I would go so far as to say that the vast majority of kits (even the harder ones) can be built by anyone who’s willing to slow down, take your time, and carefully follow the instructions. People of all hobby skill levels enjoy building these kits - including lots of children. With all this talk of “difficulty” and “expert level”, you might start to worry that 3D laser cut metal models are just too complicated for average people. If you can handle expert level Metal Earth, you’re ready and should have no great problem tackling anything in the metal modeling world. Buy a few kits with the “easy rating”, and work your way through the levels to “expert”. So, if you’re just starting out, stick with Metal Earth kits for a while. You can assume that these other brands are, for the most part, more complex than Metal Earth. Also, the packaging of these brands typically includes more Chinese writing than English. But they don’t necessarily correspond to either the Metal Earth ratings, or to each other. Both companies include a rating on their packaging in “stars” (the more stars, the greater the difficulty). They’re becoming popular because they are greatly expanding the range of subjects available.īut when you buy these other brands, skill or difficulty ratings can be even harder to find.įor example, two of the more popular Chinese manufacturers are Mu and Piececool. Our hobby is expanding quickly, and there are now several other companies - particularly in China - producing wonderful kits. So, if you want more clear information on a particular kit, you need to go to that kit’s sales page and get a more full description of the difficulty level. Only a very basic rating “gauge” is typically shown – a needle points to where the manufacturer believes this kit falls on a 10-point scale: The following table sets out what each of the skill levels is intended to convey … Easyįeatures: Full play value, de-gated pieces.īUT NOTE … not all of this information appear on the kit itself … What you See on the Package But then another kit is rated “moderate”, and you nearly pull your hair out wrestling a part that’s loose because of one set of hard-to-reach tabs that just will not be twisted into place. You might sometimes wonder why one model is rated “challenging”, and you breeze through it without any great drama. That’s important to remember, otherwise you could be frustrated. So, they are acknowledging that their ratings are subjective, and are only intended as a guide. You should use it to choose the level “you feel you are at”. On Fascinations’ website they briefly describe how their skill level rating system works …Įach package of Metal Earth and ICONX gives an indication as to how challenging a model is to build.Ĭhoose a model that corresponds to the level you feel you are at. The Metal Earth brand of models are made in China, but they are produced and distributed by Fascinations Inc. Metal Earth Skill Levels: According to the Manufacturer So, let’s try and make some sense of it all. There’s also the question of how they compare with the difficulty ratings used by other metal model companies around the world. But after you’ve built a few kits you’ll probably come to the realization that these skill levels are pretty subjective.
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