| I would hardly think I was a 'kid' at 33 (and 34) years old. People write an objective review believing that they are accurate when sometimes they are not. Unless any of us have flown a P-51, F4U Corsair, B-17, etc. then I think that we are all in the same boat here. I'm not saying books and combat footage are not helpful; they are, but the best source of accuracy will be the actual aircraft, with the correct variant/sub-model. Also, there were many field modifications made constantly so ALL sources may not validate this. Perhaps this is what some of the diecast designers have encountered as well. You rarely will see me hammer any diecast because most people would be surprised at how accurate they truly are. Obviously, if there is a quality control issue (i.e. the drooping Dauntless prop), then one can point this out. When one slams a diecast (and this person may not be correct in his assumption), this hurts the sellers out there who make a living relying on the sales of these diecast and when we do not buy one because of a review, quality issues notwithstanding, then this can seriously damage the sellers who make an income soley on this business. |
I can understand the point about the dealers taking a hit due to negative publicity; however like anyone else they are not guaranteed success in their chosen occupation. Assuming a dealer is knowledgeable about aircraft and diecast (and from what I've seen on some webpages I am not convinced this is the case with many of them), he has a duty to himself to ensure that what he is selling is the best it can be. If he's not going to take a company to task for a bad product (via passing on complaints from his customers), then the customers have a right to make their complaints known via other means (such as this forum). Besides, one can argue that these reviews are a form of "public service" (for lack of a better term) by letting fellow collectors know about the good/bad concerning a particular model.
Part of why I joined this forum is to read the reviews of the models, both good and bad. Even though these reviews, for the most part, do not influence
my decision to buy a model (unless the review was by someone I trust on here, like SKUNKY); I still enjoy reading them for the most part. These reviews can be entertaining!
Personally, I have few criteria for a model to satisfy me- it has to LOOK like the plane it's representing; it has to have the correct colors/markings, and the parts have to have the correct fit/alignment.
I do, however, look at this downplaying of criticism as being detrimental to the hobby. If you don't make the complaints known, the manufacturer will not know about them, and continue to produce other models with the same defects. Can't this be seen as rewarding a manufacturer for bad performance?