It’s been decades since I’ve built a kit. But I remember the most satisfying builds were of very basic, and in some cases bad kits. I felt more free to scratch build and modify them, and had a lot more fun in the process.
Useful tip for those doing the Airfix Churchill, the wheels are perfectly positioned on the sprue itself, simply glue them to the chassis, snip them off and you're done.
Yes, I remember my first model. It was an Airfix 1/72 Universal Carrier. I turned it into a rubbery glue glob. It came in a clear plastic bag and cost 99 cents. It took a few tries to come out with something decent-looking. There is nothing wrong with these old kits.
@@JL-mv8rc I remember that kit. In the early 1970s, it came with the 6 pounder anti-tank gun. It wasn't a difficult kit, unlike the wheels on the Churchill tank. The tracks and suspension were one-piece mouldings for each side.
Remember, most of these kits are old - as in 50-55 years old. The Academy Mirage is the 1960s Fujimi 1/50 kit. Revell's Stuka and Stearman date back to the 60s and early 70s. The PZL is a reissue of the old Mikro kit from Communist Era Poland. I wouldn't assume that any of these kits would be 2021 quality.
Yeah that's what pretty much determines the quality of a kit. The age lmao. I mean there are exceptions, especially like Monograms 1/48 P-400/P-39, it was a true joy to build despite being like 50 tears old
@@arghons.hobby.workshop old kits can still be bad kits, especially when you compare them to kits of the same age. Their age doesn't make them exempt from the purpose of review, especially if a manufacturer is still selling them today
@@ModelMinutes But this is not a compare video. Make same planes from another vintage kits and make review and compare. Scale models from pre 1990 always will be worse than other.
I built the Churchill when I was a teenager and, yes, it was quite a challenge in places! The Tornado also looks familiar. I think I built it too, but it was not sold as an Academy kit. I later built a Revell one in the same scale and wow, what a difference!
OMG , I remember that Churchill kit from when I was a kid (many , many years ago) , it was a truly painful experience . I found that some of my best finished work was from very bad kits . I found that IF I persevered with a bad kit to completion , I tended to go to town on it. Sometimes I think it would have been easier just to scratch build the bloody thing.
My worst kits of 2020 were: 3. Tashigrushka 1/72 Wellington 1.c. This is a Frog kit that never made it to sale in the UK and the tooling was apparently never finished. The wings both cracked because I applied a small amount of pressure when glueing them together (the plastic was really that awful), the undercarriage had shattered apart, no decals were supplied and the clear parts were the worst I'veever seen (have the texture of sandpaper). I did actually enjoy the build though. 2. Roden 1/72 He111c. Many people say this is the worst kit ever sold. No parts fit and much of the interior/ wheel bays had to be cut or left out. It took a long time to construct but I actually enjoyed it and found a sense of achievement when it was finished. Sadly the primer didn't apply properly (my fault) and it's just been sat in the box for a few months so close to being finished. 1. Airfix B5N2: I just found this kit incredibly boring to build and the decals silvered horribly (uncommon for a newer airfix kit). It's rare that I don't enjoy the build of a kit but this was one.
I remember building the academy mirage back in the 90's, i had so much fun building their f14, f15, apache in 1/72 scale..and i decided to buy the mirage with 1/48 scale thinking it would be much better and much more detail as it is bigger..oh i've never been so wrong..i was confuse why this bigger scaled kit has less number of parts and much less detail..i remember the tyres in the landing gear was just a round plastic with a hole, and no details like the wheels, nut, etc..just plain round plastic..
Hey, Polish viewer here. I'm not surprised that PZL37 made it to the top. It's a rebox of ZTS Plastyk (Other Polish brand making cheap and low quality models) PZL37 from 80's. And here's my protip - if you want to experience worst possible 1/72 aircraft model ever, consider getting RWD-14B Czapla from Plastyk (serial number 002). It costs as much as 3 GBP. You'll probably give up on building it and throw it away! :D
@@ModelMinutes You should be able to find it online, it's very cheap but given it's sold pretty much only in Poland, shipping would be rather expensive :)
Good review. I notice the bad kits tend to be 1/72 and smaller, which is understandable. When you start getting that small, it's really hard to get good detailing and fit with complex shapes.
