I always check Scale mates webpages and TH-cam reviews before buying either vintage or new model kits. I like vintage kits that were good for the time when they were released. Thanks for your 2021 videos and expecting more for 2022. Happy new year mate.
Well, at least either the Zero and the Spit are good kits, but ruined by a bad choice of materials (wrong glue for the Spit, bad paints for the Zero), so you couldn't include them in this list. On the contrary it's scandalous that Airfix sell an old model in a new box without advising about mold's age, when I bought it, the series 1 kit were sold in blisters!
Airfix have recently been releasing their older kits in the vintage range, which tells you information about the tooling date, but there are still some in the regular range which are pretty old
@@ModelMinutesMinutes Yep DH-88 Comet being one of them. I got one that came out in the new boxing as soon as they got released being one of pre-war father of the Mosquito and a time of flight, I'm interested in. Found out it had been manufactured in India and was the same one I build when I was at primary school primary and I'm in my mid 50's now. Molding was that bad. I had to send it back on opening and looking over and checking the kit. As the wing was warped and engine lacelles did not even line up with the wings was how bad it was warped. I would have had to rebuild the whole wing. That knocked the whole will of even getting a replacement just with those simple things with just that one. Be good to if you did something on how you select your next model you're wanting to build. When you get it how you check it over and get it ready to build as well organizing the tools and paints for it. Everyone covers making the kits and the reviews of it. But often miss the simpler things. You have done well with some of this like when you went over your experiences with paints from when you first stated till now. Please do more things like that.
After a long absence from model making, and I do mean loooong, it's one thing to be ultra stressed out about, where to start, what tools should I really get, what is the best construction method to use, the myriad painting possibilities and wanting to make the perfect kit the first time...all freezing me to inaction. It's another thing to have the added burden of a low quality kit that requires so much remedial work and enhancement requiring the many and sometimes obscure skills I don't have that you think to yourself - why did I buy all those kits and spend hundreds of dollars and I only want to give up before I even take shrink wrap off?
I had a friend like this, kept avoiding it for fear of doing a bad job. I had to just encourage him to have a go - what does it matter if you do a bad job this time, it will help the next one be better...
You're very honest Tom but I can only encourage you to try! The process can be more enjoyable than the finished model and if you look at it from a perspective that your skills will improve and develop over time, it can spur you on to build more! Happy modelling mate and don't be too hard on yourself 😉
@@hermannjoseph Thanks Hermann. I am reminded of the time I had to re-tile the bathroom, I was in a lather wanting to know everything - eventually I got there! Modeling seems so nuanced too. There is basically one way to tile a floor or wall! But I see your point. Now... if only stock would get moving again. Last night I checked my local suppliers and all the cheaper kits plus the ones I wanted to get have all gone. Sigh.
@@tomstamford6837 You've reminded me of the time about 20 years ago that I tiled our upstairs bathroom directly onto yellow thounge and groove and the bloody cement wouldn't stick! Lesson learned 😂 Best of luck on the modelling front, it has been a mental life saver for me over the past couple of years. Cheers
@@hermannjoseph Ooooh, that's terrible! That is why I get so obsessed with doing things right. They say, do your best, but to me that is a bad way to think about things. I prefer do THE best. Maybe it's harsh but I believe unless you can do a really good job, don't do it and find someone who can give you a good result. In the end, 'your best' might be so bad it costs a lot of money to fix and then you also feel bad about yourself. I also believe it's better to admit someone can do better and know your limitations than to try and disappoint yourself. Which was why I did the tiling to the point where the manager of the tile shop told me to stop bugging him (in a friendly way - I think). But the result is a good bathroom that is still good after 20 years. So with modelling... it's obsession, obsession, obsession. And I haven't even touched plastic yet!
I like how you have done this one. As you have point out some of the major factors you found with doing some of the kit's Like the age of the original molds, The challenges that you tried to restrict yourself to and did not work as well for you, not because of the model itself. As myself I the Airfix 1/72 Zero up there with one of the best for new beginners to start with and has a lots of room for the advance modelers to play around with. (Could be something to do in the future. Good models for beginners you have found so far.). Also, the well-known issues with Academy... THERE ARE DECALS...(I Find good decals can make or break the final look of a well-made model.)
Clearly you didn't build the Airfix 1:600 Bismarck this year then? I did, and not too bad once an entirely new main deck had been built, the hull height reduced by one deck height, the massive rudders reduced to half the original size, and numerous parts replaced by scratch built items. The only good thing about it was that since the molding was so bad, the secondary turrets had their front face slots completely flashed over that enabled me to drill out the barrel slots correctly rather than all the way down to the bottom as in the originals. For some reason I like this old 1:600 range, but I don't know why. Currently doing HMS Nelson and will probably have increased the detail on it by a factor of 20 by the time I'm finished. Madness!!
I became a subscriber this year after finding your review of the Academy 1/144 F-16. I haven't built a model kit in nearly 20 years and was interested in getting back into modeling with a starter kit like the Academy F-16. My last completed kit was a 1/72 Zero like the one you made.
Hi Matt, happy new year, I thought your list was good although that zero's paint was the pits. I've built the Walthers North Island Oil Refinery kit.....now that was the worst kit I've ever built, a nice looking model but it seemed to take an age to complete. Looking forward to seeing what you plan for this year....I have to admit I'm till hoping you will build the Airfix, Revel?? Henkel HE111 at some stage. Stay safe over there.
Thanks! yes, I'm sure that a He111 will appear on my workbench at some point, just need to get some of the other kits off the bench first and clear that stash :P
Sometimes it’s intended, it helps highlight to the viewers the areas of the kit that require that attention. Other times I just don’t bother because I find it boring and you’ve got to enjoy what you do 😂
Not quite this year, but I built a Revell BK117 "Space Design" in 1:72. The kit was from a different manufacturer packed in a Revell box from the '80s. The tooling was bad, the decals sucked, the whole project frustrated me so much, I crushed the model and threw it away. Luckily I only spend 1,50€ as the shop did sale on discontinued kits.
My worst builds are "shelf queens" that after taking a long look at them, I decided they were not worth the trouble. My worst are: 1.) Atlantis Models H-25 Army Mule HUP-2 Helicopter. 0utside from the model needing extensive work to correct basic omissions (no cockpit floor, no glass for the side windows, shelves inside of the side windows where none existed, no cargo bay doors, etc.), there is a serious factory defect where the propeller shaft hold for the rear rotor is partially molded at the wrong angle, making the fuselage halves very difficult to align. 2.) Monogram's old 1/48 P-61. It simply does not want to go together, with flimsy fuselage floor panels as well as eggshell thin fuselage sides, it is a challenge to "warp into place". And the engine nacelles do not get any better. 3.) The 1/72 Lindberg Me-109G and Spitfire Mk 22 2-pack kits. Basically kids toy junk. No landing gears or any sort of cockpit/pilot figure, instead opaque canopies that hide the fact nothing is there.
The worst build I made this year, was the revel 1:48 scale F111 Aardvark. The first were so bad, that I had to bend parts to make them fit together, and there was so much detail missing. The sweep wing was very broken, and only sometimes worked
My nomination is the Airfix Suzuki 500cc 1/24 model i found on ebay (its rare) and wasted a few hours on. It was all going fine until I discovered, around half way through the build, that the decals are too large for the model. They looked more like 1/12 scale. A mixup in the factory perhaps. To be fair to airfix I've never experienced that before.
