Kells Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 Did Realife make two different quality levels of kits? I've built two - that paneled Victorian/Country-ish bathroom set you've probably all seen, and the Victorian bedroom set. Really, REALLY displeased with having to cut the badly die-cut pieces out of extremely poor quality wood. All the pieces I made from those kits are long since history. HOWEVER, I recently saw a pic somewhere of the kit pieces inside a box and they looked more like House of Miniatures kits. I was quite surprised, as that was certainly not my experience. Did Realife have a "Collector's Edition" higher price-point or something like that of better quality, or did they improve their kits in later years? Does anyone know? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 I have a couple of Realife kits I haven't put together yet, but I got them because the Realife Victorian Parlor kit I did make turned out so nicely (sorry, the Cambridge album the pictures were in vanished along with a couple of other albums is a past "upgrade" and that's the only place I had those pictures). Now I guess I'd bettercheckout the ones I have... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fov Posted September 19, 2021 Share Posted September 19, 2021 All the Realife kits I have are the low quality wood that gets punched out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kells Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 Thank you both, but dang dang dang! I was hoping maybe their Queen Anne and Country collections were a step up from the norm. I did one of their living rooms too. Covered the sofa in thin glove leather and the wing chair in suede. They turned out surprisingly nice and perfect for a log cabin. But the tables and especially the secretary desk in that kit, good lord, worst pieces of junk I've ever dealt with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdodyd Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 I've made four of the regular Realife kits (living room, dining room, kitchen, and nursery/kid's room) plus the "American Country Bedroom Kit". I didn't notice any difference in the "Country" kit from the other ones. I only had a few minor problems getting the die-cut pieces out and was quite happy with the results, especially the kitchen. It's not as good quality as the House of Miniature kits but less expensive and more furniture for your money. I'm sorry to hear that it didn't work out so well for you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kells Posted September 20, 2021 Author Share Posted September 20, 2021 3 hours ago, jdodyd said: It's not as good quality as the House of Miniature kits but less expensive and more furniture for your money. That's an inarguable point for sure. For 2/3 the cost of an HOM highboy, with RL you get the whole bedroom! That's why I was hoping some of their kits weren't made from thin balsa wood. So disappointed. 🙁 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
havanaholly Posted September 20, 2021 Share Posted September 20, 2021 I built my Realife kit before I built any of my HOM kits and I didn't notice that the former were balsa, the pieces looked,sanded and took the stain just like the pieces in the HOM kits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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