Despite your headaches with these kits, you did a great job on all of them. Proving that you can sometimes make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. Most (as its been pointed out) are of vintage tooling. That isn't always a bad thing, it gives one a chance to use as a test bed for scratch building, experimenting with painting & weathering techniques, learning how to accurately scribe or rescribing panel lines etc. But if one wants super detail without the challenge of trying to master new skills ; its best to avoid them.............especially the Mister craft 1/72 scale PZL 37!
My worst was Revell Concorde in 1:144 scale. Flash was everywhere, some of the parts damaged, so I had to improvise to make it look ok. I was really dissapointed, because I really wanted that kit.
Another great video! My worst kit of the year is Italeri’s JU88 A4 in 1/72 scale. Yes it’s almost considered a vintage kit but italeri markets it as “new” where all they have done is change the decals
Having just started this hobby, the first model I built was the Airfix 1/72 Tiger 1 which came in the Classic Conflict combo set with a Sherman Firefly. A great introduction to modelling for a beginner like me. It went together like a dream, the instructions were clear and concise, and, little did I know at the time, the quality of the parts was fantastic. Virtually no flash, and took no modification to fit together perfectly. The next kit I built was a whole other story. It was the Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-10, that, as it turns out, is just a re-box of an older ICM kit, even still having the ICM logo on the sprues. This thing fought me every step of the way. The instructions were very vague, and I had to either guess or use external references for some parts. The parts themselves were very rough, with poor definition of edges, a lot of flash, and almost every single part required modification to fit together nicely. The lower wings alone took almost an hour of trimming and checking to get them level with the fuselage. 3 out of the 4 sets of wing struts snapped when getting them off the sprue, even while being extra careful, and there are still some unsightly gaps which I'm going to have to fill in before painting. Overall this kit is not what I would call beginner friendly. Despite all of this, there was an odd satisfaction I got from finally getting it all together to a somewhat acceptable standard considering how hard I had to work at it to get to that point. It taught me a lot that an easier kit might not teach me, and doing this kit after completing the very nice Tiger kit really highlighted the difference in a well designed kit vs a less refined one. No doubt I'll come across other difficult kits in the future and because of this I think I'll be better prepared for them. In the end I think I got it to look pretty decent, and it should look great after painting which I'm going to do in the next few days. Thankfully the kit came with 2 planes so hopefully I'll be able to built the second one to a higher standard using the lessons learned in the first!
a little heads up on the airfix Churchill kit, when the wheels are still on the sprue, they should match up to the axles they go on, meaning you should be able to fit them on in one go whilst they are still on the sprue, then cut them free. as I have an airfix Churchill in my stash, when I build it I will be able to confirm (or deny!) if this is right!
Hi Matt, this PZL-37 is now about 40 years old... check the salemates for it since the forms were created in about 70's... If you want the plane depicted perfectly, check the newest IBG product - no comparison, old one should fly to the bin ;)
Worst kit I've worked on is the 1/48 Revell Huey Hog UH-1D -- not only is it not a UH-1D (short body of the older choppers instead of the stretched D version), the details are atrocious, the molding job is atrocious and full of flash and seam lines, the plastic itself is thin and atrocious, many parts like the motor didn't fill the mold all the way when they cast it, the clear parts are physically too small to fill the spaces in the main body, etc. Seriously, this thing has no redeeming qualities. I feel bad for anyone who paid the $20+ retail for this turd -- mine was $5 on clearance, and I overpaid.
I estimate I built that Airfix Churchill tank about 47 yrs ago. I seem to remember those little wheels did not positively locate very well and could set after gluing at all angles. Probably thought nothing of it at the time. Being a CNC machinist now I can see how much easier it must be to create precision dies with very fine detail.