Can’t say I’m familiar with that one, perhaps if it was limited run that could explain the mix-up with the transfers as the designer might not have invested as much time as they should have
Currently working on a 1965 concorde kit from heller, it has molding quality issues but since it represent the 1964 project, I'm all in for a original concorde. I had to modify the nose to make it somewhat accurate to the nose down position and the livery will be a mix between the 1st and 2n prototype, I got it from the "légende heller" gifset wich also contain their frist kit, the caravelle. Still adding putty on the beast, I don't see it as a bad kit due to its level of detail for a kit base on a project (the engine seemed particularly good for me). When I want to buy vintage kit, it depend of the price (sorry but 100€ is too much for 1 model for me) and the decals quality. I'm not afraid of building them after tackling unicraft resin kit and it depend if I can do what if/project/prototype out of them or not. Happy new year from france!
@@ModelMinutes you're welcome, btw the heller giftset is quite rare now, I was lucky to get one at the aviationmegastore with a aeroflot a350 from zvezda and their 747 8 that I'll do in a british airways retro scheme
1:22 I've just last week picked that Revell P51-D kit as a gift from a friend, wish I had bothered to check the tooling on scalemates beforehand though! It's an atrocious kit really and absolutely should not still have been being released by Revell as recently as 2019!
Hey Matt some of the kits in this video i could not find build videos for, the kits where the AW Skyhawk, mister craft helicopter and from your other video the fairy fulmar.Do you know where I could find build videos for them?
As mentioned in the video, some of the particular models shown haven't yet had the build videos edited an uploaded - make sure you have those notifications on so that you know when they are :)
I hadn't built a model kit in over 25 years, but my sister bought me the Star Trek TOS Enterprise model for Christmas so I decided to buy and build some others to practice. So my guess is that these first 5 models are going to be my worst of 2022 (since I didn't start in 2021, lol), but we'll see I guess. Currently finishing my first, the Airfix P40 Warhawk 1:72. Build is looking good, we'll see how I paint, lol.
About the craft and canvas paints, although these are pretty hard to use with brush, if you have an airbrush it's another story, totally usable and I say that as an Acrilex and Corfix (Brazilian budget paints) user myself, here Humbrol, Tamiya, Vallejo and Revell cost between 100%-300% more than Acrilex paints and are hard to find, so if you're stuck with a model half done because you lack a specific paint it's completely alright to use those, specially the ones for crafting (wood, metal, PET), you just have to be patient and take your time applying coats. Edit: grammar
@@ModelMinutes i would recommend you to try again with an airbrush, i too have the same Aliexpress kit with a mini compressor and it works pretty well, just don't dilute the paints with just water, use some kind of airbrush thinner or flow improver like the Vallejo ones, you can also make one yourself using some easy to find products, i personally use ethyl alcohol 70° + water in a 30%/70%, mix those 2 and than add Veja Vidrex Cristal, which is a glass cleaning product in a 50%/50% with that other mix, this glass cleaning product works as an flow improver while the water + alcohol help in the quick setting. When you mix it with the paint it should be a little heavier than milk, your airbrush will be just fine, it just need to be light enough to pass through the needle, test it with a plastic spoon, i would recommend using primer before applying the coats, if you don't have a primer it will work just fine but the first coats need to be lighter, also never let it be wet on the surface, you need to stop spraying right before that point and let it dry a little and you can use the air of the airbrush to help it dry quickly. There are some tutorials here on TH-cam that explain this use pretty well. There is a video of a TH-camr called Barbatos Rex that helped me a lot with this process i would recommend you to watch that if you want to try it. Hugs from Brazil my friend. Edit: changed some words for a better understanding since english is not my main language.
Oh no - I have that 48th scale Academy 500D police helicopter - now I’m afraid, haha. I built the normal one with the army scheme earlier this year and didn’t have issues with those decals. Hopefully my ones are better?
As I posted a while ago... maybe here Matt? a kit boxed 'vintage' /could/ mean what is being modeled is an old type not that the model itself is old so it's an ambiguous term, thus I agree with the main point that more transparency is preferable. On that note the Seahawk is IMHO very naughty as it's sold in a new style box but the kit inside is old. Personally I'd knock it down a place for that alone.
Excellent description of that F-16. It does look like someone designed it from memory. It does look like the nose was attached upside down, but it’s funny what little difference that makes on this particular Viper.
Yeah, and the canopy just looks 'wrong' - too flat!! In fact the whole aircraft just looks a bit too long and flat; except for the tail fin which looks too thick and oversized, and doesn't appear to fit on the fuselage perpendicular....!! A decent 1/144 modern warbird is the Revell F-15E...it looks 'right'; even the decals are good!! 😊
Didnt really build any Bad kits in 2021 but rather i finally finished a VOLVO FH 16 that i started in 2019. Fitment was Quite akward and sometimes the instructions blatantly Lied to where the Part needed to go. It looks somewhat okay now next to my Scania 143 H Torpedo.
My worst kit of 2021 was the Airfix, 1/72 scale Fiesler Storch. A very old kit rereleased displaying all the Airfix "features" that had us all flocking to Tamiya back in the 1970s; flash, fiddly, fragile parts, and even some warped parts.
I just built one in the desert scheme, and have a second I will do in the green camo scheme. The canopy gave me fits, leaving a huge gap on top. Filled with Mod Podge.
Been building models for most of my 65 years. I can appreciate newer better detailed kits, but also still enjoy the old vintage kits - original and repop. My considered "worst" kits are the off-scale kits by Starfix of Israel. Utterly horrid!
Wow! I have to ask, how long have you been building models? The reason I ask is I can't believe you are trying to hand brush paint them rather than using far better and more realistic spray or, even better, air brush application. Please don't take this wrong, but that paint job on the Airfix "0" is something you might expect a 5 year old to do. It is just horrible! Like you said, the model itself is fine which is typical of Airfix kits. Oh well. I am likely a bit more critical than some as I have been building model kits for about 68 of my 74 years. I have an Airfix 4-Stroke Engine kit that I built, I think, back in the mid 1980s. It is my first and only Airfix model, but I have to say it was a very accurate and well molded kit that assembled with no issues. I spray painted it and the finish looks as good as a full size commercially made one. I keep it covered and it looks as good today as when I built some 38 or so years ago! 😉
Thanks for your thoughts. As mentioned in the video, these are the worst kits I built that year for a reason… I’ve been building on and off for about 15 years and I think it would be worth checking the companion video to this where I look at the best kits I built that year for a comparison
@@ModelMinutes - I guess the problem I have with your comment is you say the Airfix is absolutely fine and has no business being on your list. I agree 100%, because it is not the model that is bad, it's your paint job. You can't criticize the model for that!
It seems to me from this video that Airfix is a brand to stay away. I just ordered two Eduard - Profi-pack BF-109 and Profi-pack Spitfire. When I was a kid I always felt guilty because I really love the German aircraft from WWII. Now that I'm older I realize you can appreciate the engineering without thinking you are a Nazi :D The BF109, BF 110, and JU 87 are some of my favorites. I like the P-61 as well which is another night fighter like the BF 110. I like the Spitfire, Hurricane, and Mustang as well. :D I forgot to add the iconic F4U which got me into WWII planes in the first place, after watching Black Sheep with my dad growing up. Dad was a machinist at Northrup, so I grew up around aviation.
