With more than 500 votes cast, collectors weighed in on the brands they feel deliver the best in overall quality control. We certainly agree with the results, as AUTOart claimed the top spot with an impressive 115 votes. Over the years, we’ve handled a substantial volume of models—quite literally in the thousands—and if we’re being completely honest, the defect or damage rate has likely been under 2%. That level of consistency speaks volumes about AUTOart’s commitment to craftsmanship and attention to detail. It’s a standard that resonates strongly with collectors, especially as prices continue to climb and expectations grow alongside them.
Now, we turn the tables. Our latest poll shifts the focus in the opposite direction, highlighting the brands that have fallen short in terms of quality control over the years. This is your opportunity to share your experiences—the good, the bad, and the frustrating. Cast your vote and let us know which brands have disappointed you and why. Your feedback and stories are invaluable to the community and help paint a fuller picture of the hobby from a collector’s perspective.
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Out of the three chinese brands – Almost Real, LCD, Motorhelix, I’d say LCD is best in terms of QC, although the Huayras saw a lot of issues.
Motorhelix is second best and their problem is inconsistency due to some models being built at different factories. I have about 15-20 of them and a whopping 30-40% have some sort of issue. I wouldn’t call it QC, just sloppy execution. They’ve only been around for a few years so they get a pass.
Almost Real is the absolute worst, the two Zondas I have both have significant issues and those are well known. They can’t handle complexity. Their simpler models like the Rufs and Land Cruisers are pretty decent AFAIK.
“although the Huayras saw a lot of issues.”
Thanks for the feedback, Wes. I can attest to the LCD Huayras… Article to come!
It’s hard to choose, but Almost Real has always been a great buy for me. They are on top of my QC experience. Then again, I don’t have a Zonda yet.
KK Scale is often great value, but sometimes there are really disturbing issues like bad paint on a significant area, or wheels falling off. CMC is great in general, but they don’t look at every aspect of the model. Like my grilles are never aligned, which I find disturbing.
I have an Almost Real + Pagani Zonda F, and I don’t see any QC problems with it at all.
Worst QC is a tough one to determine because I think even with the reliable brands, no example received is ever 100% perfect. The higher the amount of detail present, the higher the chance for an imperfection to be introduced during the assembly or packing process. It comes down to how bad the imperfections are before they are considered unacceptable by the recipient, and that will be different for everyone. And for the budget-friendly brands, with low price usually comes the expectation that things will be less perfect, yet still acceptable for the price being paid.
True! Additionally, you’d need to distinguish between a design flaw and the control of that quality.
A design flaw is something that the manufacturer meant to do the way it was done: low quality paint or cheap plastic and chrome, low detail or print-on lights, flat engine tray syndrome, off shapes or anything not true to the original car design. These are not QC issues.
Let me illustrate: Resin model side windows are usually designed as transparent foil with chrome frames merely printed onto them. The non-3d chrome is a (constant) design flaw inherent in the way manufacturers do this. That the windows are often wavy or partially detach from the resin body is a QC issue, not intentionally built into the model. A huge gap in shutlines is inbuilt design in budget models, zero-gap shutlines in sealed resin, none of which is a QC issue.
With this distinction, simple models will easily have few quality control issues, having just less to go wrong, while intricate top models simply have far more to go wrong. So I am not sure how important the isolated QC factor is in satisfying collectors, as irritating as being affected by sloppy QC is.
In my opinion Almost Real is good. I have 4 zonda’s and a maybach but only 1 minor QC with a Zonda…………..but that was in corporation with BBR. So who should we blame :-)
You could also do a poll on worst time to market haha.
I guess AutoArt will win that one…………so many years now waiting for a Regera Ghost package, Chiron Pur Sport, Jesko, Huayra roadster BC and so on and so on.
I was tempted to vote for Solido since just looking at their models in boxes steers me clear of buying them and the one time I budged I ended up returning 2 copies of the same model… But they are way cheaper than Kyosho, which (still) has serious QC issues and seems that they (still) cannot handle the paint rash, so my vote went to them.