best kits

[plastictrucker]

Dieseldoc says he despises amt kits.I've built about 20 over the years.I've done ertle internationals and macks,(originally mpc).The ertle are better than amt.I have no real problems with amt.When I built cars I've done all brands each having it's own merits.MY question is what makes an italeri better than a revel better than a monogram,you get the point.Is this the classic chevy vs. ford vs.import type of argument.I think it may have something to do with how old the tooling is.MY next purchase is going to be amt(autocar),but I will try a revell or italeri in the near future.

[Spider]

I'm partial to Revell kits myself. I have AMT also but mainly because for certain things you don't have too much of a choice. I've had my share of problems with both makes of kits but I feel the Revell have better detail and easier to follow instructions.
I just bought two of the AMT Autocar tractor kits and the instructions and parts are not even numbered. The numbering is defines as being the assembly order and there are no numbers or even part legend diagrams. It just seems like a cheap way to do things.
I suppose it is no different than the car argument, each has their preference.

[cdntrucker]

The Italeri kits are very well tooled. The sharp detail and concise build instructions far out does any of the old tooled kits from 20 years ago (who needs instructions... lol). One thing is that the cabs are a multi piece design, meaning that you have a firewall, front fasia, door sides, roof section and back panel. This can be a challenging task to assemble as for all the seams, however done carefully you have an exceptional build with great detail.

The Revell (RG) kits are well done. Again good detail, assembly details and some bonus parts that you would not find in other kits.

My favorite AMT (ERTL) kits would be:

-KW Areodyne Cabover
This kit was enjoyable and a breeze to build. End result...nice piece.

-Autocar Dump
Again fun to build and instructions good quality. Functional working parts always adds to the build. (steerable front axle would have been nice on this kit)

- Pay Hauler 350 and IH Transtar Eagle
I have one that I built and another in the box. Not repops but the real Blueprinters. ERTL had a good thing going with IH.

-AMT Flatbed Trailer (with the steel coils load)
Awesome kit and fairly correct in detail. I just wish that the would have done a better detail on the back light assembly... anyway.

On that note, ERTL did an exceptional job with the Blueprinter series which in my mind would be comparable or exceed the quality that you will see in the Italeri and RG kits of today.

I have built (2) Blueprinter kits as above, The IH COE was a reissue but still very high quality and a good fit and finish kit.

O.K. I am rambling but one final point. I believe that companies like Stevens International and the likes are trying to satisfy a small demand market, and trust me, I am very glad to see this. They know there is a consumer for these kits. Limited production quantities however is what we get. It has to be difficult to justify any investment into a new subject, design phase, prototype and production of a model kit when the return is, that it just will not pay.

If it wasn't for the builders like ourselves, aftermarket hobbyists (The TALENT and INGENUITY of these individuals just blows my mind), distributors of the available kits, and of course last but not least the people that put alot of effort and time into this and other forums, there is a good chance that this corner of the hobby would be dead by now.

Just my thoughts,

Glenn C.

[Bri]

Like many here, I like AMT simply because we can get trucks from them that aren't available through any other manufacturer, or at least we could.
As for Italeri, I do like their kits, but the one thing I hate is the multi-piece cab assembly. It may be easier to detail the interior and so forth, but it can be a right royal pain to get the cab to square up the way it should in order to facilitate further completion of the kit. I had a terrible time with my Western Star tractor when trying to assemble that cab for the reasons mentioned above. The sleeper was also not a great joy to try and assemble either. BUT, with that beign said, once you wade your way through the cab assembly, the Italeri kits do tend to build into nice rigs with room for added detailing and mods. On a side note, the Italeri Iveco TurboStar I built did not suffer the same cab assembly woes the Western Star did, at least not to the severity of the Star. Maybe the cabovers are easier to assemble, who knows?
In the end, I have several AMT kits on my shelf waiting to be built and to me, they are an old friend. I loved the selection AMT put out and even though they may not always be the most accurate kit going, or easiest to assemble, they still fill a huge gap in rigs that aren't available from any of the other kit manufacturers. I'll take all of them I can get my hands on! Well, maybe with the exception of the Chevy Bison kit...

[Deleted]

All the manufacturers had their ins and outs. Revell has the doors that open. AMT has the variety of different trucks. Italeri has detailed chassis/Suspensions but they use the same chassis for different model trucks. A lot of Revells kits are based on Peterbilt or Kenworth. If you get a Westernstar or Freightliner from Revell it is a Italeri mold. Atleast AMT didn't trade molds between anyone else and the had all types of different rigs. Italeri has mor in the european trucks that AMT didn't touch as much. The scale is another point I don't understand because Italeri is 1/24, Revell runs 1/24 & 1/25, AMT runs 1/25. Ertl was new to the market and produced some great kits. MPC had the original molds for the Macks and Gravel Trailer and Ertl bought them and aded it to their line of IH kits. I like building trucks so I don't care what manufacturer it is but I don't do many european styles.