Your work on each model is superb. The only one of those pictured, that I have built, is the Churchill. I have built several. The boogie wheels are a nightmare. Bad instructions are especially commonplace with the models coming from the old Soviet block countries. The old Airfix Bofors gun and tractor was frustrating because of poor diagrams and extra unmentioned parts.
I’m not familiar with the last kit, but the other 4 are all old tool, with the Stearman and Churchill going back to before 1965! I bought the Revell Stuka sometime around 1978, and even then, never bothered to finish it because it wasn’t worth the trouble. The Mirage and Tornado are not Academy toolings... they would do well to stop issuing them!
My 5 best models built this year: 1. 1/72 old tool Hasegawa F-14A Tomcat: imgur.com/gallery/Z9W2Y5n 2. 1/200 Hasegawa Space Shuttle Orbiter + Hubble Space Telescope: imgur.com/gallery/TMlxH8r 3. 1/32 Revell 1969 Corvette C3 Stingray: imgur.com/gallery/zK1QQDh 4. 1/96 Revell Apollo 11 CSM+LM: imgur.com/gallery/6Hpr67Z 5. 1/72 Mister Craft Saab Draken (pure fantasy "US Navy Draken" due to unusable kit decals): imgur.com/gallery/ragTy04 It also is the list of my 5 worst model kits in reverse, as I only managed to complete these 5. Could be said that I had a bit of a retro year, youngest of these being 1985 tooling. But I started working on amazing 1/72 Dragon Gemini Spacecraft with interior and spacewalker. Plan to continue it this spring.
That Revell Stuka was actually my very first kit i was given some 20 years ago. But for me, the worst kit I built in 2020 was Airfix's 1/72 Mosquito FB.VI/NF.II which was a massive shame for me because i love mossies and this was the first one i've ever built myself. Thankfully i have both Tamiya 1/48 scale kits which i'm saving for a later date
Academy, Itilari, Trumpeter, Eduard {tan plastic}, Special Hobby, Vintage Airframes, I just stay away from. I like a little work, BUT since I do pay for my kits, I expect quality, not frustration, relaxation, not cursing until my face turns red. Great stuff!
Hey happy new year Matt, my worst models are probably a churchill crocodile in 76 scale and a panzer 3 tank from I don't remember the manufacturer, and probably the Tamiya 1/72 mosquito, I thought it needed some filler and not such a great fit, the best thing was the cockpit, great detail and good fit, other than that I didn't enjoyed it that much.
You shouldn't stop modelling for this reason. You just need to stop buying knowingly bad kits. There are only a few Airfix kits that worth even a try. But out there a bunch of at least decent kits. I really don't understand why people stuck in one or two manufacturers. Especially if that manufacturer is Airfix for example. Most of their kits are rudimentary at best. Even Revell is able to step forward, but they have a crapheap of ancient, primitive kits.
I think when a model kit showing it its age is not a bad thing, there are lot of modellers who likes old school kits (like me). But i would like see on the boxart the word: "old tooling". By the way nice video!
I built an 1/48 Italierie Alphajet in 2020 that was disappointing. I have not as much experience as many of you here, I built models when I was in school, stopped for 8 years while at university, and now continued. The plastics of the Alphajet did not fit together well, particularly the cockpit section and the body parts, they were not angled right and struggled to fit fixed in place. When I was in school I have found that Italierie was in general better quality than Academy which always had some gaps in the body of the model and difficult decals. But I was surprised because I have also built an Academy 1/48 F-86F which was a really good model, waaay better than the Italierie Alphajet, even the decals were very cooperative and not as shiny as the ones from the Alphajet, but then again the Alphajet was a matt finish and the Sabre was a metallic finish. Subscribed
Your experience with the railway carriage not having correct instructions - The same goes for the Revell 1:72 Tiger II Ausf. B (03129). The instructions for the tracks is apparently wrong. I ended up wrecking this kit because once I got so far with the tracks, when I tried to dismantle them, wheels got pulled off.
