Are model kits too complex?

[Old Wombat]

I don't mind a bit of PE & I don't mind extra detail but, yes, there is a point where it goes from enjoyable to excruciatingly irritating.

I think Eduard are on the right track with their "Weekend" & "ProfiPACK" editions.

(Yes, I know they don't make the kits, it's the idea that counts!)

[dadlamassu]

I now make most kits with our grandsons just as I did about 25 years ago with our own children.  Way back then I usually bought Airfix and Matchbox in groups of 3 kits and all three of us sat around the newspaper covered kitchen table and built the same kit.  Some bits (not many) I had to fit. 

A couple of years ago I tried the same with three of the new (bagged, blue plastic) Airfix Spitfires and two of our three grandsons.  I had to help built the invisible cockpit interiors.  The next week I turned out 3 of the old Airfix Spitfire Mk IX.  These went together easily and the kids were delighted.  Then a couple of weeks after that e-bay and the stash provided 3 old style Bf 109s and the Battle of Britain was on!  Cost when buying models in 4s is a critical consideration.

So there is a case for kits for the home museum grade kits for those who want them, relatively simple kits for starting out and also moderately challenging ones for a soggy week in the holiday caravan.  Also, do not forget the growing number of plastic kits for wargamers ranging from highly accurate multi-part model soldiers to simplified fast built 6 or 7 part tanks. 

My needs vary.  I have just put together a couple of 12 man units of Crusader knights with matching dismounted versions - 4 parts for each horse, 6 to 9 parts per knight for my wargames army.  These took most of a day to assemble - every one animated differently.  On holiday on a wet day with all three grandsons we built and painted 4 boxes of Armourfast tanks (8 models - nice surprise to find 2 per box) and tank battles ensued in the evening for entertainment (and violence suppression).  Soon I will be having a go at a moderately difficult model (for me) - a 1/700 HMS Hood because I want to. 

I need different types of kit except the highly detailed type for many needs.  My elderly eyes and co-ordination are lacking and the carpet monster is currently well fed!  So the really expensive, really complicated kits are not on my list. 

[DogfighterZen]

I think that there's no reason to complain, there are lots of different kits with different detail levels...A few brands have snap-fit, mid and high-end kits. I believe that manufacturers are aware of this issue and are starting to make more entry level kits, so i think it's just a matter of time till there are more options out on the market... Although i agree that some kits have too many sub-assemblies and others have too many parts that wont show after finished but what about the scratch-built interiors? Some people love to wire the back of instrument panels on aircraft, and that will obviously never be seen after it's inside a closed fuselage so, just a matter of choosing kits with a detail level adequate to your taste?
I like the extra detail but i do agree that some kits are over-engineered, but the prices are what i hate the most, some are just ridiculous... Specially Hasegawa's reboxings of old kits... Revell and Italeri have quite a few simple and cheap kits. Academy is also making simpler kits which aren't very expensive, Hobbyboss too... Scale is also a factor, 1/72 kits are always simpler and cheaper than 1/48 i believe... What about the price of 1/32 or 1/24 kits? I really think that there's a lot of choice out there...

[Librarian]

That's the problem for me. Although I tried very hard to break into 1/72 I found my eyesight and hand shakes couldn't cope . I'd waited years for kits of some favourite aircraft in 1/48 and now these marvellous eastern companies are producing them I find some way over-engineered

I was looking at a Tamiya Beaufighter in the stash...beautiful and very simple...then wondered just how many parts HobbyTrump could pack into the box. Could happen as there is a need for earlier marks and maybe even a Merlin variant.

[Rick Lowe]

I was looking at a Tamiya Beaufighter in the stash... there is a need for earlier marks and maybe even a Merlin variant.

If you're willing to try vacforms, have a looky here:

http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/kits.html

#4590, Beaufighter II

FWIW, HTH 

[zenrat]

Kits like the new mould Airfix kits are not making it easy on us whiffers as they have abandoned the traditional construction method of wings with tabs which fit into slots on the side of the fuselage.
This method of construction means it is much easier to swap wings around than on the "modern" way where the wing and fuselage undersides are one piece.

