Sidney Schwartz Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 Any comments on the quality of Testor's model kits? They make versions of a couple of cars I'm interested in.
Snake45 Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 They've made some, and imported/rebadged many, MANY others. Quality of these is all over the place. You'll have to ask about specific kits to get a meaningful answer.
Crazy Ed Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 All the Testor Kits I have are repops of Heller Kits. Serviceable but things like engine detail could be (in some cases Lots) better.
Fat Brian Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 It depends on who made the original kit, some are reboxes of Fujimi kits and are good to excellent while kits from other manufacturers can be pretty bad. You really have to go kit by kit, since they are all repops of other companies kits there isn't a "brand quality" that is consistent one to another.
fseva Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 I was reading a back issue yesterday, and they had a piece on Testors Dodge Daytona. Cons include - the body was painted the wrong color, and the paint had some orange peel; the louvers on the functioning doors looked oversized; center ridge on hood is too thick; the nose sits too high; the "bubbles" on top of the fenders to allow more suspension travel are mounted too far forward; vertical stabilizers on wing don't slant enough toward the rear. Now, the pros - flawless chrome, 2 sets of wheels and tires. Finally, the problems with the inaccurate body may not be fixable because of the diecast metal body.
Miatatom Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 OK, I'll ask about one in my stash. It's the Jim Clark #82 Lotus Ford. Good, difficult, ?
Draggon Posted May 7, 2015 Posted May 7, 2015 (edited) It doesnt look too good from this pic. On the other hand, this is the turbine version. Is this the one your'e looking at? Edited May 7, 2015 by Draggon
Sidney Schwartz Posted May 7, 2015 Author Posted May 7, 2015 That's the only Testor Vette I've seen Glenn. Based on the comments here, I think I'll not take a chance on Testor's kits. There are lots of other Vette's to choose from. Thanks everyone for the education.
Fat Brian Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 OK, I'll ask about one in my stash. It's the Jim Clark #82 Lotus Ford. Good, difficult, ? The only other kit of that I can find was done by IMC back in the sixties which makes sense because Testors did release other IMC kits. If it is there's it should be decent but kind of fiddly, IMC originally made the Dodge L700 that was recently released under the Lindberg name and you can read some threads about it to get an idea of their quality. Their kits were ambitious for their time but the execution was spotty.
Art Anderson Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 FWIW, Testors themselves never did produce any of their own model kits that I ever saw. What they did offer were, at first, reissues from Hawk and IMC, both lines they acquired about this time in 1975. After that, Testors imported "bagged shots" (complete model kits, but not already boxed for sale--as such, they came through US Customs as "unassembled wooden toys" (yup, that was a standard US Customs, even Interstate Commerce designation for model kits of all sorts well into the 1980's!), and then proceeded to box those kits in their own, legendary "yellow boxes". So, the model kits Testors offered were a wide spectrum, both in scales, subject matter, and design characteristics. Art
Drake69 Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 Here's one.... This..... Is the same as this.... Which originally started off as this Fujimi kit..... And none of these kits have the factory sawblade wheels (they are available in other kits...).
Monty Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 That's the only Testor Vette I've seen Glenn. Based on the comments here, I think I'll not take a chance on Testor's kits. There are lots of other Vette's to choose from. Thanks everyone for the education. Looks like they may have issued that hot mess more than once. Another one to leave alone: The ARII 1/24 '80 Corvette kit. It's a curbsider with beautiful wheels and tires, but the body is noticeably "off" from the C-pillar back.
Snake45 Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 I think I have one of those Vettes in a Lindberg box, along with a similar '70 or '80 Mustang.
Monty Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 What about this one...? Here are some '68s that other members have built. http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=85375 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=100274 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=19231&p=168864 http://www.modelcarsmag.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=79417&p=1011511 Looks like it's fairly accurate and it appears to be a straightforward build. Some people are upgrading to the new AMT tampo-printed Polyglas RWL tires. I think they offer a redline tire as well, which would also be accurate for this car. Are you just looking for any C3 ('68 - '82) or did you have a specific year in mind that you were interested in building?
Snake45 Posted May 8, 2015 Posted May 8, 2015 What about this one...? That's a nice kit. I've built a couple different variants of it, and will be building more.
Sidney Schwartz Posted May 8, 2015 Author Posted May 8, 2015 Here are some '68s that other members have built. Thanks...I should have thought to check the galleries. It does look like a nice model. I really have no specific year in mind. It depends on the kit and what options it offers. I'd like to eventually build at least one example of each of the major 'Vette models, at least through the '80's.
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now