Automotive / Civil Land Vehicles Evaluation Criteria

Basic Construction:

  • Flash, mold marks, filler and pusher marks originating from the mold, registration marks (as in Monogram and some Revell kits) and similar mold-related errors must be eliminated.
  • Joint marks that do not exist on the real vehicle must be eliminated. This detail is more important especially if the vehicle being built is an automobile. Although the mold mark found on wheels made of rubber is included in this, these marks can be left on tires manufactured for special purposes (F1, Moto GP etc.) provided that they are documented.
  • Incorrect contour lines must be corrected.
  • Gaps between the body and the chassis must be eliminated.
  • Details lost during filling and correction must be opened from the beginning to be brought to the same point as the general detail level of the model.

Alignment:

  • Elements placed outside the body (mirrors, exhausts etc.) must be aligned and symmetrical.
  • Elements inside the vehicle must be properly aligned.
  • All wheels of the vehicle (except the spare wheel) must be on the ground and must be correctly aligned in terms of front, rear and side views. In cases where the front wheels are turned, it is necessary to ensure that both wheels are facing the same direction and are symmetrical.

Glasses and Other Transparent Parts:

  • There should be no surface problems caused by adhesives or leveling on glass or transparent parts.
  • The gaps that may occur at the joints of the glass or transparent parts with the body must be filled and leveled.
  • All glass or transparent parts must be scratch-free and free of paint stains caused by the mask.

Details:

  • Parts that are thick and/or out of scale given by the kit must be thinned or replaced.
  • Exits such as exhaust and air intakes must be drilled and opened in accordance with the real thing.
  • Extra details added to the model (door locks, indicator details, engine cables, upholstery textures, etc.) must be in scale. The detail sets used (metal, PE, resin, etc.) must be properly applied to the model and the PEs in particular must be shaped in accordance with the surface of the model and must be assembled.
  • The engine and chassis detail levels should be compatible with the overall model and scale.
  • Moving parts (doors, hoods, etc.) should be compatible with the overall model and the movement of these parts should be realistic. Moving part mechanisms should be made realistic.

Painting and Finishing:

  • The surface of the model should not bear traces of the construction phase after painting (glue, sandpaper, fingerprints, etc.).
  • The model should be finished properly. If irregularities found in the real vehicle used as a basis are reflected in the model, they should be supported with documents. If Zimmerit and non-slip surfaces are made, these should also be documented.
  • There should be no brush marks, feathering, or brush hair in the paint,
  • There should be no orange peel effect, cracking or dusting (in places such as wing roots, right-angled connections, etc.) in the paint,
  • There should be no differences in brightness caused by incorrect application of the varnish layer.
  • Paint transitions should be realistic, there should be no blurring caused by masking errors. Paint transitions should be made to scale in accordance with the documents, without allowing spitting caused by overspray.
  • In case of reflection of atmospheric effects (aging, wear etc.), scale should be taken into consideration, documented real vehicle should be taken as reference (region of use, conditions etc.) and these effects should maintain their integrity in general of the model (such as not putting an excessively aged pilot house on an exterior paint as factory). If there is a special condition of the vehicle being modeled, this should be supported with documents.
  • Chrome parts should be displayed realistically and should be free from any errors that may arise from the production phase (scratches, paint stains, surface abrasions etc.).

Application of Wet/Dry Decals (Decals):

  • Decals should be aligned properly (if there is a special condition of the vehicle being modeled in such signs, it should be documented, thus proving that the modeler did not make a mistake and that the current special condition is reflected exactly)
  • Decals should not have any silvering and/or air bubbles. The carrier film of the decal should not be visible, therefore it should look as if it was painted.

Colors:

  • The colors of the paints, even from the same company and produced in the same way, may have slight color differences from batch to batch. Different usage areas affect the paint in different ways. All paints fade due to both atmospheric conditions and sunlight. In addition, the distance you look at also affects your perception of the tone of the paint. Despite this, if there are serious tone differences in the model compared to the color it should be, it must be documented.