Faulty Parts In New Kits

[carparkthrasher]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks back I secured a BNIB 1987 Clodbuster which I have now built up. Seeing as I prefered the Blue look, I found some F parts on the EBay credit card killer site and built it with those. This left me with the original Red F parts which I didn't need so I promoptly auctioned them on. Imagine my horror when the winning bidder, contacted me on receipt of the good to say that the molding was faulty and one of the bumpers was incomplete. I checked out the photos I took for the listing and blow me, the mold was in error and the bumper part stopped 2 thirds of the way along.

I appreciate this serves me right for not checking the part thoroughly before lsiting but I have never had this before and took the parts (still wrapped) out of the box, took some pictures then put them in an envelope for dispatch. It didn't occur to me to check it that much!

Thinking about it now, when I got my TL01-RA kit home, I realised I had 2 A parts but no B parts tree (or that sort of thing) and the result was a 2 hr round trip back to Time Tunnel Models. What are you experiences with dodgy kit moments? Parts been missing or incomplete? Was this molding issue well know back in the day?

Just a nerdy question for a Tuesday afternoon...................

[Mad Ax]

I've only ever had one problem with an RC from Tamiya, and that was with a TTG Porsche that I bought from Hong Kong. For some reason, after assembling the rear gearbox the upper part of the rear cage didn't quite line up. Tightening it together with screws only seemed to twist the rear of the chassis. I disassembled and reassembled the whole back end but found the exact same problem. No idea if it was a mistake I made twice, or if it was something wrong with the parts.

It drove OK once it was put together so I never worried about it, and TBH completely forgot about it!

Also, the very front right-hand corner of the spoiler was also damaged on this model. It looked like the lexan was very thin there and had cracked during transit. I didn't worry since I built it as a road car, so the lip-spoiler didn't show anyway.

[BiggusDitchus]

It can be very frustrating! I have just finished building a Durga as I came to fit the front wheels I found one of the front hexes in half along line of pin slot. Now these are aluminium and were like this in a sealed bag.

I have to add a huge thanks goes to Ade at EA models who has given me one from his Durga he uses as parts for his car.

[Mad Ax]

It can be very frustrating!

What is also very frustrating, as I found out yesterday, is when you order a kit from Hong Kong and pay for express shipping 'cos you are so excited, only to tear open the package and find completely the wrong kit inside !!

What's more frustrating is that Hong Kong has opened and closed for business today and yet I have had no reply to last night's email wondering what can be done about exchanging it for the right kit

[carparkthrasher]

What is also very frustrating, as I found out yesterday, is when you order a kit from Hong Kong and pay for express shipping 'cos you are so excited, only to tear open the package and find completely the wrong kit inside !!

What's more frustrating is that Hong Kong has opened and closed for business today and yet I have had no reply to last night's email wondering what can be done about exchanging it for the right kit

Ouch! I thought it was bad enough taking myself back off to the model shop. Getting something back to HK is probably a world of pain and expense!

[4wdmt]

One experience. I bought a NIB Tamiya Pajero Metal Top Wide in a LHS before. The build was going smoothly...up to the part of building the oil shocks. I was surprised that one oil shock reservoir (body) didn't formed well and "kinda" melted halfway. No biggie, went to my LHS the following week and bought those seperate CVA bag parts. Frustrating - yes. Most especially when you are excited to finish the kit. The cost also went up just for buying seperate parts for it.

[sosidge]

The cost also went up just for buying seperate parts for it.

You shouldn't really have to pay to replace faulty parts, I'm surprised to hear that.

Personally I don't think I have ever had any parts missing from an RC kit and this is after building god-knows-how-many of them. I can only think of one faulty part and that was a layshaft in a non-Tamiya touring car that was a fraction of a mm too big in diameter.

I did once have a bad moulding in a Tamiya static kit, but I decided to use it instead to make a car-crash diorama!

[billg4]

I had bought a re-issue brat

body, both, were crushed but box wasn't

Tamiya America wanted them sent in to them and sent me new parts once the recieved the damaged ones

[Mad Ax]

I did once have a bad moulding in a Tamiya static kit, but I decided to use it instead to make a car-crash diorama!

How charming

I once spent ages building and painting an airfix scale Bristol Bulldog aircraft, and was so pleased with my efforts that I couldn't stop picking it up to look at it closer. Of course I dropped it, then lost my balance and stood on it! Less than a day after completing it!

Ruined... But I then built a scale "field" out of cardboard and made a "british aircraft shot down over northern France" display, complete with farmer and tractor (from an Airfix WWII bomber kit)

In a similar vein, I also bought a Mini-4WD Super Astute, which went out of control and ran under my own foot as I was chasing it down the garden path - less than a day after I bought it

[carparkthrasher]

How charming

I once spent ages building and painting an airfix scale Bristol Bulldog aircraft, and was so pleased with my efforts that I couldn't stop picking it up to look at it closer. Of course I dropped it, then lost my balance and stood on it! Less than a day after completing it!

