Full Version: Worst model you ever built?
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I got more than I bargained for when I picked up this Cast kit of a Ford LNT tractor, good thing it was only $2

The casting molds weren't tight and spewed a lot of flash out, which was in terrible spots (the door handle) so filing it off was a pain, the roof didn't have enough material on top so i had to file much of it down to make it even, the instructions don't make sense, the picture diagram is horrible, the frame was bent to hell, I could keep going Icon_lol but I still worked on it, but it was the worst so far. Had to make a lot of modifications to it so things would fit and I'm still not done! I actually contemplated throwing it out a few times 35 35

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So what was your worst model you ever built?
I have a similar kit (tank truck) from the same brand. It has also so much flesh. It is since over a year untouched in the cabinet.
An Arbour Models 2-8-4 C&O Kanawha...never finished it and pieces of it still show up in my model work 20 years later, most recently as one of the pumps on my Big Boy. To this day I refuse to believe any of their kits were assembled after they were sold.
Good question!

I've built several over the years and its hard to choose the worst of the bunch.

I suspect it was the Swift Meat Packing Plant by Suydam.That thing just didn't want to go together right but,after some tweaking to get it built it turned into a nice building for that era.
Hard to classify "worst" because some of the kits that had poor instructions or parts are the most rewarding to complete. After all, with all the RTR out there, the only reason to buy a kit is for a challenge and fun, right? Cheers But, if you are asking which kit is the most difficult (or impossible) to build according to the instructions and get to work properly, I say the MDC 3-truck shay. I am convinced it will barely run if built as designed. Of course, modifying it to run well is most of the fun Smile
shaygetz Wrote:An Arbour Models 2-8-4 C&O Kanawha...never finished it and pieces of it still show up in my model work 20 years later, most recently as one of the pumps on my Big Boy. To this day I refuse to believe any of their kits were assembled after they were sold.
Arbour Models?!!!! I had to get new drivers for their Allegheny, and the new ones are one scale inch smaller than the prototype........and they are too big ??!!! The model sits waiting for me to build new frames, side rods, etc.,etc.,etc.
Dont know if yall remeber it or even if they make it any more, But it was the Plasitstruc Refinery kit in N scale. I was about 25yrs old and it was my first scratch built type kit. The picture on the box is desiving to say the least..lol. It was a complete disaster, but I still use parts of it on my layout for other things and most of it went to kitbashing. Now after many models & many years later, Dont think it would even be an issue to put it together.
Sumpter250 Wrote:
shaygetz Wrote:An Arbour Models 2-8-4 C&O Kanawha...never finished it and pieces of it still show up in my model work 20 years later, most recently as one of the pumps on my Big Boy. To this day I refuse to believe any of their kits were assembled after they were sold.
Arbour Models?!!!! I had to get new drivers for their Allegheny, and the new ones are one scale inch smaller than the prototype........and they are too big ??!!! The model sits waiting for me to build new frames, side rods, etc.,etc.,etc.

I picked up a partially assembled Allegheny of ebay about a year ago. Havn't touched it yet though.
Sarge Wrote:I picked up a partially assembled Allegheny of ebay about a year ago. Havn't touched it yet though.

You'll find out why it's partially assembled soon enough...the original owner can probably still be found in a fetal position in the corner of his shop, sobbing like a school girl... Thumbsup
McKean Models HO 62' Centerbeam flatcar kit. The one with the Opera type "windows" (oval holes in the center beam). What a turd that POS turned out to be. The weight was too large to the two halves of the flatcar body, they didn't fit together right as they were not the same size (FAIL!), the parts were warped, the brake rigging was bent and wrong porportioned so it didn't all fit together, it was grossly underweight even when you DID try to shoehorn the weight into the cavity that it didn't fit, the sill steps were tiny fragile and thin, yet other details were double sized, the hand brake wheel looked like it was made for S scale, the trucks looked HORRIBLE, were warped and 3 of the 4 the plastic wheel sets were out of gauge, one GROSSLY (I think it was gauged around 36-40") and the couplers sagged BIG TIME in that piece of plastic they called a coupler box. I got it finished, took one look at it, said something nasty about the amount of $$$ I paid for it (which IIRC in 1997 was around $13.50 or so), and as it sat there, warped, only a few of the 8 wheels actually touching the ground, I got so P.O.'d that I picked it up, dropped it on the floor of the crew room, and proceeded to stomp on it once with my steel toed work boots and carried the remains of it outside and tossed it in a passing scrap gon. The thing was so light weight, only half the pieces made it to the top of the gondola and inside of it. I then went back to work out in the yard and swore I'd never buy another McKean model ever again. A coworker told me he had problems assembling McKean Covered hoppers and told me he'd never buy another of their models either. It's no wonder they are now out of business and deservedly so.