Harry P.

Gregg can't sell the magazine. He doesn't own it. Golden Bell Press owns it. The forum, on the other hand, is Gregg's. But it's not for sale.

Obviously it's going to cost $$$ to fix mistakes after the fact, because that means altering the tooling. The real question (at least the one I would ask), is how are so many mistakes making it all the way to production, and only then being discovered? Why aren't these mistakes caught before the tooling is cut? Why aren't the masters given a critical overview before they are committed to tooling? And if they are given a critical overlook, how is it that so many obvious mistakes keep getting through?

I took photo courses in college, B/W and color. 35mm, 2-1/4, and 4x5 with a view camera. What a monster that thing was, lugging it all over the place! Did all our own film developing and all our own printing in all formats. Now that digital photography has taken its place, I can't say I miss the old way! No more endless hours in the darkroom developing film, then more endless hours in the darkroom making prints. So much easier now. I never run out of film, and Photoshop is my "darkroom." But I do understand that doing it the old way can be a hobby unto itself. It does take skill. But I mainly remember it as a PITA!

Well now, that is about the coolest thing I've seen here in quite a while!

Depends on which side has the more clever lawyers.

See you "Under Glass!"

Just taking Brett's scan and blowing it up, it looks like the registration on the decals is good.

Film? Why? Nostalgia?

Or poor research.

And the flaws were talked about at length in the Hornet and Chrysler 300 threads. Moebius didn't get a pass.

I agree that the piling on is unnecessary. As far as Moebius getting all the hugs and kisses... obviously they have developed a rapport with us, because Dave actually participates here. And they actually take input, and act on it. They are actively involved with us, and that goes a long way towards creating good feelings among your customers. That's why Moebius seems to be getting all the love. They make an effort to take part here.

Like I said in an earlier post, if you are one of those people who don't care all that much about accuracy, and are happy building a kit that sort of looks like the real car, more or less, that's perfectly ok. For you. But if you are one of those people, why come on to a review thread where a particular model is being discussed, warts and all, and complain about people who are discussing the kit's problems? Why are you trying to force your way of thinking onto others? It's as if I was a member of a cooking forum and there was a thread about the pros and cons of a certain Chinese recipe, and I came on and said something like "why are you guys picking apart this recipe? There will never be the perfect Chinese dish, so stop complaining about it." See how silly that is? And how it contributes nothing to the discussion at hand?

Well Fred, first of all, thanks for the nice words. Yes, I fix problems when I build, I scratchbuild details that are missing, I correct details that are there, but are wrong... I basically make the kit I'm building as "right" as I can. And sometimes it's pretty frustrating when I have to re-engineer a kit I paid for that was supposed to be engineered correctly before I opened the box! But incorrect kits and wrong details and missing details, etc., are part of the process. Like everyone always says, there will never be a perfect kit... and I realize that. But here, we're specifically reviewing a kit. So I don't see anything out of line with people noting the flaws they see. And I think that things like incorrect body contours, wheel openings shaped wrong, incorrect or missing trim, etc. can be pointed out easily on a bare body. I agree with your point about once a kit is painted and detailed and built, it generally looks ok and the flaws tend to visually disappear. That's because your eye is drawn to a lot of things... the color, the wheels, the interior, the foil work, etc. So basic flaws in a kit's body, for example, generally aren't as obvious on a finished kit.

Yup. Gee, ya wonder if maybe being high isn't a good thing when you're driving a race car? And gee... do ya wonder if maybe being high impaired the kid's judgement? So much so that he decided to step out of his car and "confront" Stewart in the middle of a race with race cars whizzing by at speed? Like James said... it sure helps to have all the facts at your disposal before you go making a judgement.

I strongly doubt that anyone bases their "personal level of happiness" on the accuracy of a model kit. That's absurd. And I don't understand why you are always insinuating that people who point out a kit's flaws in a thread where the kit is being reviewed, are somehow off-base or have some sort of personal problem. If a thread where a model kit is being reviewed is the wrong place to point out that kit's flaws, explain to me what the correct place would be. I'm a perfectly sane person with no major psychological problems. I'm relatively happy, relatively healthy, and have a good sense of humor. So if I (or someone else pretty much like me... the average person) makes a comment about an inaccuracy or flaw with a model kit on a model kit forum, why insinuate that we have some sort of problem?

Another way to go...

And even more in rubles...

You can do a search for "Golden Bell Press annual revenue" and get "estimates" (it's a private company, not publicly held, so financials are private)... but even so, GBP publishes several magazines. MCM is only one of them. And they are also a commercial printer besides being a magazine publisher... so any online estimates you find are going to be pretty much useless as far as your specific question. Or as far as overall, as they are "estimates" and are worth about as much as you paid to find them.

It comes up on ebay all the time, usually pretty cheap. In fact there's one there now with a BIN price of $14. http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR6.TRC1.A0.H0.Xlindberg+stutz+racer&_nkw=lindberg+stutz+racer&_sacat=0

Obviously they're going for the "neoclassic" look, whuich is hard to do without looking cheesy. Believe it or not, as far as these types of designs go, I think the car basically looks ok (I'm not a big fan of this type of design, but for what it is.... it's not bad). It could be improved pretty easily with just a few simple changes, IMO...

Priceless.

My only question is how Timothy L. Charles translates to TJ Charles. Isn't TL... oh, I don't know... TL????

?

Exactly. How these obvious mistakes keep on making it through to production is beyond me.

I think the Messerschmitt has a certain unique charm!