Are cheap kits worth it?

Are cheap kits worth it as a seasoned model builder? are they conducive to a new builder? what is your opinion?

[@williamroberts1819]

Shape looks good. Academy? It's an "f13" early Fishbed. And yes the older kits are being replaced by newer better models. So these are all on sale second hand and I love it. Great video sir.

[@flightis3dollars]

I came back to the hobby this year after 40+ years absent and I'm enjoying the cheap/simple kit as well as the advanced/expensive kit. Having to 'fix' stuff on the model has its own rewards so as of now I intend to buy both cheap/simple kits as well as expensive/advanced kits as I straddle along on my jurney through the world of scale modelling.

[@psychodermix]

I'm coming back to it after about 30 years away from the hobby and i love cheap kits. Good to practice on if you have a subject you really want to build well.

[@modelermark172]

I'm 64, and old enough to remember when this kit, (based on the classic 1966 Hasegawa - later FROG - kit,) was pretty much par-for-the-course in the 1970's when it came to 1/72 scale models, (though Scalemates says this kit is closer to 1/67th.) These kits could be built straight from the box, or improved by adding plastic card cockpits and wheel wells, as well as decorated with aftermarket decals from Micro Scale. You expected that there would be fit problems going in, and that's what various filler putties were for. There was also a lot of "educated guesswork" involved, since there was no Internet to help you find the photos or drawings you needed for any particular project. Often you only had a few photos to go on . . . if you were lucky. As a sidebar, I have several copies of this Academy kit in Finnish markings, plus its 1967 FROG predecessor with Russian (Soviet), Finnish, Cuban and Iraqi decals, as well as the 1975 Hasegawa version with Egyptian, Israeli, and Ugandan decals, in my kit stash. To me, there is still a place for these older, "legacy" kits; not only as practice for new modelers before attempting the latest offerings, but also for older modelers wanting a "second go" at kits they have fond memories of building. These older models are also good fodder for making seriously proposed or fantasy, "What-If" designs that would be cost prohibitive with the latest kits. (I plan to make one of the Academy MiG-21's as a fantasy, Soviet Rocket Interceptor by replacing the intake with a nose cone, and the jet exhaust with a rocket engine . . . .) Equally as important is that these older kits should be priced accordingly to be both allowance and pension-friendly. At the end of the day, the idea is to have fun. 12th Like.

[@MakingModels11]

That's cool thanks for sharing. I love seeing/hearing about where the hobby started.

[@modelermark172]

@@MakingModels11 Here's another one for you: When I was nine years old in 1969, I was at a local discount store looking for a model to build. In those days, most stores like Target, Venture and K-Mart devoted two whole aisles in their Toy Departments to model kits, and I had a little over $1.50, so I could get something VERY nice. As I was looking, an older man - about my age, now - was there, and commented to me that when he was nine, if he wanted a model plane, he had to either build a flying model out of balsa and tissue, or carve a display model out of solid wood, (usually balsa, bass, or pine,) using templates cut directly from the plans and pasted to stiff cardboard. He told my mom and me that he used to carve solid "Spotter" models during The War to help train Antiaircraft Gunners. Flash forward fifty years, and I was in a hobby shop where a 3D Printer was being demonstrated. I couldn't resist telling a few ten-year-olds also watching that when I was their age, if you wanted a model plane, you had to buy an injection molded kit that had to be assembled and painted. (I like to say that I'm too young to carve a 'solid' from wood, and too old to learn to write code for a 3D Printer.) As I left the hobby shop that day, I said a silent prayer for an old modeler I once met in 1969.

[@amandahuggandkiss2998]

Cheap kits are fun. Isn’t that the point. To have fun and a learning experience with each new kit.

[@Womble-freestation66]

Yes! They are worth building, but some prices for outdated mouldings are ridiculous. But, in my opinion, it is very satisfying detailing and bringing an old kit to a decent level of build.

[@MakingModels11]

I agree

[@BennyCFD]

Even the cheapest models can look good if you take the time to build it well...........

[@Donleecartoons]

I did most of my building in the 1970s with kits whose molds were designed in the 1960s. Monogram and Revell planes, ships and armor, Lindberg for lots of odd subjects, an occasional Airfix in a bag, some rebox Entex -- all available at your local department store. I miss those cheap kits. Clunky fit? Questionable accuracy? Check and check. But they were FUN. And later in life I still enjoyed seeing how far, with scrap-material detailing and creative paint, I coukd take a cheap model.

[@ZeonAndOnly]

I believe its an early version. The intake is very different.

[@xray86delta]

I like the way you describe the fun of doing the best job you can on a kid, regardless of how well it was molded, or fits together. That's the value of the cheap kits.😉

[@psychodermix]

Really love this. I buy heaps of cheap kits

[@diverguy2583]

I always enjoyed "cheap" kits for the building challenge. I'm currently working on a B17 that I'm wanting to make a crash diorama.

[@calvingifford9442]

Like the Academy F-104G Starfighter kits, this kit is a modified copy of the very early Hasegawa kit. Nothing wrong with the cheap kits. I've got about a dozen of both because I want to build a gaggle of both, since there are so many markings for them. When I first started buying my own kits, I was purchasing 1/72 MPC kits (re-boxed Airfix kits) at the local grocery store for 89~99 cents! Have fun and look forward to your finished Fishbed.

[@ivaniii9707]

Love cheap kits. When an expensive kit has bad fitment it annoys me so much (looking at you Tamiya), but when a cheap kit has poor fitment it is only an opportunity for me to learn or improve.