Airfix does make reasonably ok kits, but they tend to market themselves a little higher whilst generally being considered a bit of a budget brand. Eduard is one of the best manufacturers i've experienced so far
I’m sorry you think that about Airfix. Quite some years ago the (then) new tool Mk1 Spitfire in 1/48 attracted a cacophony of derision for certain aspects of the kit. This, despite the fact that it was (then) the most accurate Mk1 Spit available - as Edgar Brooks confirmed more than once. So I built one with simple adaptions that easily addressed the ‘faults’ and posted it on Hyperscale, describing what I did. The critics were universally silent and the puerile game of ‘Airfix bashing’ for the Spit ceased as the build simply revealed the shortcomings of the trolls. Airfix have since made huge and overt strides in quality and are turning out lovely kits. I built the 1/24 bubble top Typhoon as a test shot back in 2014 and the car door version (also a test shot) in 2015. Great kits and followed by test shots I also had the pleasure of building of a bunch of other Airfix offerings, including the 1/48 Hurricane, Spitfire and others. No kits, from any manufacture, are completely free of aspects that’ll need fettling, so the real trick is being discerning about who you listen to if you’re interested in a particular subject…
@@stevenbudd3725 as I always say, every manufacturer makes some good kits, with some also less than perfect offerings too. I’ll give kits credit where it’s due, but my criticism of Airfix in recent times is mostly due to their very public voice about striving for quality and detail, which in comparison to other brands, they tend to fall short
No need to feel bad about preferring German aircraft. I prefer German WW2 armour simply because the camouflage schemes are much more variable as oppose to the 'bog standard' dark green or light stone for Allied armour.
The newer Airfix kits, especially 1/48 scale WWII planes, are quite good. Beats Tamiya for detail and quality. Their older 1/72 kits remind me of old Aurora and Hawk kits. Simplistic.
That’s simply not true. If you choose to spend your money on low quality kits and then spend extra time fixing the flaws, that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean you’re a better modeller. There’s no excuse for low quality kits in 2022.
That's why I believe in box reviews are not useful. It would be better if experienced modelers showed the assembled kit and procede to explain the problems they faced. And as you said sometimes the instructions can be tricky as well, no matter how old a kit is. Just a little thought. All the best for 2022!
However, this is also why 'in-box' kit reviews are VERY useful... if a manufacturer is re-boxing a 20 - 50 year old kit in a modern box, then you, the buyer should be made aware of that.... you then know to expect no cockpit interior details, and that there's maybe only a pilot figure to glue onto a couple of pegs.....not what you'd expect to find today in a £10-20 72nd scale kit....but still could find if there were no in-box reviews... ;-)
After watching a bunch of your videos I’m starting off 2022 with ww2 models. I bought a couple of starter Airfix kits and I’m excited to get started. I’ve built many Gundams but those don’t REQUIRE glue or paint so I’m a little nervous but still very excited to branch out
Sounds great! I'd probably order some extra paints for those starter sets though, it seems that Airfix has a bit of a quality control issue at the moment and the paints are arriving all dried up
@@ModelMinutes yeah I noticed:/ 4 of the 10 total paints that came from both kits were dried up. Definitely need to go shopping for paints this weekend
#1: RS Models 1/72 Heinkel He-280. Odd, really vinylie plastic doesn't like paint or glue. Vague location marks and chunky detail. The decals look good indeed.
I would say avoid kits that come with paint, these are made to get kids into modelling, but because the paint is crap puts most of them off, wash your model in soap and water it gets rid of the mold release agents and grease before you start to build, the paint will cover much better, buy some better brushes or use an airbrush if you can afford one, join a model club and in time you will learn which kits to avoid, [ reboxed or very very old kits ]
I immediately trash those little tubs of Humbrol paint! Most are dried and useless, others are like finger paint. I have never had luck with Humbrol. I think they send their old out-dated stock to the US.
I think any kits dating to pre 90s should be listed as 'retro' on the box. There are many old 60s kits I enjoy for nostalgia reasons, but I wasn't to know when I'm buying one.
I think the way you’re judging them is very fair. I don’t like getting a kit that’s a 50+ year old die or older. More work isn’t the issue, I just want to be informed there will be more work. And thanks for the heads up.
Hi, thanks for the vids. I've had similar experience of re-boxed kits as late as 2014, when I bought Tamiya 1/48 Zero and FW-190D. I chanced upon the inner surface of the Zero, li and behold... The kit's original molding was made in 1973! Granted Tamiya kits were THE kits back then, but players like Eduard, ICM, Miniarts, and those made in china came up with better tooling, ultra realistic detailing and photoetched parts (which were a luxury in the old days). BTW, the worst kit I built recently was a Banda 1/100 Gun-Tank. So disgusted I threw the whole lot away.
The Aircraft kit years are now over. Pre Jet, prop era is where my interests have been and included flying boats and passenger aircraft. Building over the last two decides, kicked off at Christmas 1959, with gaps inbetween, have seen my available stash slowly reduce leaving only stripes of dust between where kit boxes once sat. The Submarine building era came along and is now largely over because I chose 1/72 boats to build and few exist in that scale of the German Uboats and American Gato boats that have captured my attention. Discovered while looking around the Internet are two model subjects that I'm keen to have a crack at building. The NS Savannah produced in a previously unencountered scale: 1/380, and the Korean War era hospital ship, USS HOPE also in an unusual scale - 1/471. Interesting times ahead are predicted. Let the assembly begin and as soon as can be.
I don't understand the appeal of 72nd scale. Or 700 scale ships. I get it's small for those with limited space but the size just kills detail. They are all generally the right shape of the subject and, yeah...
My "worse kit build" of 2021 was probably an Airfix 1:72 (New-ish tool) Folland Gnat. I've built one before but for some reason, the undercarriage was lower on one side than the other when I came to stand it on its wheels. Also one side of the one piece wing to was bent out of shape. It is usually good kit but this time around I didn't do great job of it. That Airfix Sea Hawk was ancient when I built one in the early 1990s. There are better Sea Hawk kits available now I think.
@@ModelMinutes Yeah its a good kit but people just need to take care with the tricky fit of the legs. There's a lot to fit into not a lot. I was ok with the first one I did of that kit. Onwards!
@@ModelMinutes im state side I have never seen a beacon model on a shelf here, and I though you mentioning something about not being sure about the airfix models you did as to their mold dates is it a random case of certain models not having their mold dates listed....I default usse scale mates as reference so I get a better picture of what to expect I hate incomplete kits missing essentail parts, but you can take the most basic kit and turn it around wwith some extra work.....I kit bash so I have some experience in making panel line, rivets, fabricating parts from brass sheet etc...but not every one wants to do that or enjoys it which is understandable.....I'am the type of person wwho will buy a track kit for a tank that cost more then the kit lol
I do not remember, seeing ,The Hughes build? Will check it out after your best kits '21, video. I watched this one first, as modern people, me included, are more passionate about the things we hate, than in the things we like/love. So worst lists tend to be funnier That is why ZP's/ Yahtzee's, worst lists, are way funnier, than his likes, lists' as are his negative reviews, compared to ones on games he likes.
