[/quote] I don't know how many hours people put into these kits. For me, there is a point where frustration wins out and I don't feel like banging my head against the wall.

Perhaps I got two bad kits: that's a definite possibility. But I won't be betting anymore money on it.

Steve[/quote]

I bought three of these kits while I was in Afghanistan as a welcome home to myself kinda thing. I'm making progress on the first. I will re-evaluate purchasing more after I finish the other two. Course, they could get lost in the stash for awhile

As the first kit I bought was not the best, I will not judge the rest of them because of that. True, I have not P/u another building yet, but I will in the future. As a battle damaged building, what does not fit perfictly will work it's way out in the adding debri in the end. The acc. kits are great and they save me alot of scratch building which is fine with me. I still usually pour my own plaster for buildings just because I like mine to be different than the rest. It's just like the scratch built parts for the vehicals we build. We customise our builds to be a bit different, same with my buildings. As far as being garbage, I desagree. Many companies have fit problems, but we fix them up as we do and our experiance allows and taste desires. The 1/16th scale Spartan figures I p/u from them were not too bad, though I did have a bit of trouble with the feet. They were horrible to say the least so they got hidden in scrub brush. But that being seen, I still will p/u the musketeer, has booted feet. . As I have stated before, the perfect kit is the exception. We do the best we can with what we have. I have built plaster, styrene and V.F. buildings and they all have their own issues. Plaster comes broken and walls are usualy way too big for scale, styrene is far between (Italerie and who else?), and V/F has fit problems. Pick your own poisson as they say, and have at it. But it all comes down to personal choice and preferance. How much time do we want to spend on a certain part of a build or how much money do we pump into it. I think money will be a major contributing factor for many, and the Miniart buildings are cheaper than most plus the acc's you get with each kit give us more bang for the buck. So if your not into scratch building or don't have the ability to scratch build yet, this is what we have. Like Jim said, there are alot of skills we had to have before these became available, not just building teq's but arcitecual knowlage as well. Now we have a choice, P/U or scatch up. I know that my first build didn't go well because I didn't understand the process of building V/F, and will modify my next one accordingly. Maybe it will be better, maybe not. But I can't justify trashing a company because of things not working out as I expected since I have seen beautifull builds with their products. It all comes down to (again) how much time we wish to invest in something. If you prefer a quick build, then Miniart is not the way to go.

My last 2cents on this.
For me they are pretty much a waste of time.But for the price they're good for your own for buildings with the extra parts sprues.Here's a shot of of Randy's apartment and some I made with foamcore.Diorama Plus have great product and if you don;t want to spend hours on on the build he;s were to go.The other buildings took me a few hours were the Mini Art is collecting dust.

Perfict example of what I said. Nice custom buildings there Tom. I see a building like itself and not a copy of all the others. Also see some of the miniart peices used to good advantage. Now ,at a show, who's building will look like this one--- none, because it's one of a kind. Yet some parts are used to highlight and add to without the time of scratch building. This is what I like to see, not all the same buildings in a row at a show. Vehicals tend to be the same (except where we personalize each one here and there, but we aren't in Brooklyn or Chicago or old London where row houses are. These stand out on their own just because they are different. Not to take away from anyone who builds a kit building, as they have a place in our modeling world, I just prefer a different setting most of the time. I still have the one miniart building and a Verlindin kit that will be used in a dio together, they just fit nicely into the scene.

I think that the buildings are very nice and have good detail. I screwed up the one that I bought so far by cutting and not scribing out the parts. The results were disaster. To save the day, I made rubber molds of it and pored in the lightweight hydrocal. Voila, the results were great. One day while going to a show and tell at the hobby shop, the thing slid off the car seat and suddenly became from one piece to about eight pieces or more. Hydrocal being very soft. Super glued the whole thing back together and the real cracks looked better than the molded ones. Turned out as a win win. Far as I can tell Miniart makes some nice stuff................and so, is my two cents worth.................best regards................Al PS..........If you do not like your Miniart buildings, send them to me . I will use them. I will pay the postage.