Fraudulent build reviews...

[BarryW]

Because I build in 1/32 scale and the average price of a kit in my stash is around £100, I am careful to buy only what I want to build and always read build reviews before buying. The only exception to the rule being Tamiya, I will get their 1/32 warbird releases without hesitation as you can be assured of their quality.

Before I bought my Kitty Hawk OV-10 Bronco I read a number of reviews, not just 'first look' but build reviews as well. Some of the comments:
'a little experience helps'
'canopy issues'
'more nose weight needed'
'nice instruction booklet'
'good fit'
'minor glitches'
'Kitty Hawk did a marvelous job with this kit'

None of the above bothered me and these reviews encouraged me to buy the kit.

Not one single review identified even a fraction the problems encountered and I cannot believe that they are referring to the same kit that I bought, but they are.

'nice instruction booklet' indeed - full of errors from start to finish, parts wrongly labelled, parts pictured in place that are not labelled and non-existent on the sprues and vague part placement.

Cheap brittle plastic with large sprue gates poorly positioned, full of ejector pin marks amid the detail, indeed not just sunk in, some not just a little 'proud' but thick colums of plastic in amonst the detail. Location pins shown on the instructions not present in the plastic, crudely rendered parts. Shrinkage of he plastic so when two halves are joined and you sand the joint, you have to sand down to the joint first or fill a wide area around the joint before sanding with a significant loss of detail. Poor fitting parts, 'good fit' the review said., my ar***....

I would not claim the model is 'unbuildable' but it certainly is one only for masochists who love the OV-10. Nobody else should go near this kit. If I had not already bought the F5 Tiger I would not build another Kitty Hawk ever again after this one. I will see what the F5 is like....

So what worth are reviews if they 'whitewash' a kit as these have?

I feel that I have been a victim of fraudulent reviews, having spent money on a kit under false pretences. Why are reviewers so out and out dishonest? Are they so grateful for a free kit to review that they feel the need to lie about it?

This is the worse kit that I have ever purchased.....

Rant over....

[spanner570]

That's tough Barry.
I have read and also been told such practices are common place.... Paying someone to put in a fraudulent review.

Anything is subject to this kind of abuse. The worst part is we can never tell just what is and what isn't the truth.

There are no limits some folks will sink to deceive and lie to prospective punters.

[boatman]

HI Barry yes I have had the same problem I bought a jaguar kit by the same company an at first glance it looked fab until I treid to build it an it was terrible nothin fitted an I had to do major surgurey on it with my Dremel cutter to even get the parts to fit an like you I would never buy this make of kit again as the sayin goes once bitten twice shy
chris

[boatman]

A PIC OF MY JAG that I very nearly binned but dint come out to bad in the end after major surgery but its got a mix of decalls on it as they also fell apart when I put the right ones in the water so I had to use whats left an the kit wasn't cheap either

[Dave Ward]

I'm cynical about published build reviews - did the reviewer actually MAKE the model himself? More to the point did he PAY for it? If he didn't, he's liable to give a better review!, a bad review and he probably won't get another freebie. This does happen, I left one forum, after my criticism of a model was censored. I was told manufacturers would be less inclined to supply samples if they had bad reviews. On a commercial site, I suppose you have to accept that. Not to my taste, though, so I left.
Reviewers tend to be the more skilled modellers - what may be simple to them, may be complicated to others.
One thing I really dislike is the so-called review that uses the whole catalogue of available aftermarket parts - why? is the base model that bad? A review of the model should be just that - OOB.
I'm afraid that you have to take a limited number of reviews for a model with a pinch of salt - the more you can read, maybe a majority verdict will appear................
Dave

[Gern]

One thing I really dislike is the so-called review that uses the whole catalogue of available aftermarket parts - why? is the base model that bad? A review of the model should be just that - OOB.

I have to agree there Dave. When I look at reviews to find out what the kit is like, it would be really useful to see what I actually get for my hard-earned pennies! I want to see what the build is really like - good or bad. OK, a skilled builder will get better results OOB than I can, but I'm not particularly interested in what he can do by doubling the cost of the kit with AM parts.

