The Little World

The decision to squeeze yet another year out of an old mould must be agony for the planners in a big scale model factory.

But of course it can be eased by the realisation that the price for the old tat will be paid in new money.

There will be the cost of new box art and possibly a fresh decal sheet, but if the advertising department is on the ball even the old box can be made to do repeat duty.

Let’s face it, if you are going to sell nostalgia to the people with fading eyesight, you need not go to all that much trouble with fresh graphics.

It is a bit of a problem when you heat the moulds and pull out a few sample sprue trees – and find that what was saleable in 1961 is hideous dreck now. The oriental scoundrels who took your business away from you did so by making kits that fit well, and your old junk is just a mass of sink marks and ejector pin circles.

The best thing to do is make the kits cheaper than those of the competition. This is not so much a race to the bottom as a skim off the top. Everything is long since paid for so any more sales you can snare is just holiday money.

Just tell people it is classic and nostalgic, and hope that they had some good old days that can compensate them for the lousy new ones trying to build your kits.