[9900ix]

I've Built most all Mfg. Kits that are available. But AMT was always there for Me to Build, soo that being said all Kits can be a Pain in the Rear in one way or another but that's what Modeling is all about having to figure out how to fix whats not right and having Fun while doing it.. But for Me to Pick out one of the Best kits would be hard there all the Best to Me

[dieseldoc]

plastictrucker said:

Dieseldoc says he despises amt kits.

That is a fact I will not deny. The reason I dispise them is fit, the blending of 1/24 & 1/25 scale. And to me the instructions are simply terrible. Not to mention that you get more warped parts in an AMT kit than any other kit out there. With that said I will also admit that I do have AMT kits in my stash. A few short hauler, a DM Mack, the Payhauler, an Astro, a couple of T600s and COE KW's.

As far as the best kit - well thats easy too answer, the one that just falls together with little effort and no cussing.

[Spider]

dieseldoc said:

plastictrucker said:

Dieseldoc says he despises amt kits.

As far as the best kit - well thats easy too answer, the one that just falls together with little effort and no cussing.

Is there such a thing? I haven't had any yet that didn't bring some choice language at one point or another

[Deleted]

Well I'd like to find the perfect kit out there. But all the manufacturers kits I've been in touch with all had some type of problem. I got Italeri kits that had warped parts same with revell and AMT. It's just part of the kit to me that I have to make work. All the trucks that I built in my time of building about 40 - 42 yrs worth I still ran across the problems in the kits. So I say there is not a perfect kit out there but they are all nice in their own way.

[longhaul]

I throught model truck building was a fun hobby, and suppose to give you some challanges. Seems to me if every kit was the perfect kit and just fell together, there wouldbe no real fun in building it.
Also if every kit just fell together, you would build faster
and run out of subjects faster. Than the complaint would be more
than it already is about the model companies not putting out enough new subjects.
Just my 2 cents worth.

Jeff

[Chris Guthro]

I love!!! The AMT kits, most likely because theyre cheaper and for the most part easy to come by. It also helps that theyres a real big choice of which kit to buy or build. Ive never built a Italeri because the scale is too big compared to the 1:25 revell or amt. Either way none of them are perfect for me...........

[78KW]

As far as brand preference, I guess I fall inline with everyone else. For me, as long as there are truck kits, I will build, no matter how long it takes, LOL.

AMT had a good selection, especially of trucks from the time period I like most(1970s-80s). They also gave us many trailers as well. That being said, I hate the AMT/Matchbox era when it came to instruction sheets. The diagrams of the parts trees were a neat idea, but still, the parts were difficult to find. Often the parts were only silhouettes in the pix. I liked the original sheets a little better, although the parts were numbered according to assembly sequence in each step, rather than just numbering all parts from 1 to whatever. Fit problems are also a pain as Doc mentioned. However, AMT has the subject matter I like. And there are plenty of aftermarket conversions geared towards AMT to broaden the horizons a little. They are the only ones that never gave us poseable steer axles, but they broke serious ground for this hobby, and I thank them 4 that.

Italeri kits are nice. I like what they put out. The Freightliner frame and not-new-enough Cummins engines get to me sometimes, but they build into nice trucks. The multi-piece cabs have tried my patience, but overall, it wasn't to bad. At least they got away from the toy-like, 2 piece tires. My favorite Italeri kit is the 80s style Freightliner. They had several of those. I built the Freightliner Aerodyne kit years ago. I wish I still had it to rebuild it. As for the reefer trailer, although I've read what a disappointment it is as far as being in scale, at least they gave us an American trailer. I will give credit for the effort. Although I would like to try some Austrailian, Canadian, and a few European trucks, I like modeling the trucks that I might pass on the highway.

I love the Ertl kits. My one complaint with them is easily repaired. The wheels sit too far out on some kits if assembled out of the box. The dump trailer and the steer axle on the Transtar 2 was like this. I do like the way the International cabs are assembled as sort of an "innercab/outer cab" I think it makes painting and detailing a little easier. The only Ertl kit that disappointed me was the Rubber Duck. Now that was a joke. I didn't know it was an inaccurate kit until it arrived in the mail.

Monogram/Revell USA. As far as the 1/25 snap kits. I like them, minus the tires. And what did they have against cab sunvisors? None of their snap kits ever came with one. I do like the 1/16 kits. I never built one, but I have the trailer. It seems nicely detailed.

As to Revell AG. I like the details and operational parts. I do know many of their kits were actually Italeri kits with colorful mural decals. That's ok. There were trailers that they made that weren't run of the mill. Some were very nice, like the Beall tanker. I built the car carrier years ago. It has the basic look down, and there is potential with it. My favorite kits were their Pete 359s. I just never could get the hood to sit right where the fenders don't strike the air cleaners while opening. They do make some nice detailed kits even if there are some flaws.

I mention trailers a lot because I prefer to display tractors with trailers. It takes up more shelf space, but I like the look of a complete rig. I wish the kit makers would update here as I like more current subjects as well as the trucks from 30 yrs ago, but many of the kits can be modernized as far as the trailers go. It would ust be nice to see a trailer kit that was pretty accurate, and longer than 40ft.

To end my "thesis", I'll just say I'm glad there are truck kits. Accuracy in the box is nice, but making it accurate yourself has its own reward.