how good quality are "LEE" kits?

[Renelsisc]

hey guys,

After trying months and months to find the Tamiya 600SEL AMG kit, I finally got one, but is now a little scared to start it, just because it took me so long to do i dont want to screw ANYTHING up hahahah. And being such a newbie, i'm sure i would mess something...

Recently I ran into a store that had these 600SEL models for sale, at a fraction of what i paid for it. The box and layout looks EXACTLY like the Tamiya ones, cept it says "LEE" insteadof Tamiya. I'm thinking it is a knockoff version.

I was hoping to maybe get this kit and use it as practice before doing the real one on the tamiya. But what do you guys think about fitment? any issues? Is this kit good at ALL? or it's complete crap? Please advise. Thanks

[tonioseven]

If you get them very inexspensively then you're o.k. but don't expect Tamiya quality; they're reverse-engineered from Tamiya kits and will truly test your building skills but that can be looked at as a good thing.

[ZoomZoomMX-5]

They are horrid. Seriously. The metal transfers are done as chrome printing on clear sticker material. Parts are riddled with sink marks and flash and very poor engraving. Unless you can get it bought and delivered for less than $5, you paid too much for any Lee kit. The extra $$ for a Tamiya is well worth it.

[kaho]

I looked at the contents of one of those kits and I had the most gripe about their wheel/tires! The chrome are so thick on the rims that they look fat. The tires have very shallow treads and are shiny. The rest of the kit (body, windows etc) looked like they can be done good, nothing that spraying on primer/surfacer followed by careful smoothing out of the surface a few times(body) and dipping into floor wax(windows) won't fix. If you do that and give it a new wheel/tire package it should come out to be a pretty good looking model.