The Little World

Out of the ordinary. Unusual. Remarkable. Etc.

The devil is in the etc. Manufacturers of kits are sometimes thrown to the edge of the cliff when it comes to the selection of a prototype for their latest kit. In their various divisions they have usually fallen back upon a well-known kit to get quick money.

The Mustang, Spitfire, and Messerschmitt – the Tiger tank, the Sherman – the BISMARCK, MISSOURI, and YAMATO. Cash cows, all of them, and likely to give milk until it becomes yoghurt. I can count 6/8 of them in my past but quite frankly I’ve no desire to complete the equation.

I look on other shelves and pray that the importers have been there before me. Sometimes I am lucky and a new airplane appears. Or a noticeable variant. At the least a new livery and appropriate decals. Some kits do bear repeat building if they are good enough.

The search for novelty, however, can lead the makers as far astray as it does the builders. Prototypes, one-offs, what-if plans and frank fantasies are all put on sprue trees, boxed, and let the buyer beware – and find out before going to the shop. Do not trust the firm that wants your money to do research that would stop them from getting it.

Or, put another way, make your own mistakes and don’t buy those of others.