In everyday life we’re asked to make hundreds of choices; from what to have for breakfast to which television show to watch that evening. There are those who say we have too much choice and that it’s affecting our mental and physical health - I don’t know about that, but the phenomenon is reaching even into our hobby and I wonder how it effects our enjoyment of it. It certainly must affect a newcomer - even put him off altogether.
Case in point. Last Monday I received two kits in the mail. Both were Hasegawa, both were second-hand and both were 1:72 US jet combat aircraft, but there the similarities pretty much end. One is from the 70’s, a Republic F-105 Thunderchief in silver plastic, with raised panel lines and even an old Hasegawa logo I’ve never come across before. The other was a 1988 kit of a Grumman F-14A Tomcat - engraved panels, PE brass etc…
The difference on opening the kits is striking. Admittedly, the Tomcat is a big aircraft - two crew and twin engines - but the Thunderchief is no midget, in fact it’s almost the same length, being the biggest single-engine/single-crew combat aircraft of it’s time. Nonetheless, the Tomcat box is 2.4 times the volume of the other. This doesn’t so much reflect the size of the aircraft as the more complex breakdown of parts. There’s an awful lot more bits, 229 (without weapons!) as against 45 (including weapons), and 260 decals as against 34!
The main difference though is in the choices - in the F105 kit you can make one of two aircraft. The differences are solely in the paint and decals and you can leave your decision 'til the build is finished. I don’t regard whether to fit undercarriage up or down as a choice anymore since these kits don’t come with stands (the Thunderchief comes with a pilot figure, but not the Tomcat).
With the Tomcat however, you have to make a choice before even beginning; which of four different aircraft are you going to model? This choice will affect not only the colours and decals but even the parts you use (or don’t) during construction, such as one of three different TCS sensors (out of four supplied). You begin construction with the cockpit and here have to choose between using 22 separate decals for the control panels or 11 PE parts for some and paint or decals for the rest. Then there are decisions about how to pose the canopy, wings, slats, flaps, brakes, nozzles, hook, ladder, steps and elevators. As well as selecting which parts have to be included or discarded, some moulded details even have to be cut off. In fact the little symbol that indicates a choice of options appears no less than 23 times during construction. And that doesn’t include decals or paint!
It doesn’t include armament either because, before you can start making decisions on that, you have to buy a separate kit of weapons, then make up your mind about the combination of Sidewinder, Sparrow, AMRAAM or Phoenix missiles that suits your fancy.
Y’know what? I think I’d build the F105, much less stress!
Michael