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The unfortunate reality of Dragon Models is...they're Chinese. The Chinese manufacturing sector, the biggest on earth and biggest ever in recorded history, is a heartless soulless monster dedicated to mass production and global sales. Period. Quality never comes into the discussion...
I don't see any problems with the size, the nationality, or a "heartless soulless" attitude to laissez faire business.
However, there is the other side of the business equation - the customer or potential customer. I don't care how big, or soulless or what nationality some company is, if the customers don't buy their products, that company won't stay in business, much less make a profit.
Model builders have to blame themselves to some degree for kits like DML's M103. Every crappy DML T28 bought and sold was just more incentive for DML to cut research and development corners with their M103. And every crappy M103 that's bought and sold continues that incentive for DML to cut corners on their next release.
Every modeler everywhere that has bought one of these M103s and who was willing to settle for less than what the kit should have been, shares some of the blame for the next DML mess (and not just DML, either...). The origins of the crappy M103 lie with the sales (i.e. modelers buying them) of the crappy T28, and if the next DML kit falls down in the accuracy area, sales of the M103 will be partly to blame.
There's a lot of complaining going on about the T28 and the M103 and a lot of pre-release angst about how accurate the M6 will be.
If you don't want crappy kits, don't buy crappy kits, and to rip apart those modelers who're willing to step up and throw the "BS flag" when some crappy kit has hit the market just makes the situation worse for us all.
Don't buy these kits, and either the manufacturer will change and give us what we want, or they'll go out of business because their kits are not selling, and some other kit maker will step up and take their place.
Nationality, size or business ethics don't really matter here. What matters is whether the kits sell or not, and every crappy kit that does sell is one less reason for the next kit to be better. Manufacturers will always try to cut corners and maximize profit, but the consumer has all the potential profit in his pocket until he makes the purchase, so he also has at least half the influence on the process.
Hm. That's food for thought... One thing, though- How are we to find out whether or not any new kit is a pile of junk without having to buy it, open the box, and actually start assembling it? Or should every single newly-released model be brought before the "Magical NAZI Model Kit Approval Board" before being allowed on the streets..?
Not going to happen.
Modelling Magazines and Websites such as ARMORAMA would be VERY HARD-PRESSED indeed, if they had to acquire, assemble, fix problems, detail and paint EVERY SINGLE MODEL, subject to customer approval. In a Utopian World, this process would be ideal, but alas, the real world dictates that we live by the admonition: "Caveat Emptor"... ("Let the Buyer Beware", for those who are not familiar with Latin)
So, my friends, we tremble in anticipation before a few brave, intrepid souls to venture forth and actually BUY THESE PIGS OF KITS, just to find out second-hand how bad they are before we open OUR stinky little mitts to shell out better than $69.00 for one of these plastic aberrations!
Yes, we're ALL GUILTY! So, what's the solution? Give up? The answer is: There isn't one...
If there is a particular model that we've all been anticipating, and if one of the "heartless, soulless monsters" decides to put said kit into production with as many faults that can possibly be stuffed into the box, why, why, (breathless panting...) YOU JUST KNOW that some of us will be overcome by desire... And buy it... Wonderfully grotesque, isn't it? (Tickets available for a limited time only, at:
www.heartlesssoullessmontsters.com- Have your Paycheck handy...)