Well,the worst kit I have built is not from this year but it is good to know about it,1/72 Italeri (MPM) Wellington Mk.X . Fitting issues,landing gear problems,no pins for horizontal stabilizers or any kind of marks where to put it,tail turret too large to fit. At the end it looks OK,but I would go for Airfix Wellington if I could choose and Special Hobby - 1/72 Barracuda Mk.II. Avoid this two. Nice video and happy new year from Croatia!!
@@johnholt9399 not only. Most Mistercraft kits are repacks of old Polish kits, by ZTS Plastyk, Intech etc. Some of those models were bad, others were decent but ruined by Mistercrafts low quality standards. This PZL-37 is an really old model made by ZTS. It was really good when it first appeared in the market, especially for a kit from a communist country, but it didn't age well -fortunately IBG makes a much better Łoś now. As fit issues go, I had built quite a few of those kits as a kid and don't recall any problems, I'm guessing the molds are really old now and that's why the fit sucks.
Having encountered one of the ZTS kits myself; I'd go as far as to say it was awful even when new. The example I have would definitely be my submission for worst kit of all time. The ex-Frog kits they own are much more managable; though washing off the release agent is still a pain; and the decals provided are terrible.
I used to play a wonderful game called 'spot where the old tools have turned up now', particularly with Merit and Aurora models. Sadly the best Aurora ones, which I'd most like to get again at reasonable prices, were all lost when the tools were destroyed in a train crash. Actually, I'm afraid I've given up buying plastic kits now - I feel they are just far, far too expensive to justify buying. Sorry, Airfix, Revell, et al...........
Totally agree on the Churchil. Getting those outer covers over the tracks and not fitting to the inners leaves gaps and the whole assy just doesnt sit vertically against chassis box.
I bought a 1/72 Su-27 from Italeri in 2020 as my local hobby store had on discount for just 10€. The fit was ok, but the "details" are horrendous... the molds are from 1990, i guess raised panel lines where still a thing back then^^ And i dont even want to talk about the cockpit... i got so frustrated about the look of it i just spraypainted the whole thing in gold. So now i have a golden Su-27:)
Worst I did was the reissue of the old AMT Romulan Bird-of-Prey from Star Trek TOS. Bad fit, devoid of detail and innacurate in places. I can forgive the makers that, given the kits vintage and lack of references they had to work with. Just grainy stills from the show. In all honesty, I had a lot of fun making the corrections and very proud of it. No, the worst part of the build were the decals. Beautifully printed but impossible to work with. Thin, fragile, stiff, refused to conform to curves without shattering and no setting solutions worked with them. I was forced to buy an aftermarket sheet, which after p&p from the States and getting shafted by import duty and handling fees ended up costing me more than the kit!
@@ModelMinutes they can be sometimes. We're quite well served for aircraft and armour extras here in the UK, but any SF aftermarket is non-existant. The US is the only place you can get the sheets from. I'm dreading the cost of replacing the sheets in my other Trek kits if that's anything to go by. Honestly, the worst decals I have ever worked with.
The best aircraft kits were the Keilcraft boxes of balsa wood panels printed with the formers and fuselage shapes that I then had to cut out with a surgical scalpel. These planes, Hurricane, Spitfire, MB109, Fokke-Wulf 190, were all great fling models giving endless hours of satisfying interest. Of course that was in the early 1950s and children now aren't allowed to play with balsa cement, let alone surgical scalpels.
The pzl is pretty bad. I mean mistercraft is Notorious for this type of kits. Here in Poland we use to buy them for kids so they can play around with a cheap kit. Generations of modelers grew up with this kit in Poland. If you would like to build a nice pzl Loś in 1/72 then get yourself the IBG kit. It’s a new tooling, very nice details, very nice fit you even get a small pe sheet. only thing I would recommend to get is a mask set.
