As a kid in the 60's I had a Tiger 1 kit that was so inaccurate that it looked a lot like the Kelley's Hero's Tiger. I think it was a Nichimo? The hull was way too narrow, the turret was shaped completely wrong and I can remember that even then we thought it was a dog.

Kinda makes you wonder about those 'egg' kits eh?

Probably the worst overall kit was the ancient Nichimo Abbot. First version which was the prototype. Way overscale, motorized but with brittle plastic so I had to do MAJOR repairs so it failed even as a 'toy'. Real rubber tracks that eventually fell apart. First 1/35 kit so still kinda loved it! Provided much needed arty support for my Britains swoppet troops

Finally built an Accurate Armour Abbot

the worst kits I have encountered are the Maquette ASU 57 and the AER Moldova T-60 which was reboxed by many companies.

well that must be the the Faun 912 + trailer from "Elite" resin...great scratchbuilding practising and putty eating kit...

Buildability-wise, I never even tried to tackle the Alan SU-76 kit, as it's universally known to us old-timers as the worst kit ever [under] engineered. It's the highest definition of "POS" and "turd in a box".
In my experience, it's the AER/Moldova Russian T-18 kit. Not 2 panels fit together. Once you're done puttying the seams, you've sanded off all the rivets, and there are HUNDREDS of them. The parts are so thick you can't even use them for templates to scratchbuild the hull. If you ever want motivation to get out of the hobby, try completing this kit! You guys all know what "wall check" means?

If any model from any category, than this one I am building for a client. Between incomplete resin pourings, bad quality control and other problems, it would be easier to start off from scratch by yourself.

http://www.cjsaviation.com/SATV1.html

I have a Fujimi Mustang II somewhere that remains unfinished that probably runs a close second.

I've generally never had a problem with any armor kit I ever built. The goofy articulated suspension on a Tamiya Pershing perhaps....but the rest of the kit was engineered fine.

AER BA-64b. That set was a real dog, but with a little TLC, and modding, it turned out ok.

]BA-64b[/url]

John

The absolutely worst kits I have built are Combat Models 1/32 Ki-45 Nick and the Combat Models 1/72 S class submarine. Nothing matched up....As some have said...never was a company more aptly named than...Combat Models.
Ken

I have two to add: first is the Tauro A7V. Completely unbuildable. Thank goodness for Meng. The other is the Miniart bulldozer; horrible engineering, brittle plastic, insane tracks; this one is relegated to my 'build sometime in my next lifetime' pile. UGH!!

For me in 1/72 aircraft, It's a close tie between Mach-2's X24 lifting bodies 2 in 1 kit and the Zvezda Mi 8.
I am firmly of the belief that Zvezda is an acronym for 'subject more easily carved from a frozen dog turd', but Mach2 raises their game to produce STYRENE kits molded in sheets(!) of flash.

1/35th armor, the ancient Tamiya M10 tank destroyer, as a kid I thought that vehicle was just amazing and for the day thought I did a pretty good job of it.
My mistake was going back as an adult.. 'nuff said.

Probably the airfix HMS Belfast, I built it for a mate. His kids gave it to him as a Christmas present.

It was a complete dog, nothing fit it ended up more putty than plastic.

I would have to say any of those early Eastern European and first Trumpeter kits.Even some of the very early Dragon kits of the early 90's would also be on that list too.

Have to agree with Matt on the AER t-18 kit, it would have to improve a ton before it could be considered just completely awful! so glad Hobbyboss is bringing us a new one, I have a soft spot for that tank!

Dragons original M1A1, nothing on that kit fit right and every single piece was mismolded and full of flash. And don't get me started on the bustle racks. But with that said, I have about 4 of them built and on the shelf.

Oh yeah, that ASU-57 mold is terrible. I glued 3 parts on mine and gave up. Easily the worst kit I've tried building. Worst directions too.

Me too count in for AER Moldova . After exitement to get a very "exotic" vehicle I was sobered after I opened the box...

But in the end I was able to sell it for more in Evilbay than I paid for it, hehe

It's a toss up between 1/35 MP Models Israeli M-50 Sherman or the original 1/35 Trumpeter T-72. The MP M-50 didn't have mold lines, it had terrain features. Ridges, mountains, valleys, needed a chainsaw, bench grinder and jack hammer to remove them. The T-72 was obviously a kimchi copy of the awful Tamiya T-72M1 yet somehow Trumpeter made it worse. There was even "Tamiya" name and logo molded on the sprues and the instructions were photocopies of the Tamiya instructions. It was molded in something like plastic but it didn't react to model cement, not tube or liquid. Wound up using superglue for the whole thing. The "plastic" wouldn't hold paint. As soon as the enamel dried it wrinkled and peeled. Because of this I shied away from Trumpeter for years.

I would have to give the gold prize of worst kit that I have ever encountered to the Tauro A7V. It had warped panels and floor making it almost impossible to get the superstructure to line up right. The worst part though was the individual link tracks. The idea was pretty cool for the day, but the execution was a nightmare. The individual links were made of vinyl with microscopically thin track pin holes. Instructions called for metal pins to be inserted into these holes to assemble a really neato workable track. Only problem was that the thin vinyl pin holes would just split open when you tried inserting the pins. The result was, at least for me, a useless kit. Oddly, I think I still have it sitting around somewhere.

There are good kits i've never fini... Squirrell¬!

There are Bad kits i've never finished

but a Bad kit I've refused to be beten by is the FM MK1 Nightmare Horsa 2 1/2 years, more off than on... Bloggy Pics Here

On the EMMS Model Show Table

Modelcraft 1/48 F-82E, fought me all the way! Ended up being wheels-up because the landing gear just wouldn't work, and I had to fabricate bulkheads in front of the cockpit because the front sections of each fuselage wouldn't go even close to fitting.

Used spare decals from a Tamiya Thunderjet and it ended up looking ok, but my son tested its flight characteristics and they were about as good as its fit.

Cheers, D

Renwal Atomic Cannon
Lindberg Sd.Kfz. 222

Zvezda T-60.

Later I heard that this was the first kit from Zvezda. Well, thats a good explanation...

And I need to mention anything from Alan...

Worst kit..... Orange Box Abrams - badly moulded to the point that they should really melt the moulds down..... Yes you can build a decent kit from the box...but you will scratch build the bustle rack. If you have one invest in a set of clamps, as you will need them for the turret.

TERRE MODELS AMX 10 P
This kit had air bubbles galore, not square where it needed to be, the road wheels were oval shaped crap drive sprockets and the tracks were completely unusable just to name a few. I made the add on side armour just so I could hide some of the hideous end results.