Spectacularly poor customer service

[JSteinman]

I am working on a Tamiya 1/48 scale kit for a magazine article and the plastic is extremely brittle and has broken even with kid gloves handling, so I contacted Tamiya USA. To say that they couldn't give a rats arse would be a gross understatement of the facts! I remember the day I bought my first Tamiya kit, and I have always looked forward to my next. I really do not feel this way anymore. How hard would it have been for them to say that they were sorry and maybe, just maybe ask if there was anything they could do to rectify this issue. A very sad day for me.

 

[Jeeves]

Sorry to hear it John...I have always felt the same way about their kits. If you don't mind my asking-- for future reference as I build a lot of these, which kit was it?

 

[Bagge]

Maybe if you call again, and maybe there is another person answering, and maybe that one heard of customer service!
Sad to hear that a big company like that don´t take more care of there customers.
I had contact with Zvezda and Revell europe and so far the service is top notch!
I hope it works out and that you get the model done :drinks
//Mats

 

[Sharkmouth]

for future reference as I build a lot of these, which kit was it?

Since I was the one who urged John to call, it was the SU-122 kit. John won't take my kit and was hoping that Tamiya would handle it.

I will contact their offices in California and Shizuoka.

Regards,

 

[JSteinman]

As Saul said it's e SU-122 kit. I have recently been informed by another 1/48er that their SU-122 kit suffered the same problem. FYI.

 

[Sharkmouth]

I have recently been informed by another 1/48er that their SU-122 kit suffered the same problem.

I will check mine. I still offer it to you to get the article done.

Regards,

 

[moon puppy]

As Saul said it's e SU-122 kit. I have recently been informed by another 1/48er that their SU-122 kit suffered the same problem. FYI.

Since it's for a review, I guess your experience will be in that review?

 

[Sharkmouth]

Since it's for a review, I guess your experience will be in that review?

It is more a weathering article than a review and I too have asked John to include it since others may need to know they're not alone.

Regards,

 

[Phil]

Thanks for posting a heads up on this issue, this seems the same problem I am having with GWH glassnose P-61 - brittle plastic - that breaks almost when you look at it.

In all my years of modelling I have never broke so many parts while constructing a kit

Is it that model companies are now using/manufacturing inferior plastic? who knows.

Go to an old Monogram/Revel kit and you can almost drop the parts onto concrete and they just bend at the least.

I just hope that this will not go to the ''norm'' for new plastic kits

 

[Jeeves]

Having the same issues with the GWH Devastator...there is no sense at all of having beautifully detailed parts if no matter how much care you put into removing them from the sprues, they fall apart.

 

[Sharkmouth]

It seems that the companies are trying to cut corners with inferior plastic that looks sharp like the better one.

Regards,

 

[chukw]

My Revell Germany Type VIIC U-Boot had really brittle plastic as well- so it's not a new issue. I haven't bought any "new" releases other than a PV-1, save for a couple of Cyber-Hobby prize kits. I haven't really examined them in detail yet.

 

[nerdling]

I just picked up a Revell 1/144 Type II U-Boat and it was that way also. Several pieces of railing were shattered in the sealed bag.

 

[JSteinman]

Great the 1/72 and the 1/144 are in the stash.

 

[Tankbuilder]

Shalom.

I wonder; are thtese styrene companies changing the formula of their plastic so that the plastic mimics resin and/orallows then greater detail than softer plastic does?

Just a thought.

Cheers

 

[Gator]

I hope this isn't transitioning to 1/700. Those parts are brittle enough with out them changing the plastic.

 

[SA Dave]

Shalom.

I wonder; are thtese styrene companies changing the formula of their plastic so that the plastic mimics resin and/orallows then greater detail than softer plastic does?

Just a thought.

Cheers

That is exactly what is happening. Modelers want better and better detail and the only way to get it is to use these soft plastics that go brittle. So its a catch 22 situation. Either great detail or easily usuble styrene.

 

[Tojo72]

I remember a couple of years ago,a poster was building Tamiya's 1/48 Early Tiger and he had the same problem.I guess it pops up every once in awhile.

A bad kit is understandable,but no excuse can be made for bad customer service.