some things that just irritate:
1) vital, usually small and prominent pieces attached to sprue tree by 1 inch plastic.
2) related to above; sprue attached to the most prominent area of a piece.
3) unclear instructions

This can get me anonyed when the instructions say "Assemble road wheels=30 sets" AGH
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Or like Godfather said "small peices attached to big spruce"
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Your cutting off a peice form the spruce when sudenly it lauches off, soars through the air, hits a wall, and falls with a tiny "tink" into the tightest crack!
(Imposible places seem to attract small peices)
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FLASH ahhhhhh dont see much of it any more now that I build Tamiya kits....But watch out on those old kits and Reveal/monogram 1's :-)
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The good parts of the hobby far outweight the bad parts still

I really don't have many pet peeves anymore - other than one.

Looking at the recent Skybow and AFV Club efforts, Ejector Pin (EP) marks are a real annoyance to me. These two manufacturers are really making great strides in reducing or eliminating this problem - and when they occur - they're not in the way of fine detail on the parts. To me, it doesn't pay to crank out the first and fastest model subject on the planet - if you fill it with EP's all over the place...

Gunnie

People with model pet-peeves. LOL Just kidding. #:-)
The one thing that bothers me is gun barrels molded in two halves. I just don't see the reason for this.

I agree with Gunnie and ejector pin marks. This is mainly because I am no good at filling them. I have tried a number of methods and they never completely disappear. Flash and sprue can be removed, ejector pin marks......... .........I'm going to go now.

Nic

When they stratgically place a piece so that once you get it out of the sprue, it breaks in the same place more than once. I was working on getting out a tripod gun stand thing and each time I got it out, it broke for no apparent reason in the middle of the third leg, like they tried to screw me over. I was so pissed. Also, like Timberwolf said, you get it out of the sprue, and it lunches in the air and is just so small that you can't see it, and wear I model, there is brown carpet (yes, I know, but it is a relic from the 80's) and it is almost impossible to find anything small and plastic in it, unless it radiates a glow or reflects light, which has never really happened to me, so I don't know what I am talking about.

I gotta say ejector marks as well. Especialy in places where the kit is meant to viewed Like the Interior of Academy's Fitter kit.
What really gets me is one side finished pieces Like hollow crates and Ammo boxes, road wheels and the like
The last thing is spacing.unless your model is closed hatch other fitting get in the way when you want to open the hatches.

Jjosh Weingarten
aKa shiryon

I agree that two piece gun barrels are ridiculous. Try the instruction sheet inside the $95 Jaguar Sheridan for a real experience.
DJ

#:-) Two piece gun barrels should be outlawed!!!! Individual track links drive me CRAZY (as if I am not already there)!

Bo---check out the AFV individual tracks for the Sherman. They have quite a variety and some you can actually put together in about three hours.
DJ

Adding the injector pin mark problem to individual links is even worse!

nic

Individual links, with PIJ, and individual guide horns.....Oh on here we go again with the bad luck thingee!!

Jack (nothin really peeves me much, but then what do I know?) Well maybeee how about vinyl tyres, I've strted my own crusade aagainst that illness.

:-)Thanks DJ...I'll try to find them. I really don't order off the net and my closest hobby shop is in Pittsburgh or Boardman, Ohio. Does Squadron carry them? What I really want is the set of tires with chains for the Italeri M-20 Armored Car! I want to make an Ardennes Diorama. I've seen them advertised in FSM. I'll get them eventually. You guys really are the best. Thanks! Jeff

#:-) OH OH NOt the bad luck THINGEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
MAKE THEM STOPPPPPPP! I feel better now.

Bodeen--You should be able to get AFV Club products through your local model store. Try them first, at any rate, they might be able to order what you need in.

