Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

General discussions relating to all model brands and scales.
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Kasra
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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by Kasra » Sat Jun 06, 2020 6:38 pm

I know the thread is a bit old but GOD I felt every word you all said!
And it's a huge relief for me to find out I'm not the only one whose being unlucky.
Guess it's not luck if it happens to everyone, after all.

I've been collecting for a few years now and I have about 15 "pro-ish" models and more are on the way. And can't tell how many times I got disappointment and how much I'm stressed right now for the models I have to unpack within 3 days.

Paint issues, fallen/missing parts, huge body gaps, scratchy windows, bad hinges and so on...
Happens to me almost EVERY TIME! And nothing fix it all away except returning the model. I have a couple models which were not acceptable to me but either decided to settle for a partial refund, or just live with it and ignore it. But none of that worked and still when I look at the model, no matter the angle, I can not un-see the defect! It just takes away the love and excitement I had which actually was the whole purpose of collecting them.

Sometimes the model is kind of rare, so I think about fixing it myself; which sounds fine except I spend like 4 hours on a model feeling like an idiot the whole time, and sometimes ruin the model by making it worse or making an accident during repair! After that, I feel like an idiot even more.

But now I feel less unlucky as it seems line there are almost no "perfect" models. Although we still have the right for to be upset considering how much money we pay for each... specially AUTOart which is becoming more expensive > more faulty > and more expensive again.

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[KRAFTIG]
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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by [KRAFTIG] » Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:46 am

Brick and mortar sales are best, you can expect the model prior. Unfornately they are as rare as gold these days!

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Marcel171281
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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by Marcel171281 » Sun Jun 07, 2020 4:35 am

To be honest, I really wonder which brand(s) you have those QC issues with and where you are ordering them from, are they new or ebay purchases? You mention AA, but I have spend litteraly thousands of euro's on AA the last couple of years, and had one issue. That was on an older model, where some paintrash developed on a body panel. Took me 20 minutes to polish out.

And believe me, I inspect my models very thoroughly, non is stored in boxes or opened much later. Also all of them are photograped in the diorama's before put on display, so all body panels are opened etc.

I will however knock on some wood now to make sure to keep it that way ;)

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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by [KRAFTIG] » Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:49 am

You mention AA, but I have spend litteraly thousands of euro's on AA the last couple of years, and had one issue
Based on the number of models I've touched for various brands over the years, AUTOart is definitely one of the best if not the best in terms of QC. :clap:

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Kasra
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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by Kasra » Sun Jun 07, 2020 4:06 pm

I cannot speak of other brands as I mostly had AA. But almost all of them had an issue; some were minor of course.
And not used ones. They're mostly brand new from local dealers; begging them not to send faulty models.

If you say AA has decent QC so maybe it's just me but I don't "nitpick". I know that for sure.

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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by [KRAFTIG] » Sun Jun 07, 2020 8:16 pm

If you say AA has decent QC so maybe it's just me but I don't "nitpick". I know that for sure.
I'm somewhat anal when it comes to the acutal model, the box I have a higher thresohold of forgiveness.

I'm curious, provide some detailed examples.

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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by F5D » Sun Oct 11, 2020 2:47 pm

Hi guys! I just found this forum and this thread, as I was searching the internet to find discussions on issues with diecast models. I started just 2 months ago and have already bought about 30 models, incl. Greenlight, Autoart, Sun Star, Acme, Norev and Solido. I decided to buy quickly those models that I am interested in and stop. Well, let's see how succeful am I... I mostly focus on American cars 50's - 80's, incl. movie cars and some European sports cars, in size 1:18. I only focus on cars that I have special interest in and plan to narrow down the models as much as possible. I may sell some of the cars, once I figure out what I actually want to include in the collection, and how to display them. I still want maybe 5 cars, and have to look for them to come back in stock or be rereleased at some point. After that, I am done with collecting. Filling complete rooms or houses with model cars is not my thing.

So far I have learned that there can be quite bad quality control issues with some brands. Also, expensive and more detailed cars are not necessarily better made. I have a couple Norev and even Solido cars that have been really well made and have better fitting of doors than some Sun Star models. Actually, it seems that Sun Star has issues with quality control. Just recently I received several Sun Star models with lots of issues, incl. paint flaking off, missing mirrors or decals, strange dust or dirt, almost like spider net on top of interior or around wheels, scratches on seats and windows, misaligned doors or lids, hoods that do not stay closed but want to stay open. It has been a disappointment to find these issues, also because returning stuff costs money. I can work on things, so I accept some models if I can get a discount. I can glue or repaint certain parts for example (also, if the parts can be found in the box). I have bought my cars mainly from modelissimo.de, modellautocenter.de and carmodel.com, also some from Amazon.de (alles meine). The three first on this list have packed the cars safely, no shipping damage at all.

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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by Marcel171281 » Mon Oct 12, 2020 4:54 am

You are 100% correct about sunstar. Some brands hardly ever have QC issues, some are know for their QC issues. AA for instance are nearly faultless in their QC (which is not the same as the cost cutting measures like the rubber seatbelt etc). GT Spirit and OttoMobile had a period in which nearly every model had issues with QC, it's a lot better nowadays. Sunstar (especially the 'platinum' ones) are loaded with QC issues. I hardly buy Sunstar, but if I do, only after seeing the model in the flesh at the shop. Same for Kyosho, their new factory QC inspection is not up to speed yet, so I always choose to pick up the models in the shop and inspect them before buying.

Luckily it's only an hours drive to my favourite shop.

ATEOTD
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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by ATEOTD » Mon Oct 12, 2020 5:48 pm

I can tolerate some imperfections, whether that means inaccuracies in the design, or defects like chipped paint. I hate floating windshield wipers. There's just something about some defects that bothers me. The passenger door on the AUTOart Huayra I owned was a little misaligned. The "EB" decal on the back of a Veyron that I got recently was already peeling on arrival, and there are blemishes on some of the chrome parts of the car.

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Re: Quality is constant disapointment. How do you deal with it?

Post by JamesonsViggen » Tue Oct 13, 2020 9:19 am

I had quite the ranting review yet again for an Greenlight car. It was silly how poorly assembled it was. $80 USD retail isn't nothing. If the Costco $14 Maistos are made better, Greenlight has no excuse.

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