You are walkin thru yer fave LHS, hoping you still have one in your town, and you spot a “Gorgeously” illustrated kit box of a …fill in the blank…and you just KNOW you have to buy it, site unseen. You get it home, open the box, and…OMG…look at all those TINY parts…MILLIONS of 'em…and you do some dry fitting, and the once instant elation you had with the artwork suddenly loses it’s appeal. Been there so many times you’d think I would LEARN sumthin…nope, not a chance…LOL…! But that’s how really good kit makers get you…GREAT artwork on the box front. Kudos to the marketing dept., as this is a sure fire way to make sales. I am not “really” complaining, just wondering what others think along these lines…?
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Yep. Takom’s 1/35 Mk.IV tank.
Had to have it the second I saw it. Then I saw the tracks once I got it home.
5 parts per link. Around 200 links. Can’t imagine anything more tedious and pointless.
I’m lucky that my LHS is less than a ten minute walk from the house. Stocked to the rafters with everything you could ever wish for. I also have a shop near where I work, but he’s mostly railway and only tends to stock Airfix.
Great to hear you have a well stocked HS. If have a min, chk out HobbySense up here in Winnipeg…Igor has been hear for about 2 years and he has an AWESOME selection. I saw that Mk.IV when it came in. Bought it, got home, and turned right around and returned it for a Tamiya Mercedes GT3…!!!
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I don’t think that I’ve chosen a kit to buy based off of the box art since I was a schoolboy long ago. And then the model companies went and started putting photos of the built model on the box top instead, and those dramatic alluring box top artworks were a thing of the past. Sure box top artwork did make a comeback later on. But it never really swayed my kit choice decision making at that point.
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In my younger days I was swayed by some of the great art on Revell kits, especially the FW 200 Condor, AVRO Lancaster “Dambuster”, and F-111. Never did get the FW 200.
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OH MAN…!! Do I ever remember that Lanc…forgot all about it…thanks for the memory buddy… 
Oh yeah. The rubber band for the bomb rolling belt… memories alright.
I must admit that I have significantly lowered my standards when it comes to kits.
I just do not like the mdern ones with a million and one small parts. And I do not want to assemble a track with every nut, bolt, link and pad. Think it is ridiculous and would drive me insane. Had a tiny part of my Zvezda T34/85 zing away just the other day…
Instead I have turned around and buy the older kits again. Simple, no-nonsense building, never attaining modelshow levels, but that was never the intention or goal to begin with. Plus I get to buy 3 older kits for the price of 1 current kit.
However there is one modern kit I just must have;Takom’s British Mk.I (fe)male…
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I have had similar experiences but sort of the other way around.
Saw the box-art, fell in love, lost all ability of rational thought, got it home, checked the instructions and the parts and REALISED the truth.
Ugly, oversized, clunky parts that do not look anything like the box art.
Tracks were rubber belts with some sort of profiling on the outside that vaguely resembled track pads et.c, the inside of the belt had a fine corrugation/serration to fit the “sprocket” wannabees. The “sprockets” had a pattern resembling sprocket teeth on the outside. the surface in contact with the tracks, sorry, the rubber belts, had a serration to fit the inside of the belts.
I managed to find some other tracks and reshaped the sprockets. It is now one of my oldest shelf queens. I have not given up on it yet but if a better kit turns up someday this abomination will hit the bottom of the trash bin at baseball fastball speed.
your right about some of these tracks !!! i wont buy certain manufactures because of their tracks !
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I don’t know why they made them multi part. Both Tamiya and Meng managed to make single piece click together links.
I’ve read a few reviews that say they’re a nightmare to assemble.
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You have the wrong attitude. Think of each link as a separate kit! That’s 200_ kits for the price of one!
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If I start tonight, I might finish a run by Christmas.
On the plus side the hull halves I did put together were flawless. Perfect fit.
I don’t really have a model shop near me. The big train store has some models but it’s an odd selection with high prices. I would love to be able to wander around and fondle boxes of plastic but I guess that won’t happen.
Hey Phantom…I KNOW…it drives me CRAZY…! Other makers can make snap together links with no fuss, but those multi-part links are a GIANT PITA…especially when they make you put on individual track horns…REALLY…!!! Unless it’s a Russian tank or German WWII unit, most modern tanks have “live tracks” which have no sag, and most have some sort of side skirts or armour/sand skirts, so in the end it’s not worth it…or just do the bottom links that show…forget the top run
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You never had to work on real tracks on a tracked AFV did you? 
They don’t show that in the recruiting brochures or commercials…
I don’t care for most of the latest high parts count multi media kits much either. I’m more middle of the road in my kit choices nowadays.
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Hey Phil, THAT really sucks…not having a RLHS near you. In the last 4 years, we lost FIVE shops to the online behemoth. When is was a yungin, we had 12 LHS’s in our town, and I spent every nickel I had and every Saturday at them…great memories for sure.
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Yeah I don’t understand it. Slap on a load of mud and any detail that a multi-part gives you is lost anyway. Especially with something like a WW1 tank
HOLY CRAP…you read my mind…!! The internet and some of the rivet counting crowd at our local IPMS club, are all going on ad nausea about wanting MORE detail from tracks and such, then they go and toss on half a frikkin pound of dirt, grease, sand, mud, and some kitchen sink parts, so all the detail is gone…LOL…!!!
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Multi-part, just for the sake of it is one of my pet hates. After just building the Miniart AEC Armoured Car mk III, with so many delicate parts already broken on the sprue to begin with, I have to ask - why?Why did they feel it necessary to make so many assemblies in 3 times the number of parts really needed - and with paper thin etch that you can bend by breathing on it (almost). 99% of modellers making the kit are not going to show it upside down, or on its side, so the zillions of parts hidden from view when on its wheels is quite pointless.
Then again, when a lot of your modelling life has been centred on scratch building, multi-part kits and especially tracks are a doddle. I guess it is what you become used to, and what the end result you want is. What pains me, is when the multi part tracks are of a plastic resistant to solvent (aka AFV Club T-80 tracks) and they just fall apart.
I have built many sets of Bronco Sherman tracks, etc, but usually I do the clean up when SWMBO complains she wants me to sit with her while she watches her type of TV show… the hours in the lounge fly quite quickly then… 
Getting back on topic, I doubt there is a modeller alive that has not been lured by the nice shiny box top and expectations far above what is delivered… or their own skill level was below par to do the kit justice. Yes, guilty on all accounts.
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