Well folks,after mentioning how I got screwed on some "factory sealed" kits that weren't,the people involved dared to look me up and write me a nasty letter.As I told them,I WILL tell my online friends about bad experiences just as well as good ones,and I will now NEVER buy from them again.
used kit dealers
Oct 23, 2004
35 Replies
sure are a lot of tinshit keyboard cowards out there. ignore the threats, eye...
Reminds me of the time that I did a magazine review of some of the then new Veeday kits.
Pluses and minuses were outlined with an end suggestion to get them anyhow to support a new guy in the market.
He replied with a threat to sue me if I ever mentioned his product in print again.
The quality of his entire line speaks for itself (Veeday, Merlin, Valhalla).
Why is it that a scoundrel, when exposed, screams louder than the innocent man falsley accused?
Tom
Merlin Kits! So called because you have to be a wizard to build one!! :-)
Bill Shuey
I have never owned a Merlin kit.No way with that rep will I pay ebay prices.I know the wonders of starfix only because a local dollar store had them in stock once.Said store also relocated (within the same mall) and dropped half it's stock.Maybe it's a curse?
I'm still looking for two Merlin TSR.2s, if anyone cares to help. Kim M
Buy one Airfix Halifax and microwave it on high for two minutes. You will now be closer to getting 2 buildable TSR.2s than by using the Merlin products.
Mark Schynert
local dollar store had them in stock...."
I'm sending a few Starfix kits to a guy becuse he's never had the "pleasure". I have a Merlin F4-J Fury, ya want it? It's not worth the postage required, but it's yours for the asking; maybe you can use a good laugh..
When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. --Leonardo Da Vinci EAA # 729686 delete the word spam from email addy
Could it be any worse than a Meikraft R.A.F. BE-2? That bad boy was impossible!
-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger
I sincerely hope that there is NOTHING worse than this Merlin 'kit'. The only thing I could think of to be less of a kit would be two solid blocks of styrene (one white, one clear) and a knife. Although the parts are indeed styrene, they truly appear to be poured, not molded, they're that bad. They're basically solid chunks in the general shape of fuselage halves, with maybe a
1/4" hollowed area in each half for a cockpit. Wings and tail are solid, wheels and struts are single blobs of white metal, and the canopy, if you can really call it that in good conscience, is so milky it looks like white and clear styrene were pumped in at the same time. I hope nothing gets worse than this!When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long to return. --Leonardo Da Vinci EAA # 729686 delete the word spam from email addy
What was considered typical Meikraft?I've only had the pleasure with their Pfalz,and once I cleaned up the pieces and sanded the rough surface on the
*orange* sprue it went together great.I consider it one of my best biplanes.
I have no idea. I completed their Douglas Skystreak and it went together well enough. After the BE2, I called it quits (actually somewhere about 1/2 completed - I couldn't get the upper wing to allign properly to save my life). I still have a Hansa W.29 (IIRC - WWI mono-floatplane) that will probably NEVER get built. This guy was too hot-and-cold, it seems. I've done other garage kits, like
12-Squared and they came out anywhere from nice to little gems.-- John The history of things that didn't happen has never been written. . - - - Henry Kissinger
Thanks for the Fury offer, I think I have one around- Kim M
I don't remember the solid fuselage but the rest of the description sounds familiar. OTOH, the decals were very good. I used them on an Emhar kit. I disposed of the Merlin carcass on E-bay and was pleasantly surprised someone would buy it, decalless and all.
Bill Banaszak, MFE
I have his F6U Pirate and am in the process of fixing some of the mistakes I made in the first attempt. Some of his kits were rough, some pretty nice. It all depended, I guess.
Bill Banaszak, MFE
That was the best of the earlier kits.
That was middle of the road for his later kits.
The D-558.1 was OK, but the undercarriage bays were a complete wash, totally out of place.
His very last attempts were great. I thnk every one of the folks who got a Spad XIII, for example, really liked it. By then, however, he had ripped off so many people that no matter what he did it and no matter how good it was, it wouldn't sell.
My favorite Meikraft kit was the Caproni Ca.3. Typical of John's product, it contaned so much stuff that the modeler was engulfed wth it. He just couldn't understand KISS no matter how many times I tried to beat it into him.
BTW, rarest Meikraft kit. Any guesses?
Tom
L4? Something I DON'T have? tia,
The Keeper (of too much crap!)
Right country, but no.
BTW, KP's L-4 and L-4 on floats are great. Meikraft's offering is fair.
Tom
Yeah, and for peanuts like me. Another guess: Vindicator Beers,
The Keeper (of too much crap!)
Probably something I sold already.
Bill Banaszak, MFE
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