Bad paint job on the exterior of the Zero looks fine, as a WW2 Japanese aircraft enthusiast, look at photos of the real aircraft in combat, the paint was terrible and weathered heavily. All Zeroes were painted overall greenish grey ( corrosion protection coat) and then the dark green applied to the upper surface,of note is that the dark green was pigment powder that was mixed with any kind of colour base so blotches and opaque points are fine.
Manufacturers are hurting the hobby by cheating customers. Big box stores in the US are covered wall-to-wall with Revell. Because of Revell’s well-earned bad reputation stores aren’t moving kits fast, and narrowing shelf-space for models. This situation is even hurting the chances of good kits like Bandai-that is still available at Hobby Lobby. And there a few newer, well-done Revell kits that no one will touch because the bad reputation.
Most of these would have been fine if you gave everything a prime before painting. Painting directly on to plastic without a prime is always going to end up poor.
@@ModelMinutes This is true but I don't know why you wouldn't. It would avoid the paint separating like it did in this video many a times. You would have a better smooth coat and less coats of paint. You do you though.
@@petermillar8866 which model are your referring to in particular? The only one I had trouble with separating paints was the challenge build… a primer was outside my budget on that one
this isn't just a video on products that I think are bad, its also a reflection on how well they were built which is why that one is included in this list
lol, someone always leaves this elitist comment on one of these videos. There are bad kits, being poorly designed and manufacturered. If Gordon Ramsey served you up a tin of dog food would you still say there is "no such thing as bad food, only bad chefs" ?
I can definitely see why companies don’t put the tool date me for one if I want a particular kit il get it regardless of age but for some they would be put off and let’s be fair it’s not good business since
If they are going to still sell vintage kits, then they should only be allowed to sell them for the price that was charged on the original release date (with no adjustment for inflation) 😜
@@ModelMinutes I can only speak from experience of this 1/48 build, just about everything was a challenge on this kit, but at least it didn't end up in the bin. If you feel like a challenge you should try building one!!!!
I've found the new airfix kits are fine. Especially for the price. The older kits do show their age though. Scale mates is the best guide for buying kits.
When you paint wings and bodies you should use a flat brush as wide as you can manage. If using acrylics thin with water or matte medium and apply 2-3 thin coats. White is always tricky it is better to spray it. Pointed brushes are for details you will never get a clean flat coat using one without a lot of skill and effort. Also don't put paint more than halfway up the brush it ruins them quickly and splays out the tip.
That Zero, built it before, Its the best budget Zero you can get, there is no other competition for that price Personally I say you shouldn't include challenge kits for this video, because they will not be up to your usual standard making them look worse
like i mentioned at the beginning, its a retrospective of my modelling over the year, that Airfix zero (in my opinion) is indeed the worst kit I built this year because it looks horrible. This video isn't just a review of whether a kit is good or bad but also based on how well i completed them
As mentioned, this is a list of my worst kits based not only on the quality of the kit but my construction and completion of them, I just don’t think I did a particularly good job of it
Did you not watch the video? I literally said that at the beginning . . . This is an honest review of not only the quality of some of the kits I built this year, but my ability to complete them
I always check Scale mates webpages and TH-cam reviews before buying either vintage or new model kits. I like vintage kits that were good for the time when they were released. Thanks for your 2021 videos and expecting more for 2022. Happy new year mate.
Happy new year!
Same here
airfix and revell are known to pull this off, lol
Well, at least either the Zero and the Spit are good kits, but ruined by a bad choice of materials (wrong glue for the Spit, bad paints for the Zero), so you couldn't include them in this list. On the contrary it's scandalous that Airfix sell an old model in a new box without advising about mold's age, when I bought it, the series 1 kit were sold in blisters!
Airfix have recently been releasing their older kits in the vintage range, which tells you information about the tooling date, but there are still some in the regular range which are pretty old
@@ModelMinutesMinutes Yep DH-88 Comet being one of them. I got one that came out in the new boxing as soon as they got released being one of pre-war father of the Mosquito and a time of flight, I'm interested in. Found out it had been manufactured in India and was the same one I build when I was at primary school primary and I'm in my mid 50's now.
Molding was that bad. I had to send it back on opening and looking over and checking the kit. As the wing was warped and engine lacelles did not even line up with the wings was how bad it was warped. I would have had to rebuild the whole wing. That knocked the whole will of even getting a replacement just with those simple things with just that one.
Be good to if you did something on how you select your next model you're wanting to build. When you get it how you check it over and get it ready to build as well organizing the tools and paints for it.
Everyone covers making the kits and the reviews of it. But often miss the simpler things. You have done well with some of this like when you went over your experiences with paints from when you first stated till now. Please do more things like that.
Same. They should bring back the old blisters on small kits so we can see the parts.
After a long absence from model making, and I do mean loooong, it's one thing to be ultra stressed out about, where to start, what tools should I really get, what is the best construction method to use, the myriad painting possibilities and wanting to make the perfect kit the first time...all freezing me to inaction.
It's another thing to have the added burden of a low quality kit that requires so much remedial work and enhancement requiring the many and sometimes obscure skills I don't have that you think to yourself - why did I buy all those kits and spend hundreds of dollars and I only want to give up before I even take shrink wrap off?
I had a friend like this, kept avoiding it for fear of doing a bad job. I had to just encourage him to have a go - what does it matter if you do a bad job this time, it will help the next one be better...
You're very honest Tom but I can only encourage you to try! The process can be more enjoyable than the finished model and if you look at it from a perspective that your skills will improve and develop over time, it can spur you on to build more! Happy modelling mate and don't be too hard on yourself 😉
@@hermannjoseph Thanks Hermann. I am reminded of the time I had to re-tile the bathroom, I was in a lather wanting to know everything - eventually I got there!
Modeling seems so nuanced too. There is basically one way to tile a floor or wall! But I see your point. Now... if only stock would get moving again. Last night I checked my local suppliers and all the cheaper kits plus the ones I wanted to get have all gone. Sigh.
@@tomstamford6837 You've reminded me of the time about 20 years ago that I tiled our upstairs bathroom directly onto yellow thounge and groove and the bloody cement wouldn't stick! Lesson learned 😂
Best of luck on the modelling front, it has been a mental life saver for me over the past couple of years. Cheers
@@hermannjoseph Ooooh, that's terrible! That is why I get so obsessed with doing things right. They say, do your best, but to me that is a bad way to think about things. I prefer do THE best. Maybe it's harsh but I believe unless you can do a really good job, don't do it and find someone who can give you a good result. In the end, 'your best' might be so bad it costs a lot of money to fix and then you also feel bad about yourself.
I also believe it's better to admit someone can do better and know your limitations than to try and disappoint yourself. Which was why I did the tiling to the point where the manager of the tile shop told me to stop bugging him (in a friendly way - I think). But the result is a good bathroom that is still good after 20 years.
So with modelling... it's obsession, obsession, obsession. And I haven't even touched plastic yet!
I like how you have done this one. As you have point out some of the major factors you found with doing some of the kit's Like the age of the original molds, The challenges that you tried to restrict yourself to and did not work as well for you, not because of the model itself. As myself I the Airfix 1/72 Zero up there with one of the best for new beginners to start with and has a lots of room for the advance modelers to play around with. (Could be something to do in the future. Good models for beginners you have found so far.). Also, the well-known issues with Academy... THERE ARE DECALS...(I Find good decals can make or break the final look of a well-made model.)
