\ said:
Oh yeah. I mean kits have come a long way since the 90's and the accuracy of the tooling is simply astonishing these days. I also agree that you get more joy and appreciation from a kit that is challenging and tests skills to the limit. Unfortunately though some kits seem to lack certain details that simply just don't seem to make sense from a modeling point of view, but they make sense from cost of manufacturing. Personally I think a 1/12 scale kit with no opening doors is a travesty, and it's got cost cutting all over it which does nothing for the modeler but frustrate.
I wholeheartedly agree, some of the stuff in the 90 ' was atrocious and sadly some of that stuff is still being moulded and thrown in to new boxes with glitzy box art and unfortunately some of these models are being purchased by 'new to modelling' buyers full of anticipation of producing something stunning and after starting the build realise that the box of plastic bits just don't fit (exactly as they didn't 20 years previous) their enthusiasm falls away and the box of plastic bits ends up as a recycling opportunity. The only kits from the 90 ' that have stood up to the test of time is
Tamiya, they are as good today as they were back then and thankfully manufacturers other than
Tamiya have kept up by retooling kits and new tools (the words 'new tools' are words to my ears! ) which hopefully will help new modellers succeed and become seasoned modellers. I just hope and pray that the new modellers don't pick up a 1975 re boxed monogram kit under the
revell banner, these I think are only be suitable for a modeller that wants a challenge and not a quick build. I think manufacturers should be more honest and advertise the fact that the kit in the box is one of the older generation of kits and up the skill level accordingly (I am aware that
revell do this with their re boxed offerings of matchbox stuff, but only if you read the small print....It just says 'classic moulding'!)
And yes, marketing a 1/12 kit without opening doors and other items amiss such as moulded in windscreen wipers, non posable front wheels is most certainly a travesty, especially considering that apart from opening doors, the rest has been done in 1/24 scale.