[Librarian]

I was looking at a Tamiya Beaufighter in the stash... there is a need for earlier marks and maybe even a Merlin variant.

If you're willing to try vacforms, have a looky here:

http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/kits.html

#4590, Beaufighter II

FWIW, HTH 

I think my vacuforming days are over...I've serial-killered my fingers by removing my fingerprints with all that sanding

AlleyCat do a very nice early Beaufighter conversion and sourcing the decals from RAF sheets isn't a strain.

Just nice to see some more interesting aircraft instead of the neverending stream of re-hashed new-mold 'classics' from the usual culprits. Western companies are gutless turds when it comes to this...10/10 to the Eastern lot willing to take a risk (OK, their workers are probably on slave-wages etc so development costs are much lower...but still!!).

[kitnut617]

I was looking at a Tamiya Beaufighter in the stash... there is a need for earlier marks and maybe even a Merlin variant.

If you're willing to try vacforms, have a looky here:

http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/kits.html

#4590, Beaufighter II

FWIW, HTH 

See High Planes for an injection Mk.II, or a Mk.V which also had a 4-gun turret

http://www.hpmhobbies.com/high-planes-bristol-beaufighter-mk-ii-merlins-kit-1-72/
http://www.hpmhobbies.com/high-planes-bristol-beaufighter-v-turreted-mk-11-kit-1-72/

[loupgarou]

I think my vacuforming days are over...I've serial-killered my fingers by removing my fingerprints with all that sanding

AlleyCat do a very nice early Beaufighter conversion and sourcing the decals from RAF sheets isn't a strain.

Just nice to see some more interesting aircraft instead of the neverending stream of re-hashed new-mold 'classics' from the usual culprits. Western companies are gutless turds when it comes to this...10/10 to the Eastern lot willing to take a risk (OK, their workers are probably on slave-wages etc so development costs are much lower...but still!!).

That's very useful for bakk robbery and similar hobbies! 

[Librarian]

...but then again some recent 1/48 kits by Trumpeter are simplified. The DeHavilland Hornets and the Spiteful/Seafang have very low part counts. The Me509 would be included but they decided to mold the u/c bays into about four or five separate panels (all three) for no apparent reason (perhaps it simplified the mold )

[jcf]

Has the writer of the article heard of e-bay?
Plenty of simple low parts count kits available there.  It's not compulsory to only build brand new recently released kits.
However, he's right as our recent discussion about the hidden interior parts of the Airfix Shacks shows.

Spencer Pollard builds and reviews models as a profession, so the majority of
hus 'work' is new releases.

[jcf]

Spencer's follow on blog post:
https://thekitbox.wordpress.com/2017/07/08/why-less-really-can-be-more/

[jcf]

A few brands have snap-fit, mid and high-end kits.

And then there's Bandai, whose Gundam and Star Wars kits are all of the above.

[Ifor]

I totally agree with the an earlier post about there a large choice, but I think that's one of the issues. To a certain extent there is a limited choice of the simpler kits which are again mostly older. I remember a great choice of cheaper simpler kits, with some really quite unusual ones and with progressively more difficult ones. It appears that all new kits are complicated and overly expensive. Another thing I've noticed is the number of types of the same kit with only perhaps a slight modification to the model.
Perhaps I'm hankering after a previous age that never was. Anyway I have to go, got to polish the brasses and scrub the pavement.
No dear wasn't sitting down doing nothing, yes dear I can sleep when it's dark.

[Steel Penguin]

the other thing to think of , ( and I hate to act like its a giant conspiracy) is the possibility that more parts mean, easier for the manufacturers, instead of having to think in 3 dimensions, and cut the mould, they can make 2 or 3 far easier to produce parts.
And for a long time, more parts = more complicated kit = charge more = more prestigious kit.
which doesn't always apply.