Airfix...politically correct?
Chris L. Freemesser
kit and admiring the halfway decent job they did on the decals, I found that
the kit INTENTIONALLY doesn't include the two swastikas needed for the tail.
Is this a typical thing with all makers, or just Airfix? It seems to me that
if they REALLY wanted to provide an accurate kit, they'd dispense with the
political correctness and supply accurate decals.
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Peng F. Mok
cfree...@tyrellco.com (Chris L. Freemesser) wrote:
>I recently bought an Airfix JU-87 kit in 1:48 scale. While looking over the
>kit and admiring the halfway decent job they did on the decals, I found that
>the kit INTENTIONALLY doesn't include the two swastikas needed for the tail.
>
>Is this a typical thing with all makers, or just Airfix? It seems to me that
>if they REALLY wanted to provide an accurate kit, they'd dispense with the
>political correctness and supply accurate decals.
>
>
Just about every plastic kit manufacturer has the swastika missing. I have at
least two dozen finished models missing them which hopefully I shall one fine
day find the time to do them by hand. It is not something I am in a hurry to
try since the teeny separation between the "legs" and the white border makes a
mistake hard to recover from.
A Decal sheet with just nothing but swastikas in the popluar modelling scales
should sell like hot cakes but everyone is so politically correct these days.
In the 70's LETRASET did have full German WWII Luftwaffe markings in their
dry rub-on print products. LETRASET then also had those hard to reproduce
Fascist Italian AF markings. Come to think of it these were reproduced in
Black and White and I do not recall Letraset producing color markings.
I am still not all that familiar with the all possibilities of a laser printer
but when I have read enough I will attempt to make my own decals with a laser
printer and post it here. My line of thought is to find a suitable water
soluble gummed A4 size sheet of paper, spray on it several layers of clear
varnish or urethane to produce a carrier film and then get some of that
(white) color foil made specially for laser printers to reproduce the white
borders. The black can be reproduced by the ordinary printer toner. If
successful it will also be great for reproducing line drawings of nose art
which one can always color by hand. In case anyone wants to try this first,
the toner fuser works at 400 to 450 degrees C. Experiment with the Missus'
clothes iron set to that temperature to see that nothing gums up the works
before trying it in on an expensive printer.
MikeElai
Maybe not so much PC as PS (political sensitivity). England is part of
the EC, and unfortunately Germany is a little sensitive about events 50+
years ago. Of course, historical accuracy doesn't enter into this......
There are aftermarket decals made but it seems a pain to have to pay even
more. Some kit companies have elected to supply the offending item as a
decal in two parts - like it makes a difference!
Woody Vondracek
(Peng F. Mok) wrote:
SNIP
> A Decal sheet with just nothing but swastikas in the popluar modelling scales
> should sell like hot cakes but everyone is so politically correct these days.
I'm nearly positive that AeroMaster makes a sheet of nothing but swasticas
in both 1/48 and 1/72 scale.
Woody
--
"You can't be too rich, too thin, or do too much research"
Ham545
anything with the swastika. Microprose's Across the Rhine video game is
going to be sold with out SS units in order for it to be sold in Germany
where such computer graphics as the double lighting symbol of the SS are
illegal. Model companies are following the laws of their market
countries, despite their kits' historical inaccuracy. I think the most
bizzare case of this is the decal sheet of Hasegawa's Finnish BF109G-6.
Finland used a blue swastika on a white circle or background since 1918 as
national marking on their air planes. It was a common good luck symbol
and had nothing to do with the Nazi Party. On the decal sheet, there are
blue X's on white circles instead of the blue swastika! To be fair,
correct markings are also provided, but still, why include the inaccurate
ones?
Jeff
HAM...@aol.com
John E Allen
The Hasegawa Me-262 has swastikas included for the tail. They have provided
them in two parts, split right down the middle. It calls for accuracy in
lining up the two halves.
On a historic note, the swastika is used in many cultures as a religious
symbol. In England there is a flat stone, named the Swastika Stone, on the
edge of Ilkey Moor in Yorkshire, that dates back to the Iron Age. The hooked
cross has also been found in the ruins of Troy, Egypt and China. It is also
used as a symbol on Hindu and Buddhist relics in India.
