[WWI] Costs, Production, & Engineering was RE: June IM

[Chris Banyai-Riepl]

I guess I haven't been too clear.  Yes, the only way we could have a company
producing nothing but 1/32 WWI aircraft model kits is to have a huge amount
of money behind it.  But how many companies are that short-sighted?  Well,
one.  The rest all have a diverse range of kit subjects (Roden has WWI, WW2,
and modern aircraft, as well as armor, while a company like Revell Germany
has a huge product line spanning all genres of modeling), and/or other
sources of income (Eduard has an extremely lucrative photoetch line to aid
the bottom line).  These companies are not financially restricted due to a
focus on an extremely narrow niche market, so they could work on better
engineering of kits without a multi-millionaire benefactor.

What it comes down to is not excessive investment money, but competition.
When no one else is doing cockpit interiors, a kit company can do one of two
things: follow suit and recognize that cockpit interiors are not expected,
or add a cockpit interior and capture market share because they're the only
one who has that, at least for a short time.  Look at how models have
progressed over the decades, that's exactly how it has worked.  A company
comes out with a new feature, and the other companies then change so that
they're 'modern'.  Cockpit detail, scribed panel lines, multiple options in
the box, all of those are standard now because one manufacturer decided to
do it that way at one point in the past.  Wingnut's engineering of kits is
no different, and we've seen it in the past.  Look at the detailed wheel
wells and two-piece wings of, say, Tamiya's F-84, and compare that to the
one-piece solid wing with no wheel well at all from a 1950s kit.  If we as
modelers start to expect quality engineering, then those companies that
provide that are going to get our money, which means that those companies
that don't improve their engineering are going to fall behind.

Chris