I thought this might interest folk

[Roger Pellett]

For that kind of cash you can go a long way towards outfitting a proper shop.

Roger

 

[Bob Cleek]

I think part of the issue is that most kit builders think that the kit manufacturer has done all the research and has presented a good representation of the historical vessel, so they build it as the kit. Or, they buy the kit and don't want to do any research. Another possibility is that they buy a kit and don't have the knowledge that things are not accurate in the kit.

Just so on both counts, but I don't blame the kit builders. Either way, I believe the kit manufacturers have an ethical obligation to describe their products honestly. As it is presently, in my opinion, the advertising hype of all too many kit manufacturers too often far exceeds the legally permitted bounds of "mere puffing" in their misrepresentations of the accuracy and quality of their products. Such false advertising defrauds the consumers. Some would argue, "Caveat emptor," "Let the buyer beware." but I can find little fault in the trusting buyers who can't recognize the glaring shortcomings of many kit offerings because in so many instances those buyers recognize their own inexperience and lack of specialized knowledge and so actually buy those kits specifically in reliance upon the sellers' misrepresentations. The damage done is suffered not only by the unwitting buyers, but by the entire enterprise of ship modeling itself because these manufacturers broadcast their mediocre standards far and wide, devaluing the ship model per se as a serious art form. Decades ago, people admiring a model presumed the modeler "did the whole of it." Now they ask, "Was it a kit?" OcCre's "Limited Edition" Victory polluted the ship model "gene pool" by "only" 999 examples. How much more widespread is the devaluation of "unlimited" kits that have been around for decades? We now see so many kit modelers who, having experienced little else, actually accept the manufacturer's wildly exaggerated claims as true and become defensively offended when told otherwise. We have to expect when somebody's been suckered into paying as much as two thousand dollars U.S. for the "sizzle," they're not about to readily admit their "steak" is tough and tasteless.

 

[Roger Pellett]

I feel particularly sorry for those who buy these kits as gifts for loved ones and close friends. Experienced modelers should be able to separate the wheat from the chaff but these buyers can’t.

Roger

 

[Bob Cleek]

I feel particularly sorry for those who buy these kits as gifts for loved ones and close friends. Experienced modelers should be able to separate the wheat from the chaff but these buyers can’t.

Roger

I'm thinking experienced modelers, being just that, would be very unlikely to purchase a ship model kit as a gift, even for their worst enemy!

 

[Jack Sparrow]

For that kind of cash , I'd buy the Vanguard HMS Indefatigable

me too