@@ModelMinutes 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 definitely recommending. I’ve build two of them. They have all the polish aircraft from 1939 in 1/72. All more or less new tooling (maybe 2-3 yrs old) Ad if you are looking for more quality kits then I recommend to check out arms hobby kits, they have a nice range in 1/72 not only polish aircraft. They have a kick ass hurricane and a mind blowing hellcat. And now they start to get Expand there range by releasing two 1/48 kits. They have, like Eduard, the option of getting a bundle including pe parts and masks or just the kit with decals or just the overtrees
the worst kit I've build would be a junkers volksjäger from unicraft at 1/72 scale ,the best one ,a what if serbian tiger weserhütte using trumpeter E-75 1/35 scale kit(+it appeared in the truck & tank magazine)
@@ModelMinutes the trumpeter what if was verry easy to build(I didn't had to put the suspension ,I was inspired by this panzer IV with a russian gun) but the volksjäger ,my god the resin was breaking all the time ,tons of sanding and tons of stuff to scratch too since no cockpit is included in the kit
You still built them all brilliantly. I am working on the black pearl revell 1.72. I must say wow it's been a tough one as I am 41 and not built anything since I was 12 and at best it was just 1.22 planes and cars. So this it a huge topic for me and I and now working on the string rope for the sails my gawd it's not one for the inpatient lol. But I love doing it and getting there with not hitches.
I was at school when the Churchill came out, I’m 69 now, and it was terrible then. As a grass roots model which had the potential to attract youngsters to the hobby it made a really bad impression. I’m surprised manufacturers don’t regularly retool as a matter of course. Trying to milk old molds for the last farthing is a contemptuous way of treating ones customers, existing and potential.
Personally I built the kit in the '90's, with minimal to no difficulty. (despite having ill suited tools at the time) It's not one of the 76th range's best examples; but is better IMO than the Tiger I & Panther kits. Would certainly welcome a retool though; something commonly seen in Gunpla ranges.
Yep, I just finished the old crusty Airfix 1/72 scale F4U-1D. It makes the ancient Hawk Corsair look positively Tamiyaesque, ignoring the lack of cockpit at all.
Worst kit of the year was one I built two days ago. Revells 1/72 Focke Wulf Fw-190 F-8. The canopys parts didnt fit well to the kit and when glued to places left a small gap between the two parts. There was also a gap between the fuselage and the top part of the wings wish I covered up with putty. Other than that the kit was alright to build maybe some small improvements could be done to it by Revell.
My experiance was mixed. Good: *Matilda* & *WWI MK.1 Male* Moderate: *Churchill* Bad: *Tiger I* & *Scimitar* The only really bad one IMO though is the Leopard 1, which Airfix themselves retired from sale back in the '80's. (the accuracy & detail was strangely wide off the mark even when new)
@@jimtaylor294 it has been a pleasure to assemble the 1/76 Matilda II, and 30 years later it is still on my shelf. The Chieftain wasn't bad either. I was very disappointed with the Tiger I and also with the Sherman Mk.I 😩
@@jerrymail I can imagine. Tends to be the case that the more roadwheels a kit in the range has, the more difficult the build will be. It's rather a pity IMO that Airfix's never done a repackage deal with Fujimi with 76th kits, similar to their more recent agreement with Academy & Trumpeter on 35th kits. Could've boosted the size of the range and raised interest in new tool kits therein.
Honestly I don't think Mistercraft kits are worth it, despite the low price the kits are just bad. My first model was a mister craft and the fit was horrible,the decals ripped and the instructions were also bad. I wouldn't recommend a Mr Craft model especially not for beginners
The worst company for me for really bad fitting parts is Airfix, or rather the old Airfix before it was taken over. However I have not tried the newer Airfix kits, mainly because of the old kits were terrible.
