greetings Ya"ll

After signing on in the latest corsair build,I ran out and bought a 1D by Academy.
Now I expect alot from any kit, be it aircraft or armor. Oh yes add the details, some
sanding, filing , fitting all this is the norm. but where do you draw the line?
Well I'm drawing it here. My purchase was kit # 2147, thats were things went
wrong. I began by fitting as I went along . This what I've found.

1. The cockpit tub was 3/32 to wide at its widest part.

2. The fake bulkhead that the engine is molded is to thick.

3.The engine is completely out of round making it almost impossible to
center it.
4.The cowling is out of round.

5.The mount provided for the engine 3/16 to long.

Now I 'm willing to except some extra work in any kit , we all do.
Though I 'm not willing to spend good hard earned cash , on junk.
So were is the lesson here? dont buy a name alone, read the reviews
ask questions, and you willnot get burnt.


PONYSOLDIER

The Horse The Gun The Man

I think you are absolutely correct, Pony. I think we have all been burned by buying the company instead of the kit. That's why I think places like this are so valuable. To ask about certain kits, get reviews, see works in progress...that is worth its weight in gold. Working a kit is part of the hobby, but sometimes, too much is asked of us.

You've made a very important point, and I hope your posting gets lots of looks, especially from the newbies. In the long run, they will save themselves a lot of money and frustration.

Mike

My rule of thumb is simple. I would rather spend the extra bucks to get a quality kit than buy a cheap kit of poor quality. I had a bad experience with a HobbyCraft Corsair

Well as a general rule of thumb....for Hobby Craft anyway....is not to waste my money on that company's poor excuse for kits...they are generally very poor copies of other company's kits.

My only exceptions to this rule as far as Hobby Craft goes.....maybe I should reiterate....Hobby Craft Canada...not sure if this is the same as normal Hobby Craft or not....anyway....I do have a few exceptions....one is the Avro Arrow....the kit it self is pretty blah....but they are the only company making an injected kit of that AC.....also the S2F Tracker....same reason!!! Other than that.....I stay far away from Hobby Craft.

I agree with ya Scott. I am building a 1/48 A-4M right now from HobbyCraft Canada and I have been filling and sanding for about the last three days now. Unfortunately it was the only 1/48 scale A-4M Marine I could find. I expect to fill and sand a little but good god if I wanted to do this much filing and sanding I would have hung drywall. Maybe this kit is the exception to the rule, but I came across a review of this same kit and while reading it I found that the person that wrote the article has had the same fit problemsand has to fill the exact same places I have. So you got to give them credit they are consistant.
Just my two cents
Paul

Well back again. I havent done any more on this except begin the necessary repair,
which is major surgery. Ive not done any more fitting beyond this stage.
As everyone one has said this is really a good lesson for people coming into
this hobby. There are 2000 plus of us that are members here on Armorama
and as of the last polls many of us have 20 years or more in this hobby.
If we can get burnt , and we do , it can happen to you more often.
Read the the product reviews , they are a great way to single out the bad kits
Ask questions get in to the forums and ask you will get an answer from many of us.
dry fit every thing do it as you go you will be able to fix problems before they balloon
on you.


PONYSOLDIER

The Horse The Gun The Man

P.S. This does appear to be a reboxed hobby craft kit.