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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 0:01:19 GMT
The purpose of this thread is to show the quality issues you have encountered with Cobi products, so please post all your quality-related problems here. Hopefully someone from Cobi will read this and correct it for future releases. Some thoughts about Cobi quality:The "Battle of Berlin" IS-2M was the first set ever I received to include a wrong part, but up to that point I had already bought around 200 Cobi sets, so one wrong part out of appx. 200 sets is still a remarkable good quota! Now I own appx. 350 Cobi sets (and have opened about 80% of them), and until now I had 4 parts with misprints and around 20 parts that are very heavily scratched or otherwise severely damaged (but I never reported them to Cobi). So I have A LOT of spare turntables, but so far I have only broken one of them (when a tank slipped out of my hand and fell to the ground). And from the hundreds of spare hinge clips and hooks I needed to replace only 1 damaged hinge and 2 broken hooks so far. I also broke one of the trailer hitches, which didn't come as an additional spare. So all in all Cobi quality is pretty good, but there are at least a couple of bricks in each set which are either slightly scratched (mostly tiles and bricks with a large surface) or where you have to smoothen the burr a bit. And the spacing between some parts (tiles and especially the 1x2 "jumper plates") is sometimes a bit off (too wide and inconsistent gaps). Also (very rarely) the clutch is wrong. Sometimes the clutch is not tight enough, so 2 assembled bricks just fall apart again (but then I simply use a similar part instead and use the one with the insufficient clutch somewhere else where it fits better or structurally can't fall off again. I also have some parts (e.g. a 4x4 plate with a hatch hole) that simply pop off again because the clutch is too tight. COBI Customer ServiceIn the severe cases, where I really needed a proper part to be able to finish the assembly of the model, I contacted the COBI customer service and asked for a replacement part. And I always got a reply, and even some small "gifts" were included along with the needed replacements parts:  You can contact the COBI customer service via eMail (in English) |
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 0:06:47 GMT
In my set 5537 "Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero" Cobi "introduced" a new color for the wing flap parts, a mix between dark green and regular green. For comparison, I have included a wing flap in regular green and a wing flap in dark green (as found in the "Heinkel He 111" and "Junkers Ju 87B Stuka") in the picture. Both wing flap parts of my 5537 set are affected by this problem.  It looks like Cobi is experiencing the same problems Lego had a while ago with incorrectly mixed granulate, causing color inconsistencies. Well ... a kid using the plane as a toy probably doesn't care, but it bothers me quite a lot having to display the model like this. |
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Post by achtungpanzer on Dec 2, 2017 8:52:28 GMT
O man, that's a shame... Darn
Color is something what meets the eye instantly
There are indeed some quality issues here and there
For instance, i have a couple of deformed bricks by now, which are absolutely useless
Fortunately, i have a large personal stash so i can easily replace them, but someone who can't will certainly be dissapointed
Also, it came to my attention that even black is surfacing in multiple shades
I use a lot of different sets to build mocs, so i came across quiet some different color shades
Also, the hinge bricks types i believe they are called ( the bricks where you can attach something to for example a shovel) are a becoming loose or brake overtime
Also minifigures hands have that problem
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 11:34:19 GMT
Scratchmarks on "new" partsHeavy scratchmark found on a "new" 2x4 plate in the "Focke-Wulf FW-190A-8" set from the WW2 Airplane Collection magazine issues:   Looks like a general problem during production, as I've already encountered several parts with similar scratchmarks: Scratchmarks found on "new" 1x3 plates from freshly opened Cobi sets. The scratchmarks on both plates look similar, so there must be a connected problem during production.  The green 1x3 plate came from a freshly opened Cobi set 2469 "M16 Half-Track"   Severely scratched "new" 2x6 plate found in a freshly opened Cobi set. Must have been scratched over quite a distance somewhere along the production line.  Scratchmark found on a new tile from a freshly opened Cobi set 2458 "SU 76M"  I used toothpaste (!) and a soft cloth to polish off the scratchmark on this tile. I had to rub quite hard until the tile got fairly hot, but it worked. You can probaly also use polish for smartphone displays to "fix" this ...
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 11:44:21 GMT
MisprintsI received this misprinted 2x6 tile in set 2473 "Sd.Kfz. 173 Jagdpanther":  Misprint of the "Jeep "logo I got in a new Cobi set 24260:  I received this misprinted 1x4 slope in set 2366 "Sd.Kfz. 222":  German cross insignia misprint found on a door of Cobi set 5511 "VW Type 82 Kübelwagen": (Not that severe, but nonetheless)  Well, the next part, a 2x6 tile from a freshly opened Cobi set, doesn't really count as a "misprint", as it wasn't supposed to receive a printing at all, but still got some sort of a "pattern". Looks like the tile has a "marble" effect, but I was not able to remove it using cleaning fluids (even cleaning petrol), because the markings seem to be molded into the part. 
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 12:21:19 GMT
Wrong parts
My "IS-2M" from the "Battle of Berlin" magazine issue included the first wrong part I ever encountered. A 1x3 slope from issue No. 47 (5596) was missing the "stripes" printing, so instead of a printed part I got a completely unprinted part. Up to this point it was the most expensive Cobi tank I have ever bought: 60 bucks for all 6 BoB issues (45-50) and 20 bucks for postage (ordered directly from Cobi in Poland), so I contacted the Cobi customer service about it and got a replacement part without any problems.  Cobi 2492 IS-3: A wrong part delivered in the set made the assembly impossible:  There are 2 kinds of the 2x3 wing plates: One with gaps in the sloped egde so it can be put on top of other plates/bricks, and one without these gaps that cannot be mounted on top of other plates/bricks with this edge. In my set I got the correct right wing plate and the wrong left wing plate.  
