Following on from John Harmers disappointment with the poor and variable quality of the plastic rivets that were included in his Hooben kit, he sent away for the optional metal rivet set as he is keen to make a nice job of this model.
The metal rivets arrived today (at a cost of £192 including FREE delivery!) and the quality is VERY disappointing (described as "absolute rubbish").
They are unusable - just like their plastic rivets - absolute RUBBISH quality.
Hopefully John can get his money back as he paid by credit card, but he is VERY disappointed with the manufacturer - especially as he quite likes the rest of the model and the way it is put together, but the rivets are a very large part of the Mk4 Male tanks appearance and the model would not look right without them.
I found some 1mm brass round head rivets on eBay that may have been useful for one of the sizes that he needs. The pictures show these rivets as being very nicely formed and at £5.65 for 50 pieces they put Hoobens £192 price to shame!
Sadly at this moment this supplier is out of stock of the 1.0mm size rivets (he sells 0.3mm, 0.5mm, 0.8mm and 1.0mm brass rivets - all at the same price of £5.65 for 50 pieces) so I have written to the supplier to try to find out when more stock will become available.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141476696032 ... BMoIbAsbFl
Meanwhile, if anyone else knows of any other supplier of these miniature rivets of this size, please let me know as I would like to help John find some so he can complete this model of the tank that his father served in as a driver in WW1.
John is 93 years old, and I am very unhappy to think that he may have been ripped-off with overpriced and bad quality rivets that do not fit, and I would like to help him find some miniature rivets that he can use to complete this model as quickly as possible.
Never too old to learn........