please read the following article, i would be interesting on hearing your thoughts,

http://www.usarmymodels.com/ARTICLES/whymodelthegoodguys.html

cheers

joe

Cheers Joe,interesting article.
Arthur

This article is from one of my favorite modeling sites, Modeling the US Army. I read this article when I first got back into modeling and it to be very much in line with my own personal feelings and why I want to model, "The Good Guys."

Keep politics out of modeling. Who CARES why modelers want to build what they build; it's a hobby for cryin' out loud!

Agree 1000%! I find it absofreakinglutely ridiculous that MODEL COMPANIES jam German up our asses - yet do not include swastika decals in their kits. Is their some issue with 1/72nd Stuka kits causing a ruckus in Europe?

I find it ridiculous that the leading mfg of plastic tank models is a Japanese company that hardly models any Japanese armor kits.

I dont really know Why but I Usually end up buying Germans. I do have mostly allied armor and vehicles but not many US Figures.

To each his own is what I say.

Why is it that people that build German stuff (like me) have to justify why they choose particular subjects? It seems like guys that prefer to build allied vehicles are the ones that are always complaining about this kind of stuff. I don't have any problem with people wanting to build US or British models....... why do those that build allied kits have problems with people that build German models?

I am simply more interested in German armor, and as such have more research material and reference material dedicated to the German vehicles of WWII. I model what interests me - simple as that.

You allied guys can keep doing what you do... more power to you. You won't see any complaining from me (or any other Axis builders) about that, nor do I think it necessary for you to try and justify why you build that stuff. This sort of "complaining" about German modelers seems kinda silly. Why do you really care what I do?

I found the article quite interesting.... however the implication underlying the main message is that people building German vehicles are somewhat "shallow" or are not as "dedicated" to the hobby, because "everybody" builds German stuff.

While it may be true that more people are building German models, it still takes skill to create a well done subject (no matter the nationality), and the implication that any dude of the street could slap together a Tiger is rather offensive to me.

I'll keep building German tanks because that is what I like to do - you allied guys need to just build what makes you happy and stop complaining about what others like to do. :-)

Just my 2 cents-
Jeff

PS- No offense was intended by what I said - these are just my opinions, so take them for what they are worth - absolutely nothing........

i wasnt trying to offend anyone by posting that link,

rather than the underlying message (as one of you put it) to the article, i was more interested by the self perpetuating cycle of german kits it addresses,

i have no problem with people building models of whatever they want, i do have a problem with the distinct lack of certain catagories of models, due to the things mentioned in the article.

i also think i gives a good arguament against the views many people have of allied subjects, they are just as varied and intesting as any other,

i also find it interesting that major manufacturers think a model wont sell unless it has german markings, such as DML's firefy, how many fireflies were ever captured and repainted by the germans? not many i imagine!

cheers

joe

This is really interesting. I have a fixation for modeling German vehicles and figs myself. As long as I can remember I have had an interest in WWII and more specifically, the Germans. Sitting here thinking about it I can really pin down a specific reason for that interest. I definitely feel there is a "mystique" associated with WWII German equipment. That may have something to do with the fact that those actual vehicles really aren't all that accessible anymore. I think that maybe a lot of it stems from the respect(or perceived respect) that that equipment earned over the course of the war. That may be too deep for me on a Saturday afternoon...
As for the politics of the situation I've often wondered if it's politically incorrect to model German material, especially with the thought of having a defeated Allied vehicle involved in a dio.
Personally I don't care as for me modelling is an escape into a different time where I can have some form of interaction with things that interest me. I don't think that makes someone a NAZI or anti-ALLIED.

Hi, Personally I buy a kit because I like the looks of said vehicle. I could actually care less about it's nationality or it's role as to which side it is, or was, on. I build American, German, Russian, and British--W.W.II and after, and I build them because I like the looks of the vehicle and what to learn some more about it, both in the research/history of it, and the actual building of the model itself. And so far, I've found them ALL very interesting.

Learned way back a long time ago, that in the study of history, there is no such thing as the Good Guys in the white hats vs. the Bad Guys in the black hats. If you start doing some real digging into the history of ANY war, during ANY time period, you will quickly see that those white hats can get pretty darn dirty, pretty darn quickly, when enough light is exposed on certain events in their totality. Things that the general history books tend to 'skip' over, as it would put certain people in a tad bit less than a bright shinning light than the general public preceives them to be, or have been, in.