@@ModelMinutes I thank you for the recommendation however these days my old hands cannot do anything smaller than 1/48 scale, and there's the "old" eyes :)
@@Hichatsu most of the new 1/48 Airfix kits come highly recommended, I’ve only built the spitfire XIV in that scale and it had fit issues around the wing roots though
@@ModelMinutes I might try that Spitfire then, see if they have Improved much, my last Airfix Kit I bought was the 1/72 RAF Sea King rescue helicopter in the 80`s lol :)
On my "worst kits" list are ALL the kits by Starfix of Israel. Their BF-109 and Spitfires labeled as 1/48 scale but are closer to 1/60. Odd ball scale, wrong proportions, the "Spitfire Mk. 22" is actually their Mk. IX kit with five blade prop, so many detail problems. Also on my list is ICM's 1/72 SB-2M Russian bomber. I literally couldn't assemble it, even with 50+ years modeling experience. Like the Starfix kits, it went into the trash. I normally like ICM kits. I am not a "rivet counter", and enjoy building the old Aurora, Lindberg, Hawk, etc. kits of my youth in the 1960s/1970s, as well as better detailed kits. Most kits have pros and cons, but those on my "worst" list are stinkers.
I built that Airfix Churchill 30+ years ago. It was OK, but I preferred the Matchbox one with the bridge- layer thing. Very recently I bought the Tamiya 1/35 Churchill. I am going to build a "bikini tank- wash" diorama, featuring loads of women (Masterbox Pin- up); largely minus the bikinis.
it was meant to be the background for the numbers - if you watch the sister video to this one where i look at the best model kits I build in 2020 you should see it in that one
Worst kit I ever had was a Hobbycraft Avro Arrow 1:72 the 'retooled' version. Poor printing on instructions, part numbers in each step misidentified ( as in each tree tagged with a letter but part ID given for wrong tree), alignment pins that misalign parts, even the box illustration show outer half of landing gear panels opening in wrong direction.
I used to make these kits in the 1960s !!! In those days the kits always had Pilots and gunners !!!! But now I use My Gaming PC to fly these Aircraft which I find amazing !!!! I built most of them but I was more interested in what the Aircraft or Tank looked like when it was Completed !!! I built a large Stuka, a large Lockheed Starfighter, a large Mosquito and Dozens of Tamiya Tanks etc !!!!
I built BF-109 in 1/72 from mistercraft and it was teriible. The fit was bad, the details like air intakes or exhausts were bad and the decals were really bad. I think I will never build a model from them ever again.
model minutes. I purchased the 1/144 panavia Tornado this year. I like this model because it was easy and fun to build. The color not too difficult: however, the decals were a bit disappointing and did not want to stick nicely. However I might do this model again but from another company
The Steerman "Kaydet" would lend itself to all sort of of modifications. Although not well-known outside the U.S., numerous versions of the Steerman were used as trainers by the both the Army Air Force and the Navy. In addition, in a similar manner as was done with the famous Curtiss JN-4 "Jenny" after WW-I, hundreds of Steermans were sold as surplus after WW-II ended and they continued flying in private hands for many decades thereafter, not least those heavily modified to as crop-dusters. The ubiquitous Steerman is regarded in the U.S. in much the same way as the British view the Tiger Moth and the Russians the Po-2.
After a 10 year hiatus, I will start model making again and the model I have chosen will most likely be the worst model of my year. The model is the Spitfire Mk.I in 1/72 from the Revell Battle of Britain Gift Set (05711) and its mold originally dates back to 1963. The reason I picked this model for re-entry into model making is because this is my first time using an airbrush and if I screw it up it wouldn't be a huge loss.
To be honest with more care in the building prozess you will achieve even with those crude kits much better results. You don't have to get overboard with it but if you better clean up the parts and with some putty on the gaps you get much better results. Look at the barrel of the tank for example, you didn't removed the seemline. Don't get me wrong everybody can do his Hobbys the way they like it and thats good.