[@simonleib1992]

I like old kits Matchbox and Airfix. Great way to hone your skills.

[@ranwolf76]

I just finished putting together a F4U Corsair that cost about $8 and I'm happy with it.

[@johngardner7024]

Nothing wrong with older kits. I look at them as a way to improve my skills. Got back into building again fourteen years ago, and most of my stash are "nostalgia" kits. In fact I rarely buy the "latest and greatest" releases. That said, you can come across a dog of a kit every now and then...even with the newer kits.

[@neilhughes9310]

I build a lot of Heller aircraft kits, many originating from the 1970s. Those of French subjects are generally accurate dimensionally. I have built many of their Mirage IV, Viggen (which comes as standard with 3 versions including the 2-seater) and SU-27UB, all of which I thoroughly recommend. More modern kits of these are of course available, but they are more complicated to build and not necessarily any more accurate. Raised panel lines don't bother me at all. Also Frog and Airfix kits from the 1960s. I love their simplicity (I am 66 with eyesight, dexterity and patience no longer what they once were). I suppose they have great nostalgia value to me. I refuse to pay stupid money for them and sensibly priced 'bargains' are often available. I have built many versions of the MiG-21 F13, possibly my favourite jet fighter, by Airfix, Fujimi, Frog, Academy and Revell. Same applies, the more recent toolings are more complicated. At the end of the day, the kits sit on shelves where things like the accuracy and detail of cockpits doesn't matter. Each to his own.

[@taskmaster58]

Those kits with no interior I just paint the inside of the canopy gloss black, and then do the frame of the canopy whatever color it's supposed to be on the outside. back when I started modeling there were hardly any good cockpits in A/C it was mostly just a pilot on a stick. I started in the 60's so I've seen modeling come a long way. There are some kits now though that have gone too far the other way. Too many parts is just as, or more discouraging than too few. I bought a Gecko Kit a truck and they even had the spark plugs to glue in. To my mind that is just getting too detailed, plus then you have to start using tweezers to put all these small parts together and that can be tedious.

[@MakingModels11]

There definitely is a good middle ground when it comes to kits.

[@RichardsModellingAdventures]

There is a big difference between a bad kit and a cheap kit. I would say poorly designed badly fitting kits sucks the creative life out of new modelers, but there are some cheap kits out there that are very good. The low price gives you the freedom to experiment too. seam lines are a given on any kit regardless of quality or price. You just need to deal with them in the right way. I have subscribed to follow along with your modelling journey :)

[@janwetzlar]

Thats the early version of the fishbed mig 21 that is why it looks odd look after the mig 21 pfm thats the more well-known version. Revell got also that early version in 1 72

[@micodyerski1621]

Cheap kits r great for customizing or, my fave, 'KitBashing'.

[@stevetheduck1425]

It? The skills I learnt long ago are still relevant, I suggest. Cheap kits are the starting point of an improved, detailed or even cross-kitted model, the final product. Auction sites are full of cheaper kits, often much easier to get than a recently out-of-production model. Expensive ones cost more, are unlikely to be more accurate, and are full of detail to be replaced. Yes, They are worth getting, to be the start of some modelling, yes.

[@clouddog2393]

Give me the old kits any time .Monogram , Airfix , Revell . Hasagawa , Frog Etc . As long as they are reasonably accurate and give a reasonable depiction of the original who cares ? These kits were fun and enjoyable which is what the hobby is all about . The modern modellers with their rivet counting , obsession with detail , photo esch and after market accessories are welcome to take the hobby to the limits they desire. Me as an OAP modeller will stick with the older kits and the less fashionable and derided makes like Huma , PM . Models and the like and will enjoy what l construct and paint .Each to he's own as they say.

[@stevetheduck1425]

The first MiG-21s had all these features. Cheap kits are usually older kits, of the plane being kitted when it was new. If this kit is the FROG one from the 1960s as it looks, then it is likely to have underestimated the width of the main fuselage. Many kits are made from drawings made from photographs, which are often in error. The old Hasegawa one is far worse, underestimating the entire model, until the kit is close to 1/66th. This model is of a MiG-21 F-13, the first major production type. The windows in the rear of the cockpit have been deleted, which is the obvious visual difference from the first production batch. The less powerful engine meant a small intake in the nose, the lower number of pylons on the wings reveals it to be an early interceptor variant. If you were to model all the different versions of the MiG-21made by the Soviet Union, the Czechs, the Poles and the Chinese, not to mention the large number of later conversions and rebuilds... well, it's like trying to build all versions of the Spitfire or Bf-109, from 1936 to the present day. There's a 1/48th Tamiya F-16 that represents the prototype F-16. It's only fifteen years younger than I am. Today, it wouldn't be sold, as people would think it was inaccurate, as it's not a 2000s F-16. Bizarre thinking. It's like expecting a kit of a Battle of Britain Spitfire to look like one being flown in an airshow in 2024. Model making is meant to be fun, the research can also be fun.

[@martinoconnor4314]

I think cheap/older Armour kits are worth buying but not so much aircraft.

[@danielwcheng6381]

You got it all wrong the hobby is supposed to be fun....so what's wrong with a cheap kit...unless one is a rivet counter or a sticker for accuracy/detail/etc.....

[@user-us8xz1gu1d]

Not at all, if its academy kits- it's ok,hasegawa- never ,same piece of shit arkmodel