I am rapidly developing a phobia for modellers. Seriously. Model-phobic or whatever you want to call it...

Why? Well it's simple. Before some modellers get a new kit into their hands they tear it apart on the various forums scattered through the net. The latest example of this is DML's new Pz1. No one has seen it, but Dragon have announced that they have corrected the rear-idler wheel.

This RIW quesion has caused a tremendous amount of distress and pain over the years Most governments have agencies studying it and there are rumors that he U.N. has a special commission...

So what has happened? The announcement by DML has caused real anger. Talk of conspiracy (at various levels) and at least one site has got a nice little flame-war underway. So far, only one image of the details has been made available. No-one has built it or reviewed it. However, the modelling world is being asked to take sides on a 'VERY- SERIOUS MATTER' indeed.

Therefore, I am back to my original point. We don't need reviewers. All DML an the others have to do is publish a picture and war will be announced because of the 'insult' which many feel because a company corrected a mistake...

Phobias? Oh yes...Jim

Jim, I have followed that thread over at ML, and noticed your posts too. At times I just wanted to post a message telling them all to **** ***. Conspiracy? These people who believe that DML are improving their kits just so we are forced to buy more are basically silly, and anal. I think it's fantastic that one of the big suppliers is actually listening to what people like us want and then doing all they can to correct their kits. I don't see Mr T doing it?

Vinnie

Jim,
I've seen the postings I believe you are refering to and am amused by some of the threads. I suspect a model company could cast a model in 14K gold and some folks would be upset cause it wasn't pure gold.
I also suspect that some folks think because they bought the original Tamiya Panther in 1970 that Tamiya should be responsible to send them all the current Panther sprues that 'correct' the old one's faults.( After all, they bought the product in good faith thinking it represented an accurate Panther! perhaps it did in 1970!)
I stand with the folks who are happy and gracious that as modelers, we have such an unbelievible selection of kits and stunning new ones coming out seemingly daily. Half the fun is tinkering to make the kit better. I applaud Dragon/DML for their new kits and am happy to put up with minor inaccuracies that can be corrected with aftermarket parts and even happier to know that they are continually attempting to address and correct the various problems as they become aware of them.
Cheers,
Charles

I don't see how anyone can possibly complain at a great manufacturer bringing out great kits that are more accurate and have more options than brand X counterparts.

I don't tend to follow threads like those, as I don't really care if other people get their knckers in a twist about such trivial matters. But Vinnie makes the point which I can't help but thinking of when this sort of c##p comes up : are the people who complain hardest about a companie correcting a mistake the same people who spend a large part of their time previously complaining about this same mistake, whinging that the companies don't listen and never correct any mistakes? Seems to me that some people will find something to complain about, and have nothing much better to do with their time.
I applaud DML for actually doing something possitive, and injecting a lot of new 'oomph' into a hobby which might otherwise get a little stale. There are only so many Panthers and Tigers you can regurgi..sorry, re-issue.. Still waiting for those US Halftracks though. But seeing as DML seem to be keeping an eye on our site ( as proven by Vinnie's reviews) maybe if we keep mentioning US Halftracks we might see some..
Al together now : US HALFTRACKS

:-) :-)

Cheers
Henk

AMEN!

The most funny thing, I noticed, about these kind of cases, is that "Those Who Complain" mostly are not "Those Who Build" that much...
It's something you encounter in shops, meetings, clubs and specially in forums...
These 'modellers' who know everything, seen it all and nitpick everything.

Something like the best sailers stands always on the shore...

PAUL

One of my favorite Shakespeare quotes is "Me thinks he doth protest too much." Most of us, well me anyway, are glad that someone is actually tooling new 1/35th scale kits. I could give a %^& if some rivet counter has a problem with it. I have been at this too long. Anyone else remember Duane Phister's articles in the now defunked "Military Modeler" magazine where he built the vacuform and resin conversions of kits that are now readily available? Hell, you can to your local hoobby shop and buy Leopolds kitted by two companies. Ten years ago no one in this hobby would have ever dreamed that would happen. I say give it a rest and I am thankful I am not nearly that anal. These people seriously remind me of the comic book guy on the Simpsons. I can just hear them saying "Worst...PZ1...Ever..."