Thanks! Yeah, those decals are not great
Clearly you didn't build the Airfix 1:600 Bismarck this year then? I did, and not too bad once an entirely new main deck had been built, the hull height reduced by one deck height, the massive rudders reduced to half the original size, and numerous parts replaced by scratch built items. The only good thing about it was that since the molding was so bad, the secondary turrets had their front face slots completely flashed over that enabled me to drill out the barrel slots correctly rather than all the way down to the bottom as in the originals. For some reason I like this old 1:600 range, but I don't know why. Currently doing HMS Nelson and will probably have increased the detail on it by a factor of 20 by the time I'm finished. Madness!!
sounds like it neeeded some real improvements
Sir do you have any tricks to do with old model kits? My 1/72 f18c just break apart itself on the shelf
Could always restore it - strip the paint, rebuild and paint like new :D
I became a subscriber this year after finding your review of the Academy 1/144 F-16. I haven't built a model kit in nearly 20 years and was interested in getting back into modeling with a starter kit like the Academy F-16. My last completed kit was a 1/72 Zero like the one you made.
I hope that you manage to get something on your workbench soon!
Hi Matt, happy new year, I thought your list was good although that zero's paint was the pits. I've built the Walthers North Island Oil Refinery kit.....now that was the worst kit I've ever built, a nice looking model but it seemed to take an age to complete. Looking forward to seeing what you plan for this year....I have to admit I'm till hoping you will build the Airfix, Revel?? Henkel HE111 at some stage. Stay safe over there.
Thanks! yes, I'm sure that a He111 will appear on my workbench at some point, just need to get some of the other kits off the bench first and clear that stash :P
Hi Matt I know how you feel looking forward to seeing more throughout the year.
hey matt another question i am about to buy a few thing to improve my modelling but dont know was decal fix and softener to buy
Micro set and micro sol from microscale industries are my favourite at the moment
Built the sopwith kit turned out great!. Same with the spit! Have to ask! Is your lack of pre paint filling on seams and gaps intentional?
Sometimes it’s intended, it helps highlight to the viewers the areas of the kit that require that attention. Other times I just don’t bother because I find it boring and you’ve got to enjoy what you do 😂
Not quite this year, but I built a Revell BK117 "Space Design" in 1:72. The kit was from a different manufacturer packed in a Revell box from the '80s. The tooling was bad, the decals sucked, the whole project frustrated me so much, I crushed the model and threw it away. Luckily I only spend 1,50€ as the shop did sale on discontinued kits.
that's a shame :(
My worst builds are "shelf queens" that after taking a long look at them, I decided they were not worth the trouble.
My worst are:
1.) Atlantis Models H-25 Army Mule HUP-2 Helicopter. 0utside from the model needing extensive work to correct basic omissions (no cockpit floor, no glass for the side windows, shelves inside of the side windows where none existed, no cargo bay doors, etc.), there is a serious factory defect where the propeller shaft hold for the rear rotor is partially molded at the wrong angle, making the fuselage halves very difficult to align.
2.) Monogram's old 1/48 P-61. It simply does not want to go together, with flimsy fuselage floor panels as well as eggshell thin fuselage sides, it is a challenge to "warp into place".
And the engine nacelles do not get any better.
3.) The 1/72 Lindberg Me-109G and Spitfire Mk 22 2-pack kits.
Basically kids toy junk. No landing gears or any sort of cockpit/pilot figure, instead opaque canopies that hide the fact nothing is there.
thanks for letting me know!
The worst build I made this year, was the revel 1:48 scale F111 Aardvark. The first were so bad, that I had to bend parts to make them fit together, and there was so much detail missing. The sweep wing was very broken, and only sometimes worked
:o
My nomination is the Airfix Suzuki 500cc 1/24 model i found on ebay (its rare) and wasted a few hours on. It was all going fine until I discovered, around half way through the build, that the decals are too large for the model. They looked more like 1/12 scale. A mixup in the factory perhaps. To be fair to airfix I've never experienced that before.
Can’t say I’m familiar with that one, perhaps if it was limited run that could explain the mix-up with the transfers as the designer might not have invested as much time as they should have
Currently working on a 1965 concorde kit from heller, it has molding quality issues but since it represent the 1964 project, I'm all in for a original concorde. I had to modify the nose to make it somewhat accurate to the nose down position and the livery will be a mix between the 1st and 2n prototype, I got it from the "légende heller" gifset wich also contain their frist kit, the caravelle. Still adding putty on the beast, I don't see it as a bad kit due to its level of detail for a kit base on a project (the engine seemed particularly good for me). When I want to buy vintage kit, it depend of the price (sorry but 100€ is too much for 1 model for me) and the decals quality. I'm not afraid of building them after tackling unicraft resin kit and it depend if I can do what if/project/prototype out of them or not. Happy new year from france!
Happy new year! Thanks for the info :D
@@ModelMinutes you're welcome, btw the heller giftset is quite rare now, I was lucky to get one at the aviationmegastore with a aeroflot a350 from zvezda and their 747 8 that I'll do in a british airways retro scheme
1:22 I've just last week picked that Revell P51-D kit as a gift from a friend, wish I had bothered to check the tooling on scalemates beforehand though! It's an atrocious kit really and absolutely should not still have been being released by Revell as recently as 2019!
Very true
Hey Matt some of the kits in this video i could not find build videos for, the kits where the AW Skyhawk, mister craft helicopter and from your other video the fairy fulmar.Do you know where I could find build videos for them?
As mentioned in the video, some of the particular models shown haven't yet had the build videos edited an uploaded - make sure you have those notifications on so that you know when they are :)
@@ModelMinutes ok I’ll watch for them
Where do you find that USS Missouri?
it was in one of "the works" shops some time ago
I hadn't built a model kit in over 25 years, but my sister bought me the Star Trek TOS Enterprise model for Christmas so I decided to buy and build some others to practice. So my guess is that these first 5 models are going to be my worst of 2022 (since I didn't start in 2021, lol), but we'll see I guess. Currently finishing my first, the Airfix P40 Warhawk 1:72. Build is looking good, we'll see how I paint, lol.
Thanks for the info!
About the craft and canvas paints, although these are pretty hard to use with brush, if you have an airbrush it's another story, totally usable and I say that as an Acrilex and Corfix (Brazilian budget paints) user myself, here Humbrol, Tamiya, Vallejo and Revell cost between 100%-300% more than Acrilex paints and are hard to find, so if you're stuck with a model half done because you lack a specific paint it's completely alright to use those, specially the ones for crafting (wood, metal, PET), you just have to be patient and take your time applying coats.
Edit: grammar
thanks for the ideas!
@@ModelMinutes i would recommend you to try again with an airbrush, i too have the same Aliexpress kit with a mini compressor and it works pretty well, just don't dilute the paints with just water, use some kind of airbrush thinner or flow improver like the Vallejo ones, you can also make one yourself using some easy to find products, i personally use ethyl alcohol 70° + water in a 30%/70%, mix those 2 and than add Veja Vidrex Cristal, which is a glass cleaning product in a 50%/50% with that other mix, this glass cleaning product works as an flow improver while the water + alcohol help in the quick setting. When you mix it with the paint it should be a little heavier than milk, your airbrush will be just fine, it just need to be light enough to pass through the needle, test it with a plastic spoon, i would recommend using primer before applying the coats, if you don't have a primer it will work just fine but the first coats need to be lighter, also never let it be wet on the surface, you need to stop spraying right before that point and let it dry a little and you can use the air of the airbrush to help it dry quickly. There are some tutorials here on TH-cam that explain this use pretty well. There is a video of a TH-camr called Barbatos Rex that helped me a lot with this process i would recommend you to watch that if you want to try it. Hugs from Brazil my friend.
