one of their shoddy kits are replicating, and I don't recommend them to anyone.

Reply to
trw_rox
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Some of their new kits are pretty good. Certainly their packaging could be improved, but so could so other companies.

Reply to
Blackbird

We don't call them "sh-Italeri" for nuthin'.

...though in truth, their kits are a real...er...crap-shoot. Unless you can examine the kit in the box, or read a very extensive pictorial review before you buy, you're likely to get crapped on.

One or two of their 1/48 aircraft subjects are actually pretty nice...but personally, I don't/won't touch one again ever. It's one of my rules...

Reply to
Rufus

a lot of the 1/72 aircraft are overly complex and fiddly. i use a lot of them to detail other kits. motors and guns from a ju52, maybe antenna, spruced up an airfix that is basically right for dimensions. they are in the i-have-to-take-this-to-get-kits-i want categoty.

Reply to
someone

I'm not familiar with this kit but Italeri frequently markets pressings of kits by other manufacturers. (and other ones of their appear in other boxes as well).

That being said, you don't really know what you're getting from an "Italeri" kit since it may very well be an old Supermodel, ESCI or other kit. Most of the newer Italeri stuff is really quite excellent.

In short, don't trash everything about a company based on one bad experience. And secondly, don't buy a kit without taking a look at it out of its box first. It's easy enough to do at a reputable store; and if the store has a policy about not opening the shrinkwrap, so be it.... buy elsewhere.

---Stephen Tontoni

Reply to
Stephen Tontoni

"Stephen Tontoni" schreef in bericht news: snipped-for-privacy@comcast.dca.giganews.com...

They have some good subjects.I like there F4U Corsair line.They got a French F4U-7 .No one of the "great"Japanese manfactures got it.They mostly play on save by there F-4's,F-14's ,F-16 's etc. etc.So,don't let Italeri dawn.!!!!!

Reg. Han

Reply to
han krol

That kit is a re-pop of the old ESCI kit, and not typical of the whole of the Italeri range. Revell also re-issue some of those moulds (like the Mk2 Escort), and if you'd got one of those you might have had the same feelings about them. It's best to judge each kit on the history of that particular kit, not assume everything by the same manufacturer is the same. For instance, the Italeri Ferrari Daytona looks fine (admittedly that's only in the box, I haven't built it yet). It is a slightly different matter here in Europe though, where Italeri kits are usually appreciably cheaper than their Revell equivalents (even in cases like the 1/72 Merlin where the moulds are shared between the two companies!), and I wouldn't pay a premium for them over Revell (let alone Tamiya/Hasegawa) - however for some models, they're the only game in town.

Reply to
Tim Vincent

Italeri doesn't fall together like Tamiya,this is true,and while they can be fiddly,I have never failed to finish one,and they usually look pretty good.It's called modeling...

Reply to
eyeball

Sound like you had a bit of bad luck there. Like all brands, some of their offerings are new, and quite nice actually, and some are just plain old junk. As others have pointed out, make sure you see the kit, not just the box, before you buy.

Rob

Reply to
Rob van Riel

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