I pride myself in staying strickly neutral on most any conlfict, either past or present, simply because I know there's a whole lot more going on behind the scenes than that which has been paraded to the general public at large. The only one I do take sides on, and quite heavily, is the general relationships--and wars-- between the Ameri-Indians and the Euro-Americans.

Take care and happy modeling, Sgirty

now this is only my opinion but if i remember rightly the most varied form of modern armour 1937 - 1945 was german and if you are in the bussiness of model manufacture you will go for variety, and as the allied forces all had similar type of a "standerd " armour, the varitey will sell. so the market will buy and like a clock it will go round and round and so on, just like the expretion if its not broken dont fix it you can see what i am getting at .and it will go on this way untill you get places like this forum and others like it to let the manufactuers know what the market wants not what thay think we want

eddie jones builder of what i like and sod the rest

I also build what I find interesting. I really do not care what era ot nationality. As long as I think it is fun I will build it. I tend towards armor because that seems to fit my needs. I also do not mind what anyone else builds as long as we can enjoy discussing our experiances in the world of model building together.
capnjock

I think there is no need to touchiness or misunderstanding for this post. This is a good link and thanks Joe for posting it. Most of people who have very limited info on modelling always ask silly questions like why you always build german models or why you paint US soldiers, and so...now I have a website to show them.

" WWII German Fans" Fans, NOT of NAZIism, but of a military force whose equipment included captured vehicles & aircraft, deployed on several fronts (each of which had its own officially sanctioned (or not) color schemes. Face it: the draw of the Wehrmacht was its VARIETY (just take a look at the current "Ambush Scheme" thread).

I too don't care that there are many more German builders. I do care that I have a lack of allied kits to select. When I want to build a Sherman (of which way more Shermans were ever produced than German tanks) I had to settle for completely ridiculously inaccurate Mongram 1/32, old Testors, Italeri, Esci kits, or 20 year old Tamiyas. It would seem every sort of German funny from ARVs, AA, Bridging, experimental vehicles were produced as kits. Hell, Esci and Tamiya even put out German horse drawn wagons!!!

Until the resin conversions for Sherman Crabs, Dozers, DD, the only real attempt was the crappy Monogram Screamin Mini (Calliope). I will say within thelast five years or so DML/Dragon and Academy have certainly caught my eye with their releases of good Allied subjects.

A very interesting article. I enjoyed reading it. But maybe the guy may have answered the question himself within his own piece. Thses two quotes stood-out for me.




At one time I was mainly interested in WW2 German stuff too, but have moved on and joined the group who just build whats interesting to them at the time no matter what nationality or era.
Why do people feel the need to analyize everything.

That was an interesting article, but I can sum it up in two phrases:

German stuff is cool and there is endless variety..( Nazism isn't cool btw and I don't support it.)
Allied stuff is cool, but variations of OD only goes so far.

Salute comrades,
I think that that fellow modeller is being a little anal about several issues.
1) Modelling German tanks of figures and include large swastikas does not mean that you support the activity of mass murder
2) Stalin killed almost as twice as much people as Hitler did and nobody complains about the built of Russian armor.
3) Soldiers and citizens of GrossDeutchland are just human beings, not monsters. They did their job for their country as americans, russians, brits, etc did for theirs .. and they shall NOT BE HELD GUILTY for the massacre caused by few sick and small minds of the powerful

PS: Fellow modellers, dont get too much into this issue or you will end up by fighting among yourselves. Salute.

Regards, Zverko

I won't swim into the middle of the fray but let me just share something about the issue of Swastikas. This is a remarkably touchy subject amongst WW2 Luftwaffe builders. There is common (and I feel unfounded) criticism heaped at the model companies b/c some kits don't include them in their decal packages. Simply, the Swastika is an illegal symbol in both Germany and France. Their country, their laws, their rules. If you want to market a model without making a separate batch for the French and German markets, then you simply have to leave out the swastikas.

Cowardice or politcal correctness by the model companies. Bull. They're here to make money. The serious modeller knows how to get aftermarket decals anyways. The mass market, casual modeller probably won't know the difference.

My two cents.

nice article man! what more i can say?