@@ModelMinutes i like your videos, in the 80tys i did a lot Matchbox/Revell/ESCI and whatever makers. Some of them had fantasy colors and the gaps where filled with thick enamel paint, later with sprues liquidised in pve glue. You remind me of those years. Keep on modelling is a great great hobby
I agree wholeheartedly about the Airfix Churchill VII. I have built dozens of the things, swearing at the suspension units and bogies all the time, until one day, it dawned on me that it was possible to cement the wheels to the suspension units whilst they were still on the frames, en masse. They were still a pain in the sit upon to fix to the hull, but at least no more fiddling with tiny bogie wheels that the carpet was hungrily awaiting pinging out of your tweezers. I do prefer the ESCI Churchill IV - although I do wish they would reintroduce the AMRCR (Anti Mine Reconaissance Castoring Roller) accessory for it. The Hasegawa Churchill I kit is nice, too, and a useful base for several outlandish looking Churchill adaptations. All three kits are showing their age though. If Airfix could give us a nice mark IV, with ideally, parts to make it into an AVRE, and ESCI style running gear (a couple of pieces, and no fiddly wheels), then I, and certainly a lot of other people, would be happy.
A retooled 1/76 Churchill would certainly be high on my list; though they'd have to do several kits to cover the hull modifications (such as the side hull hatches changing from rounded square to circular), or have a lot of optional parts. I think Matchbox used to do several variants of Churchill in 76th though, which is why Airfix didn't do any variants that clashed. (being both British companies with london factories at the time; they seem to have had a gent's agreement to complement each other's ranges; rather than compete with)
@@brianartillery I can imagine. I had the misfortune of Matchbox's kit devision shutting down a year before I started modelling, meaning they vanished from my town's LMS shelves before I could nab any. Got hold of a collection more recently though; I'd missed out on a lot.
@@jimtaylor294 - The good thing though, is that Revell bought most of the Matchbox 'Land warfare' model tooling, including the 1/76 figures. Hopefully, they're still available, as Matchbox made some rather niche, but welcome, subjects - the French Char B-1 and Renault FT-17 set comes to mind.
My worst kit of 2020 was a *Mistercraft* also; so I feel the pain. I want to make that the topic of my 1st video review when hardware allows; as it's almost comically bad. The *Academy "Sky Giants" 1:700 XB-70 Valkyrie* kit would be my #2 worst, as the landing gear is unsalvagable, the undercart doors barely passable, and the intakes only acceptable with application of plasticard & inginuity. A 1970's *1/700 Aoshima IJN Yukikaze* kit would be #3, as well as - on a more positive note - the topic of my first model blog preview :D .
What did I think of your list! What did you expect when you bout these relics of the 70s and 60s? Update their too-lings? Why? These Airfix and Revell offerings were kits. Produced to be easy to build and affordable. Destined to be covered in fingerprints and glue blobs often as first models. Model kits were thought of as toys back then. With today's expectations even Tamia kits from that era are not much to look at. They were top-of-the-line back then.
If a company sells an old tooling in new boxes alongside their new toolings and give no indication that the product you might be purchasing is lower quality - then I will call these companies out on it every single time, that's why they get a bad review (and will continue to do so until the companies decide to do something about it)
Concerning the Stearman Kaydett, I have not yet seen any review nor build pointing at its very biggest flaw - struts, all of them, are too short so upper wing is too close to fuselage!
Not many that I really do get on with - the KP 1/72 Piper Cub is badly designed with the weight of each wing on the clear parts and which split and using appropriate glue around would mark the clear parts so I gave up and binned it in the end. To heal the wound I built a Smer one instead which was much easier with the wings moulded together with correct dihedral. The Roden 1/72 Heinkel III E was the ultimate pig I have ever built. I did finish it but every part did not fit properly and I can see why the Roden early Heinkels are really cheap to now buy despite being the only 1/72 versions as clearly word has got around what monsters they are.
