The Little World

Or a drought?

The Ukraine War is in full swing, if swing accurately describes improbably heavy armour floundering across muddy fields or running out of fuel on the main road. The Russian Army seems to be a different entity from that presented by the media a few decades ago, and that is a bit of a surprise. I’ll bet the Russians are surprised as well…

Well, conflicts generate kits. Big ones make for a lot of them, little ones for fewer – but generally some manufacturer will seize upon the opportunity to box something up and fire it out the door. In the case of the Ukraine Invasion, most of the hardware so far is land-based or in the air, and most of it is Eastern European in origin – ex-Soviet, Russian, or Ukrainian. There may be a little third-party mixed in now that NATO is sending arms, but so far these are not big assets.

Will the Czechs make Ukraine Invasion sets? Will the Ukrainian makers bring them out? How about Zvezda? Is MiG ( the paint MiG ) bottling camouflage paints as we read this? I think we can bet on it. And they won’t be cheap.

Will we see a dearth of Ukrainian kits ? Possibly, if communications, electricity, and raw materials are restricted. And as they have more to worry about than toy airplanes, it is perfectly understandable. Will Zvezda go reticent? Possibly, and perhaps under instruction…In any case, there could be an embargo on goods from Russia – it is hinted that the local booze shops have pulled Russian goods from the shelves…though this is may be a marketing ploy. I can’t see Dan Murphy’s pouring all their Smirnoff down the sink in righteous anger. It’ll be back…

Will the oriental makers cash in on the war? Possibly not in Japan, but on the Asian continent there would be little to stop them.

How about further west? I expect to see a flood of decal sets for Ukrainian markings from the little printers. I’m looking daily for the first blue/yellow bumper sticker.