Edit: changed some words for a better understanding since english is not my main language.
Oh no - I have that 48th scale Academy 500D police helicopter - now I’m afraid, haha. I built the normal one with the army scheme earlier this year and didn’t have issues with those decals. Hopefully my ones are better?
fingers crossed!
I could be wrong but the LERX's on the F-16 dont look wide enough.
they probably arent
As I posted a while ago... maybe here Matt? a kit boxed 'vintage' /could/ mean what is being modeled is an old type not that the model itself is old so it's an ambiguous term, thus I agree with the main point that more transparency is preferable. On that note the Seahawk is IMHO very naughty as it's sold in a new style box but the kit inside is old. Personally I'd knock it down a place for that alone.
that is a good point
Unrelated but do you have any ship kits that are easy and simple to make?
the airfix mary rose is not too bad
Excellent description of that F-16. It does look like someone designed it from memory. It does look like the nose was attached upside down, but it’s funny what little difference that makes on this particular Viper.
Yeah, and the canopy just looks 'wrong' - too flat!! In fact the whole aircraft just looks a bit too long and flat; except for the tail fin which looks too thick and oversized, and doesn't appear to fit on the fuselage perpendicular....!!
A decent 1/144 modern warbird is the Revell F-15E...it looks 'right'; even the decals are good!! 😊
I tried the nose both ways up originally, and it looked worse the other way :P
Yep, that horrible canopy is the first thing I noticed.
Woohoo!! Made it 🎉🎉🎉🎉
I have nightmares from the craft paint Zero still 🤣😂
haha :P
Believe me, using a airbrush is a good thing
depends i suppose
Didnt really build any Bad kits in 2021 but rather i finally finished a VOLVO FH 16 that i started in 2019. Fitment was Quite akward and sometimes the instructions blatantly Lied to where the Part needed to go. It looks somewhat okay now next to my Scania 143 H Torpedo.
sad times :(
Good lord that F16 canopy is 15 kinds of wrong.
Lol yup
My worst kit of 2021 was the Airfix, 1/72 scale Fiesler Storch. A very old kit rereleased displaying all the Airfix "features" that had us all flocking to Tamiya back in the 1970s; flash, fiddly, fragile parts, and even some warped parts.
I’ve got two of those in the stash, it didn’t look great 😂
I just built one in the desert scheme, and have a second I will do in the green camo scheme. The canopy gave me fits, leaving a huge gap on top. Filled with Mod Podge.
The worst decals I had was the 1:700 trumpeter uss New Jersey bb62. They were falling apart in the water. Ended up painting way more than I would like
:(
My worst build and worst kit is the Lindbergh Line USS Olimpia. Tons of flash nothing fitting correctly. Plus a single sheet for instructions.
sounds pretty bad
Been building models for most of my 65 years. I can appreciate newer better detailed kits, but also still enjoy the old vintage kits - original and repop.
My considered "worst" kits are the off-scale kits by Starfix of Israel. Utterly horrid!
yeah, i can imagine!
Good review! I have an old Airfix Blenheim Mk IV that came in the VC four plane box set that I actually could not build the moulding was that bad.....
sad times :(
Thanks for sharing Matt happy new year
Happy new year!
Wow! I have to ask, how long have you been building models? The reason I ask is I can't believe you are trying to hand brush paint them rather than using far better and more realistic spray or, even better, air brush application. Please don't take this wrong, but that paint job on the Airfix "0" is something you might expect a 5 year old to do. It is just horrible! Like you said, the model itself is fine which is typical of Airfix kits. Oh well. I am likely a bit more critical than some as I have been building model kits for about 68 of my 74 years.
I have an Airfix 4-Stroke Engine kit that I built, I think, back in the mid 1980s. It is my first and only Airfix model, but I have to say it was a very accurate and well molded kit that assembled with no issues. I spray painted it and the finish looks as good as a full size commercially made one. I keep it covered and it looks as good today as when I built some 38 or so years ago! 😉
Thanks for your thoughts. As mentioned in the video, these are the worst kits I built that year for a reason…
I’ve been building on and off for about 15 years and I think it would be worth checking the companion video to this where I look at the best kits I built that year for a comparison
@@ModelMinutes - I guess the problem I have with your comment is you say the Airfix is absolutely fine and has no business being on your list. I agree 100%, because it is not the model that is bad, it's your paint job. You can't criticize the model for that!
@@Loulovesspeed yeah, I know, that model was built as part of a challenge and worth watching that video for more context
It seems to me from this video that Airfix is a brand to stay away. I just ordered two Eduard - Profi-pack BF-109 and Profi-pack Spitfire. When I was a kid I always felt guilty because I really love the German aircraft from WWII. Now that I'm older I realize you can appreciate the engineering without thinking you are a Nazi :D The BF109, BF 110, and JU 87 are some of my favorites. I like the P-61 as well which is another night fighter like the BF 110. I like the Spitfire, Hurricane, and Mustang as well. :D I forgot to add the iconic F4U which got me into WWII planes in the first place, after watching Black Sheep with my dad growing up. Dad was a machinist at Northrup, so I grew up around aviation.
Airfix does make reasonably ok kits, but they tend to market themselves a little higher whilst generally being considered a bit of a budget brand. Eduard is one of the best manufacturers i've experienced so far
I’m sorry you think that about Airfix. Quite some years ago the (then) new tool Mk1 Spitfire in 1/48 attracted a cacophony of derision for certain aspects of the kit. This, despite the fact that it was (then) the most accurate Mk1 Spit available - as Edgar Brooks confirmed more than once.
So I built one with simple adaptions that easily addressed the ‘faults’ and posted it on Hyperscale, describing what I did. The critics were universally silent and the puerile game of ‘Airfix bashing’ for the Spit ceased as the build simply revealed the shortcomings of the trolls.
Airfix have since made huge and overt strides in quality and are turning out lovely kits. I built the 1/24 bubble top Typhoon as a test shot back in 2014 and the car door version (also a test shot) in 2015. Great kits and followed by test shots I also had the pleasure of building of a bunch of other Airfix offerings, including the 1/48 Hurricane, Spitfire and others.
No kits, from any manufacture, are completely free of aspects that’ll need fettling, so the real trick is being discerning about who you listen to if you’re interested in a particular subject…
@@stevenbudd3725 as I always say, every manufacturer makes some good kits, with some also less than perfect offerings too. I’ll give kits credit where it’s due, but my criticism of Airfix in recent times is mostly due to their very public voice about striving for quality and detail, which in comparison to other brands, they tend to fall short
No need to feel bad about preferring German aircraft. I prefer German WW2 armour simply because the camouflage schemes are much more variable as oppose to the 'bog standard' dark green or light stone for Allied armour.
The newer Airfix kits, especially 1/48 scale WWII planes, are quite good. Beats Tamiya for detail and quality.
Their older 1/72 kits remind me of old Aurora and Hawk kits. Simplistic.