I built that Revell Stuka too and i must say, yes it sucked pretty bad. But on a positive note my best of 2020 must be my Achilles from Tamyia. Dream to build and paint.
Probably the 2 worst kits I can remember off hand, from when I was a kid, were the Airfix 1/72 Tiger & Panther tanks respectively. Now those would be a challenge to anyones modeling skills to try and correct/update. Mind you, some of the early Tamiya 1/35 scale kits fall into this category as well. I have to give you props though for doing an outstanding job on all of these kits. The Churchill is particularly noteworthy. Great modeling job!! 👍😎👌
@@ModelMinutes You know I just saw an unboxing video of the new Airfix Tiger. The kit is literally LIGHT YEARS away from the original! I for one was very impressed, particularly the 2 options of building the road wheel. Looks like a first class kit with the brand new tooling.
Regarding my recent comment about the airfix heron kit. On reviewing the video if you get to 5.59 minutes you can see the hole which is about 5mm diameter below the 2nd window from the rear of the fuselage
Academy decals are said to be one of the worst ones to ever exist. I built Academy Tiger 1 for my birthday and the kit is fine but the decals were just awful and I had to use heavy weathering to cover it up.
I would say that my stuka would of been good but it didn't come with instructions. and the ones you shown me on discord I didn't understand so I pretty much done it all by guessing
Ah, how 2020 has rushed past this year. I have to say, I cannot but agree with your choices there. First of all, for a company of its fame, and with all of the models they have released in recent years, it still astounds me that Revell loves grabbing back to some of its vintage kits without any alterations to the mould. Even though in the past they have collaborated with companies such as Italeri, Heller, Special Hobby and - recently - Academy (which, coincidentally, has a wonderfully modelled 1990s-vintage Junkers Ju 87G which only suffers from the usual horrible Academy decals), they sometimes have the odd habit of grabbing back to kits that have, in all honesty, clapped out. The 1/72 Stearman Kaydet is a good example (first issued by Revell Great Britain in 1965, most recent reissue 2010); perhaps the worst offender in the same series would be the P-51D Mustang (first issued 1963, most recent reissue 2011 - and perhaps the second worst P-51D around in 1/72 scale after the infamous Starfix one - and no, don't even try and build that one). In recent years, Airfix has upped its game quite significantly; and while some of their vintage kits are a real pleasure to build, the Churchill most definitely isn't one of them. Even at the time, the 'rolling tracks' concept for its tanks kits (i.e. simplified roadwheels and bogey construction which allowed the modeller to build the kit with rolling wheels) made them more toylike than accurate - and worst of all, it never really worked in the first place. Luckily, on its most recent tank kits Airfix has abandoned this approach (such as the Cromwell, Sherman Firefly and new Tiger I with single-piece moulded plastic tracks); one can only hope that Airfix will continue with this and replace other tank kits from its vintage catalogue with retooled issues. One thing I have learnt over the course of 1500 model kits and dozens of manufacturers, though, is to avoid Mister Craft kits like a bad case (or any case) of Corona. I've made the mistake twice - once with their Yak-1, and once with the PZL.37. Generally, most of the Mister Craft kits can be traced back to ZTS Plastyk of Poland, kits I generally refer to as 'hammer and sickle' kits as they weren't only built behind the Iron Curtain under communist rule, but also because they're so crude and made from plastic so hard one needs a hammer and sickle to get the parts from the sprues! (Other such firms would be Plasticard of East Germany; the old Kovozavody Prostejov of the former Czechoslovakia; DZI Donetsk Toys Institute of the former Soviet Union; etc...) In the case of Mister Craft's Yak-1, it was made of such bad and brittle plastic that I had no choice but to discard the kit; and in both the cases of the Yak-1 and the PZL.37, they came with the wrong sets of decals which did not allow one to build any of the variants listed in the instructions. Well, lessons learned there, so what else to say than: very best wishes for 2021, and may it bring many beautiful models! Keep building! ^_^