Ruined... But I then built a scale "field" out of cardboard and made a "british aircraft shot down over northern France" display, complete with farmer and tractor (from an Airfix WWII bomber kit)

In a similar vein, I also bought a Mini-4WD Super Astute, which went out of control and ran under my own foot as I was chasing it down the garden path - less than a day after I bought it

heck, now that I think about it...........I managed to drive my newly built mini cooper (BMW flavour) straight into a garden chair, cracking my freshly painted bodyshell seconds after putting the bodyclips on for the first time. Man, my garden was filled with a few choice words after that one!

[Nick83]

I bought a DF-03 Avante MK 2, and the metal driveshaft pieces for the front gearbox were completely rusted and crappy looking. They were totally new and sealed. I built it with them anyway, but that is BS.

[pagedm_f350]

When I built my Super ClodBuster a few years ago the chrome peeled off the front bumper, before it was even mounted, just flaked off all the way along the bottom, you couldn't notice it when it was driving around so it didn't bother me. Other than that can't say I can fault Tamiya's quality control.

[ryanbored]

How charming

I once spent ages building and painting an airfix scale Bristol Bulldog aircraft, and was so pleased with my efforts that I couldn't stop picking it up to look at it closer. Of course I dropped it, then lost my balance and stood on it! Less than a day after completing it!

Ruined... But I then built a scale "field" out of cardboard and made a "british aircraft shot down over northern France" display, complete with farmer and tractor (from an Airfix WWII bomber kit)

In a similar vein, I also bought a Mini-4WD Super Astute, which went out of control and ran under my own foot as I was chasing it down the garden path - less than a day after I bought it

Never get into firearms, i recon you could get the ends confused!!

[markbt73]

Halfway through building a Parma Hemi Coupe kit, I can say that Tamiya's quality is astoundingly good by comparison.

The Hemi Coupe's Lexan bits are all varying thicknesses, trim lines are hard to follow, some of the plastic engine parts are warped, the chassis parts are sloppy, and the instructions, well, there are some sheets of paper with pictures and text on them, but they aren't exactly useful...

Let's put it this way: It's a true American car in the Ford Pinto and Dodge Aspen tradition.

I once did get a Tamiya static kit with no instruction sheet, though. Didn't need it; I was able to build it without.

[secretsg]

Just had one issue. The Touareg came with the wrong differential gears for the axes. Had a half slot instead of a full. Towers just sent a correct differential instead.

[HunterZero]

complete with farmer and tractor (from an Airfix WWII bomber kit)

What was a farmer with his tractor doing with a WWII bomber?

I've only had a couple of kit problems from Tamiya...

1. My TA05 came with both rear uprights broken off the tree. No biggy, I thought - until I needed those parts, and realised I had two rear right uprights, and no rear left upright! Had to wait for a spare to arrive in the mail. In the same kit, I had trouble assembling the centre layshaft, since the hole for the pin through the shaft seemed to be off by a fraction so I couldn't get the retaining clips on with the spools in place. Had to file down the alu spool to get it to fit.

2. My TG10 mk1 came without a fuel tank. I had bought it on the cheap anyway, so didn't care too much and just bought another fuel tank for a few dollars.

- Jim

[Corpse Thrower]

Two instances.

One was my F-201 ferrari, I had 3 rear tyres and 1 front tyre.

The other was my XR-311. The front indicator lens was just a tiny blob on the parts tree instead of a lens shaped part. I was going to ask about a replacement at the time but I didn't know who to ask, since I bought the kit privately off the bay.

[Tamiya_addict]

My TXT-1 caused me grief. The aluminium links rods got scratched up from being in the sam bag as the roll bars. So I simply had the complete chassis anodised black. I'm stable.

2nd issue with te TXT-1 was massive distortion in the servo mounts (side plates).

3rd issue was my new TB-02 from JR-RC. No biggy, but the 540 motor had rattled around in the kit and had scratched up the prop shaft badly, so it was replaced with a TB EVO 3 one.

Basically Tamiya need to package their metal (alloy) components separately from the steel ones.

[adam1973]

When I bought my F350 HL, the chrome parts were poor, the chrome was very faded, not applied properly. I found this out when I bought it from my LHS, I looked in the box before handing over the cash. Something that can be done when buying from LHS's. The shop reodered the chrome parts, which took several weeks, all of this seems very ironic as they need replacing again due to me using the truck.

[Mad Ax]

Never get into firearms, i recon you could get the ends confused!!

This was a long time ago, I'm only half as clumsy now!

What was a farmer with his tractor doing with a WWII bomber?

It was a Short Stirling kit, IIRC, and the tractor and figure were part of the bomb-loading ground crew. I simply painted the tractor Fergusson grey and the crewman in tweed trousers and checked shirt

2nd issue with te TXT-1 was massive distortion in the servo mounts (side plates).

I had this problem too - the plates seem to be made of a wierd soft plastic that doesn't like being molded into flat shapes. Mine were "mostly" OK once bolted up to the diff guards, but still looked a bit off-kilter. Not a problem since I replaced them with top-axle servo mounts anyway.