[john i am]

I to source reviews of expensive and budget kits before purchasing them. I always look to YouTube videos mainly and I myself was considering the Kitty Hawk Tiger. Having watched a number of video reviews and builds I decided against it as it comes with a few issues which aren't insurmountable but problematic. It comes with only one set of P.E belts but as two seats being a trainer variant. There are some filling and sanding procedures that need to be addressed. There was originally an issue with the tail fin decals but this as been corrected by the manufacturer supplying additional decals for correction. Mr Flory gives a good honest non biased opinion of the kit on his channel which influenced my decision to give this one a pass.
I'm sure you'll endeavour on both kits Barry and make a good job of both. The retail price these kits demand doesn't really match upto what's in the box quality and fit wise so for now I'll be steering clear of the Tiger for now unless I see one at a show on offer.
Good luck Barry.
Onwards and upwards.
Cheers John.

[yak face]

Ive swerved a good few dodgy kits after reading good honest reviews so if you can find one they are a useful resource . As you say barry if the kit has been gifted for review then youre bound to get a biased if not totally false review. I tend to ignore reviews that have been done like this , ie magazine or sponsored websites , and look for online reviews on forums such as this , they are usually bought out of the builders own pocket and tend to be a lot more revealing and honest. Case in point being the kittyhawk 1/48 voodoo , i saw a few magazine reviews which were positive but then also saw some real life builds on forums that convinced me to give it a miss . Cheers tony
Ps. If you ever want a honest unbiased review of any Tamiya 1/32 kits feel free to send them to me ! :tongue-out3: :tongue-out3:

[AlanG]

To be honest i only tend to take value of articles from well renowned reviewers/builders such like Phil Flory et al. Yes i watch a lot of in-box reviews but for builds i stick to the known few and other people i respect.

[JR]

I've never bought any model because of a review. I have however bought a model and then gone to PMS to check if it's in the list. Now his reviews seems to be true, if things aren't right he says.

[rtfoe]

I know when not to buy not from reviews but manufactures actually saying they're not Tammi so live with it.
I get that if the price is right and the challenges are doable fine but don't give me that premium top of the line latest mold technology mumbo jumbo until the designer himself builds the kit and draws up the instructions and has the balls to make adjustments to the final product then perhaps there's a chance the build will be enjoyable.

To fork out $$$ after false advertising and get a blob of plastic isn't fun.

Don't get me wrong, I do find bad kits challenging knowing that it will be rather than being short changed and ambushed.

Cheers,
Richard

[Ian M]

My guess is that all the time someone is getting free kits to review, they are going to be, shall we say, kind.
If they start trashing the kit in a review, it might be the last one they get to build for free. A sad situation.

[wonwinglo]

And this is why I decline free kits for review,everything reviewed has been purchased out of my own pocket,then everything is reviewed in detail and if something requires modifying or rectifying then it is pointed out from the start,quite a few people have been sucked into this free kits for exceptional reviews thing and some are even making a good living from it as well,reputable reviews are sadly hard to find because its cheaper for the manufacturers to dish out kits to known model builders who they seek out via groups such as this.
With the current price of kits the last thing a model builder wants is to receive something he thought was going to be fault free,only to find out otherwise,yes be aware of reviews especially those that show a prolific number of kits being made up,they are more than likely freebies that are disguised as good models but they are not !

[Guest]

I agree Barry reviews are useless in the main.

Amazon reviews . All the same jargon. I never rely on the 5 star. Go to the 3 & 4 as
any review who is spoofing would not appear on those ratins.

Best is to find from forums who has built & what they have to say. They would cheat
at their peril.

One problem though is that one model maker will build a kit perfectly. The next one
comes along, generally me, & makes a pigs ear.

In the end what ever the quality it is the endeavors of the builder to build with what
they are given .

I often wonder if i was given that extra special perfect kit. Would it be satisfying to
easy may be. Not likely of course is it ?

Laurie

[Guest]

I never rely on the 5 star. Go to the 3 & 4 as
any review who is spoofing would not appear on those ratins.

On that note: there’s no real point in putting any value on the star rating by the seller’s name either.

Years ago, one of my first Amazon purchases was a book of some kind, and because it arrived on exactly the last date the site had told me (like: “… between 10 July and 20 July” and it dropped through the letterbox on 20 July) I gave the seller three stars. My reason was that I had got exactly what I ordered, but they could have provided better service — that is, mailed it to me rather more quickly — so three stars represented me being fairly neutral about the whole experience. Soon after, I got a message from the seller asking me to change it to five stars in exchange for him refunding the postage, on the basis that my three-star award pulled down his trustworthiness rating. Since then, I have never awarded stars to an Amazon seller again.