Its kinda weird to se the wolf pack 8th fighter wing f-16, i have worked on that exact jet before
nice!
My friend, there’s no bad models just bad modelers. Keep at it you are on the right track.
whilst i appreciate the support, there are definitely model kits which are objectively bad quality
That’s simply not true. If you choose to spend your money on low quality kits and then spend extra time fixing the flaws, that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean you’re a better modeller. There’s no excuse for low quality kits in 2022.
That's why I believe in box reviews are not useful.
It would be better if experienced modelers showed the assembled kit and procede to explain the problems they faced.
And as you said sometimes the instructions can be tricky as well, no matter how old a kit is.
Just a little thought.
All the best for 2022!
However, this is also why 'in-box' kit reviews are VERY useful... if a manufacturer is re-boxing a 20 - 50 year old kit in a modern box, then you, the buyer should be made aware of that.... you then know to expect no cockpit interior details, and that there's maybe only a pilot figure to glue onto a couple of pegs.....not what you'd expect to find today in a £10-20 72nd scale kit....but still could find if there were no in-box reviews... ;-)
what steve said
After watching a bunch of your videos I’m starting off 2022 with ww2 models. I bought a couple of starter Airfix kits and I’m excited to get started. I’ve built many Gundams but those don’t REQUIRE glue or paint so I’m a little nervous but still very excited to branch out
Sounds great! I'd probably order some extra paints for those starter sets though, it seems that Airfix has a bit of a quality control issue at the moment and the paints are arriving all dried up
@@ModelMinutes yeah I noticed:/ 4 of the 10 total paints that came from both kits were dried up. Definitely need to go shopping for paints this weekend
#1: RS Models 1/72 Heinkel He-280.
Odd, really vinylie plastic doesn't like paint or glue. Vague location marks and chunky detail. The decals look good indeed.
sounds pretty bad
I just found your channel, great to see a fellow modeller who’s models are attacked by dust before we’ve even finished them 😭
They really are! I like to think my workspace is fairly clean, but small fibres manage to find their way on to them
I would say avoid kits that come with paint, these are made to get kids into modelling, but because the paint is crap puts most of them off, wash your model in soap and water it gets rid of the mold release agents and grease before you start to build, the paint will cover much better, buy some better brushes or use an airbrush if you can afford one, join a model club and in time you will learn which kits to avoid, [ reboxed or very very old kits ]
good tips
I immediately trash those little tubs of Humbrol paint! Most are dried and useless, others are like finger paint. I have never had luck with Humbrol. I think they send their old out-dated stock to the US.
I think any kits dating to pre 90s should be listed as 'retro' on the box. There are many old 60s kits I enjoy for nostalgia reasons, but I wasn't to know when I'm buying one.
I’d happily settle for the tooling date printed on the box somewhere
@@ModelMinutes Good idea.
The Airfix Battle of Britain 1/76 set Bedford Q.L. tanker was really bad in my eyes.
sad times
I think the way you’re judging them is very fair. I don’t like getting a kit that’s a 50+ year old die or older. More work isn’t the issue, I just want to be informed there will be more work. And thanks for the heads up.
i'm glad you agree :)
That decal soloution is not my fav.. Mr Hobby´s two and Tamiya Mark Fit Super Strong when needed.. :)
micro set and sol is what I currently use for most of my builds, but i do use decalfix on occasion
Hi, thanks for the vids. I've had similar experience of re-boxed kits as late as 2014, when I bought Tamiya 1/48 Zero and FW-190D. I chanced upon the inner surface of the Zero, li and behold... The kit's original molding was made in 1973! Granted Tamiya kits were THE kits back then, but players like Eduard, ICM, Miniarts, and those made in china came up with better tooling, ultra realistic detailing and photoetched parts (which were a luxury in the old days). BTW, the worst kit I built recently was a Banda 1/100 Gun-Tank. So disgusted I threw the whole lot away.
Thanks for letting me know 😊
That Seahawk was brand new the same year my mom was born!
:)
if we don't count the 4-6 unfinished projects that have been unfinished for like 2 years now then I didn't have any bad builds this year lol
nice! :P
Can’t beat a bit of dry fitting, sanding, filler, good brushes and proper paint and an airbrush ay?!!! 😂👍
Indeed, just like the ones in my other video 😂
matt: "not as chaotic as 2020."
me: "try living in Auckland. we've been in lockdown for about four months"
yeah, i can imagine it has been hard
The Aircraft kit years are now over. Pre Jet, prop era is where my interests have been and included flying boats and passenger aircraft. Building over the last two decides, kicked off at Christmas 1959, with gaps inbetween, have seen my available stash slowly reduce leaving only stripes of dust between where kit boxes once sat.
The Submarine building era came along and is now largely over because I chose 1/72 boats to build and few exist in that scale of the German Uboats and American Gato boats that have captured my attention.
Discovered while looking around the Internet are two model subjects that I'm keen to have a crack at building. The NS Savannah produced in a previously unencountered scale: 1/380, and the Korean War era hospital ship, USS HOPE also in an unusual scale - 1/471. Interesting times ahead are predicted.
Let the assembly begin and as soon as can be.
thanks for sharing!
Academy decals are hard to use - I always buy after market decals when building an academy kit
Yeah, they aren't the best
Newer Academy kits i.e. 1/72 Il-2m Shturmovik have decals by Cartograf, some of the best decals you can get.
I'm not sure if you can ever call a 1/2000 ship anything other than meh if I'm honest. What kind of detail are you expecting at that scale?
The moulding could be finer is more my point
THANK YOU MATT I WAS WAITING FOR THIS ❤️❤️❤️
:D
I don't understand the appeal of 72nd scale. Or 700 scale ships. I get it's small for those with limited space but the size just kills detail. They are all generally the right shape of the subject and, yeah...
🤷♂️ each to their own
If payment is expected in modern money then the kit should be to a decent standard.
Exactly
My "worse kit build" of 2021 was probably an Airfix 1:72 (New-ish tool) Folland Gnat. I've built one before but for some reason, the undercarriage was lower on one side than the other when I came to stand it on its wheels. Also one side of the one piece wing to was bent out of shape. It is usually good kit but this time around I didn't do great job of it. That Airfix Sea Hawk was ancient when I built one in the early 1990s. There are better Sea Hawk kits available now I think.
I've built the new Gnat, it wasn't too bad from memory, shame you had those issues with yours though
@@ModelMinutes Yeah its a good kit but people just need to take care with the tricky fit of the legs. There's a lot to fit into not a lot. I was ok with the first one I did of that kit. Onwards!
Tamiya is the only manufacturer I know of who dates the tooling age on the retail boxes which I always pay attention to
Airfix and Beacon Models do it too
@@ModelMinutes im state side I have never seen a beacon model on a shelf here, and I though you mentioning something about not being sure about the airfix models you did as to their mold dates is it a random case of certain models not having their mold dates listed....I default usse scale mates as reference so I get a better picture of what to expect I hate incomplete kits missing essentail parts, but you can take the most basic kit and turn it around wwith some extra work.....I kit bash so I have some experience in making panel line, rivets, fabricating parts from brass sheet etc...but not every one wants to do that or enjoys it which is understandable.....I'am the type of person wwho will buy a track kit for a tank that cost more then the kit lol
My worst kit was revells 57 Ed Roth Chevy that was molded in the early 60s
thanks for sharing
I think the zero looks really cool, mostly the green paint that has lighter areas
Thanks 😊
academy decals usually take longer time to soften
That is true
I do not remember, seeing ,The Hughes build?