Not at all sorry about the rant.

Shaun

hahaha thats a good analogy Shaun. I always loved that comic guy on the Simpsons, while hating him. "excuse me mister that is not a first edition comic, get that of my face" hahaha i always hate prudes that have so much to say yet dont have a clue, thinking that they do.
Regards,
Ian

T-Teriffic,
Tom, any link to a review, or maybe an indication of what's in the box? Trains? Plains? Automobiles??
Whereas it's true that I prefere Armour on the whole, I do like to build/ paint the occasional odddity.

Cheers
Henk

LOL! Jim :-) I'm hardly likely to agree with that.

But the important points you make are:




You can only review something when you've got the parts in front of you! Anything else is just rumour-mongering...

All the best

Rowan

Hehehehe ... Rowan as someone who feels that it is his diety-given duty to inform the site about the most insignificant releases and also to make people's eyes glaze over with my 'Reviews 'Till It Hurts' I honestly am not going against reviews. as it says on my bumper sticker:


..Jim :-)

Jim, I was reading the thread you refer to and my first thought was that we should sic this guy on Microsoft!

Honestly, I can’t fault DML for their willingness to correct problems, only commend them.

As I have no distinct reason / motivation to go with either a Panzer IA or IB, and seeing that the price difference, here in the UK, between Tristar and DML is negligible, I will most probably go with Tristar’s offering (MK tracks swayed me). :-)

Omigod! I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight. Conspiracy you say? Who would have thunk it? :-) :-)
Personally, if it looks like a duck, its a duck, or a Pz1. Good rant Jim, I'm with ya'. "Q"

As a devoted non rivet counter, I do, however, count the days until I can get DML's new Panzer I. I also will purchase DML's new US Halftracks. :-) Now, let's see if my Jedi mind trick worked. Cudos DML..........keep 'em coming.

Patrick

You guys can have my share of Pz 1's. There pretty ugly pieces of slag anyway. Uh-oh,I hear the conspiracy train coming.Gotta go! :-)

I do not know what ML is, so I guess I am glad to have missed out on further stupidity. Too many "experts" out there that think it is their duty to attack , critisize, and educate all of the rest of us "blockheads". They get especially vicious when after all their pointing out of trivia and astounding you with their tremendous knowlege then resort to vicious personal attacks. One person comes to mind as Jim will remember him from the History section on the heavy bomber thread.

Personally, when I purchase a kit I want the most accurate reasonably priced kit I can get.. If 6 months later they release another version with some small correction...well too bad so sad I've got what i want and that's that. I remember the hubub over the Essex a couple of years ago. There was a cry and hue about catapults. It was an etching on the flight deck that you couldn't really see unless you looked close. You'ld of thought they had put the island on the wrong side of the deck the way some folks carried on. In a later release this was corrected.

This is just a hobby, you will have your habitual complainers in no matter what you have, but like Paul said, they are probably the ones who spend the least, but complain the most.

Jim you need to take up whistling to calm your nerves, that is what I used to do when I got in heavy traffic, and things got real hectic, it some how calmed me down, that way this stuff won't bother you, to get your mind on something else.

To go a head, and let them complain on another site, just as long as they don't bring it to your site where you do the reviews.

Kerry

Jim ..you are right we are so lucky with all the great kits coming out ...I bought the first edition of the sdkfz251 C that Dragon brought out and it looks fine to me ..I'm not going to complain that they fixed a few things before they brought out their 3 in 1 kit .More power to them!..hey if I want it I'll buy it too..Like I did mention on that other thread it would be nice if Dragon made the improved parts available for sale at reasonable prices ..so if you did buy one of the early Pz I's you could buy their new idler sparately.. Make perfect sense to me.... #:-)

Rick

Personally i think companys need to start putting photo etch parts into their kits, Im pretty upset because us simple folks who live in the middle of no where dont want to order some photo etch which takes 2 weeks to get here when we can just go out and buy the kit which has photo etch in em!
man i feel so much better........
wait, wat actually is the point of metal idle wheels and what not, personally i think its a waist of money

Max in the first few releases of the Panzer I the idler was made to look like a rubber rimmed wheel much like the road wheels while in fact it was an all steel idler .

