The Little World

When we buy a model kit, or a pot of paint, or a roll of masking tape, where does the money we pay go?

I shop at a local dealer who has a good stock – I occasionally go to rival firms if they have special goods. In all the shops, I pay my money and take away the kits, paints, etc. and presume the money in the till goes for rent, lights, wages, taxes, and biscuits for morning tea. All above board, except if they buy Milk Arrowroot biscuits and then they can go to hell in a handbasket.

Eventually, through distributors and agents, a portion of the kit price will make its way back to the moulders in whatever country, and presumably support that land and its policies.

Which leads me to look carefully today at the eastern European makers to determine which items are made in Russia and which in the Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraina, etc. You lose sight of them when there are shelves of kits.

I have made a list for myself of makers who reside in Poland, Ukraina, Slovakia, etc. and those that are in Russia. I will patronise one lot, but not the other. It is a very small decision and will affect nothing of world politics, but it frees me from the feeling that my money goes to buy bullets for tyrants.

The odd part is there are still going to be models worth making that are of the Soviet era. I guess as long as they are not being made by Russians it will be somehow okay.