When I was a pre-teen, I was absolutely car crazy. One summer, while I was visiting my dad, we bought a model car and built it together. I must have built hundreds of models after that.
So, what do I do now for a relaxing hobby? A few years ago, I bought myself a model car - a 1/12-scale 1957 Chevy Coupe. I figured that, being older and wiser (and more patient), I could do a really great job on the car.
I did a pretty good job. With only a few parts left over.
Now, I can't even replace the damn headlights on my REAL car, but I have a decent general knowledge of where the parts are supposed to go, and most models have pretty clear instructions to assist.
I built a nice 1967 Corvette around the same time.
Then I took a breather for a couple of years, until I recently saw and immediately bought a 1/25-scale model of a 1967 Dodge Charger - one of my favorite cars of all time.
I did an okay job, again with only a few parts left over. But these tiny models (the Charger is about eight inches long) have so many teeny-weeny parts, my big fingers and failing eyesight just don't work well with them.
So I bought another 1/12 scale car, one of only a couple, apparently, that I haven't built, a 1969 Camaro. I don't even like Camaros, particularly - just like the large-format model (The Camaro is about a foot long).
I've barely gotten to the second page of the instructions, and this model has just been enormously frstrating, and a tremendous disappointment.
I know there are people who build these things all the time and do a bang-up job. They have a little place in the garage where they airbrush a fine paint job on the body, and use dremel tools and all manner of other instruments to build a little replica of a working vehicle.
I've bought quite a lot of stuff, short of power tools, to assist me in building these things. It seems to me that I, a grown man with reasonable eye-hand coordination and some experience with plastic models, and a great deal of patience, should be able to complete one of these things without tearing out the rest of my hair. I do carefully paint parts as instructed, and I do sand the paint off of the area where I'm going to apply (a judicious amount of) glue to these pieces.
SO, since the makers of the model (Revell-Monogram) "cannot accept email at this time" (but inexplicably CAN send you automated spam about the new kits they're making available...?), let me tell you what's wrong with this model.
This is sort of my fault, but there is a thick piece of plastic in the middle of the windshield area on the body (to support the roof of the car while it's en route to my hobby shop). In cutting this piece out, the edge of the front of the windshield area now has a small gouge in it. But you know, that support piece could've been thinner at the points where it attaches to the body and roof...
It comes with orange, black, clear, transparent red, rubber, wire, tubing, and chrome parts. On the first page, I'm told to paint orange parts black and black parts orange. Large parts. The only reason I needed to buy orange paint was for these black parts. Why, when they were already casting parts out of orange plastic, am I buying orange paint? Why, when they were already casting parts out of black plastic, am I buying black paint?
Most models have parts that connect in a fairly self-evident way: there are holes in one half, and little nubs on the other half that fit neatly into the holes. Not this $35 Camaro model (plus another $40 for paint, thinner, tweezers, etc.)! For example, on the rear of the transmission, there are the typical nubs, but no corresponding holes on the linkage. Further, the instructions show the linkage sort of aimed towards the transmission, without a clear indication of what on the linkage is supposed to match up with what on the transmission.
The starter arm is bent. The starter does not really fit right on the engine block. No nubs, no holes. You're just supposed to dab the glue and lay it there and hope it stays. (It doesn't stay.)
Don't even get me started on the spark plug wires. Okay, get me started. I've only had a few models where spark plug wires were provided. They are little black-plastic-coated copper wires. WHY am I supposed to attach the distributor to the manifold before attaching these wires? WHY don't they provide secure places for the wires on the engine block? WHY is there no guide for making appropriate bends in the wires BEFORE I painstakingly glue them, one by one, into tiny distributor-cap holes, and then, days later, pull them instantly out of those holes when trying to bend them around to nonexistent holes on the engine block? They don't look right with the stiff copper-wire bends anyway.
I'm doing this for relaxation; something other than TV and drinking. I open a beer, turn on football, and cast aside the offensive wires.
The rear support for the tranny does not fit snugly in the area in which it's intended to fit. On other models, this support is just part of the chassis.
On page 2, they show me connecting hoses to the engine. They show the engine NOT YET having the carbs and air cleaner tub on it yet - parts we glued on 10 steps back! It would have been relatively easy to attach those hoses (if they could manage to show precisely where they go) without the air cleaner tub sticking out in the way.
I am painting parts of some parts, trying to stay within the vague lines shown in the instructions. Other parts, such as the steering column, carburetors, starter, and brake cylinder, that should be one piece, mysteriously, need to be glued together and then painted one color.
The place where you attach the lower radiator hose to the engine is an open-sided hole. Since the hose needs to attach to the engine and the radiator assembly, I have to try to get the engine end of the hose piece to stay in that U-shaped opening while pushing the radiator assembly onto the frame, getting the other end of the hose into the hole on the radiator. While struggling with this, my thumb inadvertently slides the radiator cap (yes, it's chrome; YES, I sanded the chrome off of the gluing area!) out of its U-shaped hole atop the radiator. I glued that thing on there almost a WEEK ago -- it took me 15 minutes to get it placed just right with tweezers and a toothpick! If there was a round, non-open-sided, hole for the round radiator cap to sit in, this wouldn't happen! The lower radiator hose now sits to the side, with the damned spark plug wires. I'm not sure where the radiator cap went - it's about 1/8" diameter.
This is all just the engine area, where I've had no trouble before. I dread arriving at my traditional downfall, the suspension.
Now maybe they could say that many skilled modellers have completed these things without parts left over, and without complaints, but how can they if they CANNOT ACCEPT EMAIL?
At every turn on this thing, I have been hugely, HUGELY, frustrated. Mostly because I see exactly how Revell-Monogram could have done it to make it a pleasant experience. Indeed, the other models mentioned here were also Revell-Monogram kits - they've done it right before! Mind you, this is a "skill level 2" (2 of evidently 3, though they don't mention that, nor whether 3 is worse than 2 or vice-versa, on the box) model.
"Okay, here's a pop song. Rate it."
"On a scale of one to ten?"
"No, just a number..."
What the f%$& is a skill-level-3 model like? An empty box, and you build a car from parts you find in a junkyard?!? I'll tell you what. Check a junkyard near me, because that's where most of THESE parts are going. I spent $80 on this piece of crap!