RE: [AMD] Worst/The most & least authentic airliner kits

I'll throw my two cents in here and agree fully with David on this. In my
mind, there is no such thing as an 'unbuildable' kit. It is merely degrees
of difficulty and challenges. With some models you can use all the parts
that came in the kit, straight out of the box. With other models, you will
have to modify the parts or even create new ones. What it boils down to is
not the quality of the kit as much as what the modeler is happy with. The
closer to a particular subject a modeler is, the more noticeable the errors
that are present in every kit. It is then up to the modeler to decide if it
is worth the time to fix those errors, or choose a different kit that has
fewer errors.

A great example is one that I have had on my workbench for a while now.
It's the Trumpeter Xian FBC-1, and while not an airliner it does provide an
example of how a horribly inaccurate kit can be corrected. In this case,
the entire model was made from drawings that were correct in profile height,
but incorrect in profile length, by about an inch or so. The drawings were
compressed, so there's not just one area where you can add a 1" plug and
call it good. So I sectioned the fuselage into many pieces (I'd have to dig
it out again, but I think I made 6 cuts) and inserted plugs. I sectioned
the wings and tailplanes similarly, but had to put a tapered plug in those,
to properly stretch out the sweep of those. When I get to that part, I'll
have to vacuform a new canopy. Out of the box, I'll use the seats and
landing gear pretty much stock. Probably the exhaust pipes, too.

In the above example, I'd probably rate that one a double black diamond
(North American skiers will know that reference; others check out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpine_skiing#Ski_trail_ratings). In fact,
perhaps a similar system would work for modeling. Again using the above
example, it could be rated double black diamond on a green circle, as
building it OOB is really easy, but making it accurate is very difficult
(but still possible).

The only problem I could see would be rating a Mach 2 kit. Black diamond
for the OOB Caravelle build, double black diamond for the accurate build
(another one in my stash 'to do' list). Hmmm.... :-)

Sincerely,
Chris Banyai-Riepl
Publisher
Internet Modeler
http://www.internetmodeler.com

------------------------------------

To Post a message, send it to: airlinermodelling@yahooGroups.com

To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: airlinermodelling-unsubscribe@yahooGroups.com
home pages:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/airlinermodelling
http://amd.zveza-zgpms.si/
Photos of your models in .jpg format (less than 100K size)? send to: blaz.selih@email.si
Moderators:
Niels Sampath at: niels@north-star.fsnet.co.uk
and Paul Matthews:

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/airlinermodelling/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/airlinermodelling/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:airlinermodelling-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:airlinermodelling-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
airlinermodelling-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/