Rick

I only have two things to say: 1. Construction reviews give me a heads up on problems I might run in too. Keep them coming!
2. I buy what I like and enjoy the build. As long as what I build looks close to what it is supposed too, I am a happy, happy modeler.
capnjock

Let me just clarify a few things, as some contributors seem to be putting entirely the wrong 'spin' on my comments...

1) There was no disrespect meant to the Moderators of the the site where the thread appeared. They do a superb job in controlling some very disruptive elements..

2) My 'No more reviews' was ironic. Since in my opinion, some people seem to make up their minds on a new product before they even have it in their hands...

3) I stand by my original comments in that sometimes DML get details wrong, HOWEVER, it is also the only company that is prepared to correct their mistakes. This I believe is a fundamental problem with many companies today. The market is consumer-driven. Therefore. at the end of the day,it is the consumer who has a right to demand good service from a company. In my (considered) opinion, there is only one major kit producer who is prepared to listen to the complaints and suggestions of its customers - Dragon. Amongst the others, Tamiya (repeating my earlier comments) does, IMHO, treats its customers with a contempt which comes from the attitude which is often seen - an exaggerated gratefulness for whatever Tamiya throws the modellers way. Whether the kit is 30 years old or simply rubbish seems immaterial... Yes, Dragon supplies products for review to this site, but it supplies them WITHOUT CONDITIONS - no pressure is implied or demanded to give a good review.. Incidentally, the only major (plastic) kit producer which supplies ourselves and the other sites with review material.

4) It makes me laugh when I see the indignation expressed (on the other thread) that all too often we take ourselves just a little too seriously....Jim

I agree with those who are yelling and screaming about a kit without having seen it. That is what I try to do (and have done so far I hope). When I am going by hearsay, I try to make that clear.

I like the reviews as they give me a heads-up. Which is good.

My final comment though might go against most of those posted so far.

following statement is in general. I do not know anything at all about the referred to Pz I idler wheels!


Apparently in a number of cases with ie. the recent DML releases there have been some glaring mistakes (their PAK 40 with wrong trailer-legs comes to my mind) some of them dealing with not too obscure items. Now the mistake has hardly been found and the corrected version is already in production, and IIRC under the same number, and no different markings on the box. So one never knows which kit one gets (first series or corrected series). Supposedly there is even one kit on the market with three different versions under the same number (as it has gone through two revisions).

I do realize we are all human and make mistakes. but some of it almost seems to point at sloppy research or quality control in the development-proces. As, I feel the cost of research pales in comparison to that of making the molds this is a shame.

I can understand that this (various kits under same number) might cause a bit of frustration. But to accuse companies of a conspiracy goes a bit too far

For the rest of it, I try to make the best of it, might be a bit of a rivet counter/ pain in the butt but when criticizing I try do it in a constructive fashion. So if I do it in a rude manner, please tell me and I'll try to correct it for the future.

It's been officially stated by an unnamed man on the grassy knoll, that there is no conspiracy.

Personally, I have started to shy away from Tamiya and go to DML and AFV and even (forgive me) braille scale, due to the increased accuracy of their kits, and the cost. Tamiya used to be great, but they get a little complacent and didn't listen to their customers thinking they were the only game in town.

If a company retools their kit to make it more accurate, and hopefully a better value, I will probably look harder at that kit with an eye towards purchasing it. I am letting kit makers know my feelings via my purchasing. If they choose to listen to modellers...more power (and sales) to them. If not, say hello to 1/48 scale

Jim,

Having just found the "conversation" you are referring to... I would like to pose a question... would they like us to wipe their bums for them as well, 'cos they are really behaving like little spoilt kids!

RR