The Little World

Model kit building can be a harmless hobby or a fiendish socio-political plot. It all depends on who is telling the story.

In Australia we are currently out of favour with Communist China, and seem set to be castigated further as a pact between the UK, US, and Australia is established. As a side-show, the French are angry at losing a lucrative submarine construction scam…err…deal and will seek some form of cultural or commercial revenge because of it.

As modellers, we may see a depletion of stocks of model kits from Communist China and France. I am dismayed by this, as I like Hobby Boss and Heller models. But I also like Airfix and I see that the UK and India are concerned with their production…so I guess the supply of little Spitfires will continue.

The Common Market nations are caught somewhere in limbo as far as the Far East goes. They didn’t get asked, even when they stood around looking superior. That also applies to everyone else in the place, though I’m willing to bet the three governments took Japan and South Korean diplomats aside and briefed them fully.

So where does this leave us? Tamiya, Academy, Hasegawa, and Fujimi should be fine. Also Gunze and Iwata. And I think the Russians will just sit there clucking their tongues in faux dismay, so it shouldn’t disrupt the Zvezda shipments.