This post started when I was just looking at a thread about the Kittyhawk SU34. The color scheme of the IRL plane is amazing and rivals what gets posted over at r/gunpla, I kinda love it. That said, it seems that all of the comments were unanimously panning the kit.

That in turn makes me thankful I was bit by the "small giant robot" bug and not the model airplane bug. Even the worst offending Bandai kit just needs a drop or three of extra-thin cement to fix. The kit I'm adding decals to this week is one of the worst-reviewed Real Grade Gundam kits (the RG Justice) but every piece fits perfectly and the seams are fine in this reasonably complex build with a lot of tiny, tiny parts. I literally had to add glue to three spots to fix what ails it.

Y'all are a dedicated group of folk to seek out, build and beautify some of these kits. My biggest challenges on these Bandai kits are making sure my decals are straight (they are not) and my panel lines are clean (these are sloppy). They don't even need paint to look amazing out of the box, but I'll get to painting one day.

I kinda want to pick up a cheap, $5, poorly-regarded kit just to try out this end of the hobby and to see how much goes into filling in gaps and righting the wrongs of some of these models

Anyway, y'all have my respect! Aside from an occasional one-off build, I stick to my Bandai and Koto kits. Cheers!