Will check it out after your best kits '21, video.
I watched this one first, as modern people, me included, are more passionate about the things we hate, than in the things we like/love.
So worst lists tend to be funnier
That is why ZP's/ Yahtzee's, worst lists, are way funnier, than his likes, lists' as are his negative reviews, compared to ones on games he likes.
As mentioned, some of the videos haven’t been edited yet
Bad paint job on the exterior of the Zero looks fine, as a WW2 Japanese aircraft enthusiast, look at photos of the real aircraft in combat, the paint was terrible and weathered heavily. All Zeroes were painted overall greenish grey ( corrosion protection coat) and then the dark green applied to the upper surface,of note is that the dark green was pigment powder that was mixed with any kind of colour base so blotches and opaque points are fine.
thanks!
Unless you're a sucker for punishment I would recommend buying fewer but better/more expensive kits, the Eduard 1/48 MkI Spit weekend kit is only 12£
I'll be looking at getting different brands once I've cleared some of my stash
This guy is an airfix masochist
@@TheUltimateEel I love pain when it comes to models 😂
Manufacturers are hurting the hobby by cheating customers. Big box stores in the US are covered wall-to-wall with Revell. Because of Revell’s well-earned bad reputation stores aren’t moving kits fast, and narrowing shelf-space for models. This situation is even hurting the chances of good kits like Bandai-that is still available at Hobby Lobby. And there a few newer, well-done Revell kits that no one will touch because the bad reputation.
very good points!
Love your content, keep it up!
Thanks, will do!
My whorse models this year was the academy space shutle. And the revell phantom
:(
For me these are great I legit never finish a kit cuz they always break 😂
Stick with it, I’m sure you’ll get there 😊
plastic kits are for kids. If you MUST do modelling, make balsa kits with labour intensive work.
this is some of the most specific gatekeeping i've ever seen lol
Most of these would have been fine if you gave everything a prime before painting. Painting directly on to plastic without a prime is always going to end up poor.
Yeah, because priming a model makes the included decals better….
@@ModelMinutes many things you can do to make even the worst decals fine. However priming a model before painting is the first thing you should do.
@@petermillar8866 you don’t have to use primer if you don’t want to
@@ModelMinutes This is true but I don't know why you wouldn't. It would avoid the paint separating like it did in this video many a times. You would have a better smooth coat and less coats of paint. You do you though.
@@petermillar8866 which model are your referring to in particular? The only one I had trouble with separating paints was the challenge build… a primer was outside my budget on that one
The Zero, You can hardly mark it down because of your choice of paint.
this isn't just a video on products that I think are bad, its also a reflection on how well they were built which is why that one is included in this list
There are no worse kits.
There are only worse model builders.
lol, someone always leaves this elitist comment on one of these videos. There are bad kits, being poorly designed and manufacturered. If Gordon Ramsey served you up a tin of dog food would you still say there is "no such thing as bad food, only bad chefs" ?
I can definitely see why companies don’t put the tool date me for one if I want a particular kit il get it regardless of age but for some they would be put off and let’s be fair it’s not good business since
yeah, some people like building old tools, but i think it is misleading if they "jazz" them up without telling us
If they are going to still sell vintage kits, then they should only be allowed to sell them for the price that was charged on the original release date (with no adjustment for inflation) 😜
lol, i'll happily buy a kit for 30p :D
But then my stash would be 5 or 6 times the size . . .
Oh yeah.. the Zero.. not your finest hour Matt!
lol, those paints were pretty bad
If academy and mustercraft are so bad why are people still building them?
cheap and present a challenge i suppose, not to mention some of them being kits of subjects that not many other manufacturers do
HI Matt,
Worst build of 2021.......Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer......horrific.......
really? I was under the impression that kit was supposed to be ok
@@ModelMinutes I can only speak from experience of this 1/48 build, just about everything was a challenge on this kit, but at least it didn't end up in the bin. If you feel like a challenge you should try building one!!!!
This is why I no longer buy Airfix kits, The quality just isn't there...
It's a conclusion that seems to be dawning on me over time lol
I've found the new airfix kits are fine. Especially for the price. The older kits do show their age though. Scale mates is the best guide for buying kits.
My worst Model this year was an old Esci/Ertl Huey UH-1D 1/48
This model was cursed👿
Everything that can go wrong
This model did it 😝
sounds bad!
When you paint wings and bodies you should use a flat brush as wide as you can manage. If using acrylics thin with water or matte medium and apply 2-3 thin coats. White is always tricky it is better to spray it. Pointed brushes are for details you will never get a clean flat coat using one without a lot of skill and effort. Also don't put paint more than halfway up the brush it ruins them quickly and splays out the tip.
thanks for the info
Meanwhile I fail to glue my Fw-190F-8s landing legs on
sad times :(
That Zero, built it before, Its the best budget Zero you can get, there is no other competition for that price
Personally I say you shouldn't include challenge kits for this video, because they will not be up to your usual standard making them look worse
like i mentioned at the beginning, its a retrospective of my modelling over the year, that Airfix zero (in my opinion) is indeed the worst kit I built this year because it looks horrible. This video isn't just a review of whether a kit is good or bad but also based on how well i completed them
A bit unfair on the Zero model, Matt, when you admit it's only on the list due to your use of poor and inferior paints 🤔
As mentioned, this is a list of my worst kits based not only on the quality of the kit but my construction and completion of them, I just don’t think I did a particularly good job of it
@@ModelMinutes Fair enough, Matt, I like your honesty
The 1:72 Mustang from Revell is so bad
that's very true!
No really, who doesn't love paying full RRP for a 35+ yr old molding.
😂
Deco art paint works very well
Thanks for the tip!
@@ModelMinutes also,I was so fucked up when I discovered that I just bought the number 1 worst kit on this list&3!@
The kits are mot bad you are just mot doing right
Looks like we found another one…
If I fed you cat food, would we complain that you weren’t eating it t’right?
Similar to your spelling.
Tamiya 🔛🔝
I think Tamiya's place at the top is being challenged more and more these days
Way to small for me can't even see 1/35 clear
There are some rather nice kits in 1/24 out there
While many of these kits aren't that great neither is your build quality.
Yeah, I’m a pretty bad modeller, possibly the worst on TH-cam
The kits are not as bad as the modeler.
Guys, we found another one
A skilled modeller can achieve good results regardless the kit...looks to me you don't put much of an effort into them.
It’s a well known fact that I’m the laziest modeller on TH-cam
@@ModelMinutes buy diecast..😄
@@vincentroelofs8908 sounds like effort 😂
Worst kit of 2021 ....... started in 2019, molds from the 1960s?
Hummmmm! Is this like a "Special Military Operation"???
Special modelling operation
Nice intro music
thanks :D
You're welcome :)
So not the actual kits then but your inability to build them correctly.
Did you not watch the video? I literally said that at the beginning . . .
This is an honest review of not only the quality of some of the kits I built this year, but my ability to complete them
Jeez, you are using a brush most of the time, as well as that it’s “airfix”- which is shit
handpainting is quite a specific skill to get good results in comparison to an airbrush
Hi
👋