So the new Border Model Stug III G interior kit arrived yesterday. I have been waiting on this kit since it was first announced over a year ago…
I break into the box, and find a sprue molding error - hopefully a “one off”, but just curious if anyone else has experienced an issue?
I personally never had a “production” error so bad, BUT… when I saw the picture, the very first thing I thought was, “man that’s cool, they are doing battle damage”. Yes, at today’s prices, I shouldn’t be co cavalier, but, when you get a bunch of lemons, make lemonade…
LOL…At first I thought it was an optional part that would allow visualization of the engine - as it appears to be intentional, the edges are very smooth. So I went looking for the alternate part, and there is none. A quick check of the instructions shows this part very much intact.
If you got it at a hobby shop on the internet I would contact them…they should replace it for you…EBay or Aliexpress I think you might be out of luck, unfortunately.
Short shot - molten plastic did not reach that area .
I have reached out to Luckymodel where I purchased it from - to my surprise, I have not heard back from them yet, I am hoping that I will soon as they are normally pretty quick to reply to an issue.
Why not reach out directly to Border Model?
I had one tiny part that was not fully moulded, and It is not visible.
There are some fit issues as well, but the kit does look good as you build it.
Well, mine does. Yours obviously has some significant issues.
I have - through the Facebook page, with the only reply being “thank you please wait”…not sure how to interpret that, and my request for what the answer means has gone unanswered.
That may be the worst short shot I’ve ever seen. Surprised that even made it into the box. I hope that is not a common thing with Border.
Ken
Battle damage ??? 
I will say that Spruebrothers and Meng have been very helpful in replacing missing parts,I try to stay with reliable sources,even if I have to pass up a “bargain”.
Hopefully some one resolves your problem to your satisfaction
You may have to be patient, if they do contact you back…they are on Chinese time.
Happened to me about 3 years ago with Takom’s M47…short shot on the front hull. HobbyLinkJapan replaced the sprue with 2-day air from Japan.
A short shot like that should not be happening in such a modern kit. I’ve heard/read of it happening in much older, lower-quality, and cheaper kits, but I understand Border Models to be on the higher end of the quality spectrum. I guess that it could happen from time to time.
I can understand how it happens from a production standpoint but how does a flaw like that get past quality control ? Do they only examine sprues at certain or random intervals?
There is no way of checking every sprue. No production facility of any kind can check every single item or every part or piece of something. These parts are not be made in a garage or by hand, they are being made on production lines. Quality control programs will typically list the frequency of testing/checking, i.e. one test or inspection every 1000 pieces or every 10,000ft2, etc., etc. All these plants are automated and once they start they probably have a single operator (or in the case of some facilities, the operators are on multiple lines and aren’t dedicated to one line) and the operators don’t typically do the quality control. Unfortunately, any product made at these types of production facilities are invariably going to have defective items that aren’t caught by the QC as no system is perfect.
Sorry to say but this is a error rate calculated in every product and service, cars planes and nuclear reactors including. Frankly I have made changes in a running bussiness only if revenue was at risk. One customer is not a revenue risk.
An update - I purchased through Luckymodel - they are going to try and replace the part, but have to wait on Border Models.
I reached out to Border Models who replied with: “where did you buy it. hobbyeasy? You ask them and they will send you the parts.” Beyond that there is no other reply from them when I tried asking how long it will take them to send the replacement parts to Luckymodel.
I have to say in the past Luckymodel has been good about replacing parts, so in the long run I should be fine, it would just be nice being able to break into the kit and get building.
I’m not sure why this is Lucky’s problem? Shouldn’t Border stand behind their product?
Scratching my head on this.
One would think so - but my guess is that Border supplies the seller with the replacement parts, the same way they would provide the product to sell.
Border’s “brush-off” attitude is not the best I would say.
