Hi there what is the quality expected of the kits makers ,such as joints, wings,and gerneral quality of the kits any responce will be much appreicated cheers

take any BVM kit and have a look!
good design, nice fitting, excellent instruction manual, awesome plans, top quality hardweare and the list goes....

That kinda depends - IMO there is no single quality standard that I expect - instead, it is based on a number of factors, including the price, popularity, and the manufacturer's claims.

Generally speaking, the higher the price of the kit, the higher I expect the quality to be. To some extent that will still vary, because I would consider it fair to pay a higher price for a kit that will sell fewer units than one that will be really popular, without expecting that higher price to necessarily include higher quality.

Also, if a manufacturer tries to convince me that his kit has certain level of quality, in order for him to get the sale, then regardless of the price I pay, I expect the quality to be exactly as described.

Then there's always the question of how mature the design is - if I put my name down for one of the very first batch of a given kit, then I expect a slightly lower level of quality than with a more mature product - I am consciously making a decision to accept that possibility in return for getting the kit several months earlier than might otherwise be the case. That doesn't mean I'll acept junk - just slightly reduced quality.

Another thing that I consider to be part of the "quality of a kit", is the quality of support that I get when I have any questions about it during assembly. I expect to be able to get to talk to a knowledgeable person within a few days, max. I don't care whether that means calling a foreign country - I just don't want to wait too long for the answer.

Gordon

Gordon,

Fantastic answer [to a question I didn't really understand at first]!

So far from what I have seen and heard, there is NO perfect kit. No matter what you get you must assume you will have to do a little thinking and customizing.

Just more on some, and less on others.

How complete do you guys expect a kit to be? Is a kit comprising of a glass fuse, moulded wings & tail, canopy plus good instructions gonna sell, or does it need to have evrything needed to finish the model? BTW, I'm talking turbine kits, here - I think you guys expect more than the DF guys. Stu.

Well, its nice when all the hardware is included, although some use their own preference.

Again, some people enjoy building the surfaces too, so its a toss up, I like having them done..Ill pay more for it if its done good.

What a kit shouldn't need is scratch building, and grinding on the parts to make things work, especially when your grinding on critical components

Just my opinion

Depends on the price, plus what kind of goodies I need to buy to complete the kit, how readily available they are, what the model is, etc.

If I need to mail-order parts form 20 different suppliers in order to build the beast, the shipping alone could be prohibitive; if the kit is designed to use parts that are common enough that I can pick them all up from just one or two sources, that helps.

Also depends on just how badly I want the kit. If you're gonna sell a model that I can buy in a more complete kit form elsewhere, for a reasonable price, I'll probably go for the more complete model; if on the other hand, you are offering a model that I want but can't get anywhere else, I'll put up with a lot of hassle in procuring the parts. e.g if you're gonna offer a nice kit of a BAe Hawk, Panavia Tornado, Gloster Meteor, Hawker Hunter, etc - I'd be willing to accept a much "shorter" kit than if we were talking about another flying-wing kind of trainer, etc.

YMMV,
Gordon