Hi all,
I've been out of the model building loop for about fifteen years, about to get back into it (finally moved to a house with a 'spare' bedroom
) but in all that time I've 'monitored' a lot of changes in the small scale world we love so much - we have a lot higher expectations now and the wealth of research material and accessories available simply beggars the imagination; man, I was happy back in the mid seventies when Tamiya brought out half a dozen new kits a month, but I'd be appalled if they launched similar quality kits today.
The Essential Thing to remember is Caveat Emptor
(buyer beware...)
Do your research about the kit you want to buy and when you finally track it down and before you decide to hand over your hard-earned cash, ask the man in the shop if you can examine the contents (doesn't help if you're miles from a hobby shop and do all your buying on-line I know, but in that case, er, use this forum!)
Read the instructions - are they clear and easy to follow? Are they comprehensive? Well drawn?
Look at the sprues closely - you should be able to spot bad detail, excess flash and all those associated types of crud easily.
Sometimes, there may be a moulded plate on one of the sprues identifying the kit - check it for a date, sometimes this doesn't get changed when a manufacturer retreads an old kit.
In my case, I'm returning to modelling faced with my stockpile of seventies and early eighties kits by Tamiya, Esci and Italeri
- somehow, I think I might be shifting some of the less notable efforts as 'collectables' on fleaBay
...
acav out