Nic

Injector and sink marks!!!!!!! All the product reviews on the Skybow Dodge series mention no sink marks. Why do my kits have ugly sinks between the lights on the front fenders? Right in the middle of the nice bolt detail. Obviously, the reviewers are getting a better kit than the one that's being sold to the public. WHEW!! Glad to get that off my chest! #:-)

My #1 pet peeve is the "Great Masquerade". Re-boxing old kits and not informing unsuspecting consumers that you are buying a 20+ year old kit. Also counted in the "Great Masquerade" is adding a sprue or two and selling it as an all-new kit.

1. mold residue a foot wide around small parts
2. the ever present flying part that can't be built or found
3. two large parts that join at tiny glue surfaces
4. 2 piece guns,when 1 side is warped

One more thing that has been bothering me is the increased prices across the board for all things concerned with this hobby. Including kit's costs, paints, AM kits, PE sets.
Some of the Tamiya kits are now commanding upwards of $40 !!! Eeeek!

Ejector pin marks!
Sink marks aren't as common as they were, but they are a pain too.

I just got the new DML Panther D. The new Panther D sprues are added to the kit which includes lots of sprues common with the Panther A. The new track links have FOUR ejector pin marks on each link. The road wheels have FOUR ejector pin marks on them. It looks like bad engineering came after good. Sigh...

Andy

1. Bad plastic tracks
2. no SS license plates
3. stainless PE
4. sinkholes!!!!!!!!!
5. Bad or no figures- example: no figures with Dragon armor
6. poor research on subject kit
7. bad instructions

Chris Pig no.1

Mine didn't have these problems Jock, so it sounds like a probable case of one being cast without enough plastic (slightly short-shot). I built mine just after release. None of them that I have at home have this flaw...

Gunnie

OK - I'm getting picky - Flash across the knuckles of figures hands and on the ridge of the ears. The fist just bugs me. The second makes me nervous I’m going to pull a Tyson and rid the guy of his ear.
Vinyl tracks that are too tight!
#:-)

Couple of peeves..

1) Academy's ejector pin caverns..I know you have ot pop those puppies out of a mold somehow, but they're all over their M113 series door and hatch interiors and they're DEEP.

2) Omitting very visable parts. Again Academy and M113's: no ramp pulley! Eduard finally did one in the newer Zelda set (iirc.. its in one of the new 113 sets)

3) flat photoetched grab handles..]

4) psychotically over-engineered PE ( helloooo Aber.. working Panther tank travel lock bicycle chain!!??! " That boy aint right." )

5) resin sets that do not fit the kit they are supposedly designed for. ( old Verlinden Engines/Trannys and Cavalier zimm sheets for the Panther A do not fit the Italeri hull they are designed for..)

6) inaccurate or mixed model detail sets ( Verlinden's Panther G update is seriouslly bolloxed up.. Panther A tow cable holders, wretched veil material for engine screens.. whatta waste of $$, then there is the unfixed dimension problems with the T62 turret in the T62 update.)

7) unbuildable engineering ( Academy is back with the blackhawk and Kiowa 1/35th helos..vague directions and non-positive fit for the instrument panel/coaming in the Kiowa interfere with the canopy glass. Fine if you build a model at one sitting, but if you work in stages, the glue is dried and set before you get from step 3 to step20. Let's not go any farther than to say the Blackhawk has the same problem and more in the troopie compartment seats.. I am not a 47-armed Hindu diety, but I'd need to be to get all those bits lined up..)

Anyone ever get a new kewboard and find that they cannot type on the new one?
This thing is driving me nuts.. what the hell is 'turbo' and why did it take away half of my rt side shift key?

Mike
who DOES like to build models more than he likes to complain, but it is a close one..

Damn! I was going to say injector pin holes,two part gun barrels, too tight vinyl tracks, tiny parts with foot wide sprue connectors, old kits in new boxes, those dad burn Indi track links, and of course sink holes. But as you guys have allready coverd those I won't. #:-)
BUT what really irks me is what someone else pointed out, putting the sprue connector right in the middle of a prominant facing. Its just plain bad planning or lazy or what the heck, both. Try to cut it off without destroying the detail. NEVER been that good or that lucky.