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 22:30:42 GMT
Incorrectly molded partsMy Cobi set 3024 "Panzer VIII Maus" came with "battle damage", as one of the grey 2x3 tiles was not fully molded.   I found this "new" part in the "Focke-Wulf FW-190A-8" set from the WW2 Airplane Collection magazine issues. Looks like a "burnmark", so I wonder what happened here during production?  Incorrect part found in Cobi set 4801 "CSS Destroyer". The hole for the stud is not deep enough, so the part cannot be attached.  Incompletely molded track chain link found in a new Cobi set. I guess that's why there are always additional chain links included in a set.  Some of COBI's molds seem to be defective (or badly made), resulting in parts with asymmetrical wall thickness. I found these defective 1x2 plates with 1 stud on top ("jumper plates") in the 2608 "M1A2 Abrams" set (as it contains quite a lot of them because the model has a width of an uneven number of studs), but this seems to be a general problem, as I found these bad "jumper plates" in a lot of other sets also.  If you look at the underside of these plates, you notice that the thickness of the side walls is different on each side, resulting in: 1. having to use brute force to attach the plates (damaging the on the underside in the process) 2. parts beeing attached with very high tension, so they tend to "pop off" again 3. causing very noticable gaps once placed 4. not beeing able to attach other parts on top of multiple of these "assymetrical" parts placed next to each other, because the studs are to far away from each other or to close next to each other (causing also 2.)  Regarding the M1A2 Abrams assembly, this posed to be a problem for attaching the base of the turntable holding the turret and for attaching the front armor plates, so I ended up replacing the black 1x2 "jumper plates" with genuine LEGO parts, so I could assemble the model at all without problems. Unfortunately LEGO does not have COBI's tan color, so I was not able to replace those parts aswell. Not all of the 1x2 "jumper plates" were affected of this quality problem, in later bags (the ones for the turret), the 1x2 "jumper plates" were OK and had a symmetrical wall thickness. So only some of COBI's molds must be defective while others for the same part are OK. Another quality issues I had with the M1A2 Abrams: The clips for the headlights with printing on the side came as slightly damaged "used" parts. It looks like in order to print these parts, they were mounted onto something with a stud, but the stud was too big (or the underside of the clip is too small), so the underside of these parts were already slightly "deformed". Normally it would not be an issue, because the underside of such a clip is not visible once attached to something, but in this case the clip is attached upside-down, so the damaged underside of the clip is clearly visible at the front of the model (headlights).
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 22:53:04 GMT
Crushed partsI found these defective parts in a new 2488 "M46 Patton" set:  Well, the deformed rubber tyre is obviously bad molding, but I wonder what happened to the crushed 1x4 plate during production? It looks like somebody did run it over with a forklift or something, as the studs are crushed back into the base of the plate!    The latest "crushed" part I received was a dark green 1x6 plate with the Heinkel He 111 from the WW2 Airplane Collection magazine issues. I took pictures of it for my "collection", but somehow they got lost. One end was so crushed that I had to cut it back in shape with a cutter knife in order to be able to put it in place. Fortunately you cannot see the damage from outside the plane.
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Post by El Caracho on Dec 2, 2017 23:10:22 GMT
Insufficiently deburred partsI received this improperly deburred 2x3 tile in set 2496 "SdKfz 184 Panzerjäger Tiger (Ferdinand)": 
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Post by achtungpanzer on Dec 3, 2017 9:35:37 GMT
Well, i don't have such an extensive cobi collection as you but a lot sounds familiar - 1x2 jumper plates seems to be all off, there is always some room between them, i always turn them 180 degrees in a way they look smoothlier - i came across some side scratches you have too, buy i don't mind it that much brcause i just turn them so you won't see it - deformed parts; came across it 3 times, here is one i found the other i discarded in the dustbin  And these are the type of parts that always break after a while when something is attached to it;  Not a real problem because cobi always includes spares in every set , like they know -i have clutch problems too with some parts but if you mix and match there is always some part that fits properly - luckily i never came across misprints which i can imagine is the worst case scenario because you can't replace them -I have a couple of those big black baseplates in i believe 8x20 who are bended instead of flat, also the big opel blitZ black tile in the back floor who is useless because it is not flat -Also found some building instruction faults in some building instructions a couple of times actually, can't recall which to be honoust |
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Post by tunstallgill on Jun 1, 2018 11:50:23 GMT
Recently discovered Cobi and am now addicted !!. Have built about 10 kits and am impressed with quality. However have had 2 kits with bits missing, e-mailed Cobi 2 weeks ago asking for replacement parts but have had no reply. Is this normal or am I just unlucky ?
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Post by tunstallgill on Jun 21, 2018 22:01:26 GMT
Now had reply from Cobi explaining they have had server problems. Replacement part now arrived plus a bonus figure. Cheers guys !!!
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Post by El Caracho on Jun 27, 2018 9:21:47 GMT
Now had reply from Cobi explaining they have had server problems. Replacement part now arrived plus a bonus figure. Cheers guys !!! Yep, my last replacement parts request was also affected by that "server problem", but I eventually got the needed parts for my M6 Fargo and Mark I ... |
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