Units of the German free corps fighting in the Baltic states during 1918-19
saw the symbol used as the official emblem by Estonia and Finland.
In 1920, an German armed militia, the Ehrhardt Brigade, named after a Captain
Ehrhardt, painted this symbol on there helmets. Adolf Hitler met them in
Munich during the same year and may have got the idea of using this symbol
to head his propaganda.
The Nazi standards used at their rallies were also modelled on the old Roman
designs.
I am sure that the swastika is still greatly offensive to many people and
will continue to be for many years to come.
Back to modelling; a German company, Flugzeug Decals, produces swastika decal
sheets, both in 1/72 and 1/48 scales for Luftwaffe WWII frames.
Hope this was of interest.
*******************************************************************
John E Allen
Internet: al...@sp-oae.demon.co.uk
Compuserve: 100021, 3064
*******************************************************************
"Come not between the Nazgul and his prey!
Or he will not slay thee in thy turn.
He will bear thee away to the houses of lamentation,
beyond all darkness, where thy flesh shall be devoured,
and thy shrivelled mind be left naked to the Lidless Eye"
*******************************************************************
Daniel Koehne
Last Friday I lashed out and purchased a Fujimi 1/72 Stuka B/R. The decal
sheet was missing the top right corner, I gather that this is where the
swastikas were once. Doesn't Monogram's 1/48 He111 come without
swastikas? The whole swastikas issue is one that the editor of Military Model
Preview (Ken?) feels very strongly about.
So in conclusion, Airfix isn't the only politically correct model manufacturer.
Daniel
** BOB SIGMAN ***
Check out the box art on the DML E-100. It is the roll out ceremony
and Adolph Hitlers face is blacked out by magic marker.
Bob Sigman
--
*** BOB SIGMAN ***
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta Georgia, 30332
uucp: ...!{decvax,hplabs,ncar,purdue,rutgers}!gatech!prism!ae241bs
Internet: ae2...@prism.gatech.edu
MaddMat100
It does not. (Check out the FSM review in the Feb. 1995 issue, Star Trek
scout on the cover). Review mentions that the author put aftermarket
decals on to cover the omission. The Bf-109G doesn't have them, either. I
don't think Monogram has included the swastika in it's kits since the late
seventies.
My in-progress Flying Wing "Amerika Bomber" will not wear them.
As much as I despise the lack of accurate beer& tobacco sponsors decals in
my race car kits, the swastika thing doesn't bother me. Shades of moral
gray, I suppose.
MadMat
Buckaroo Banzai, the Cyberspace Samurai? "Neue Regel is Here!!!"
MaddM...@aol.com
Peter Trott
: In article <350977638...@tyrellco.com>,
: cfree...@tyrellco.com (Chris L. Freemesser) wrote:
: >I recently bought an Airfix JU-87 kit in 1:48 scale. While looking over the
: >kit and admiring the halfway decent job they did on the decals, I found that
: >
: A Decal sheet with just nothing but swastikas in the popluar modelling scales
: Fascist Italian AF markings. Come to think of it these were reproduced in
: Black and White and I do not recall Letraset producing color markings.
Decal sheets consisting of nothing but swastikas are available in
several scales here in the US. The decal companies must make a bundle
off them, since so many kits don't include the swastika. I have a
1/72 scale sheet of swastikas at home, and if anyone wants the name of
the producer, let me know and I will look it up.
Peter Trott (pe...@ncube.com)
Bill Shatzer
Ham545 (ham...@aol.com) writes:
-snip-
> I think the most
> bizzare case of this is the decal sheet of Hasegawa's Finnish BF109G-6.
> Finland used a blue swastika on a white circle or background since 1918 as
> national marking on their air planes. It was a common good luck symbol
> and had nothing to do with the Nazi Party. On the decal sheet, there are
> blue X's on white circles instead of the blue swastika! To be fair,
> correct markings are also provided, but still, why include the inaccurate
> ones?
>
references to the use of the 'blue X's' in the period immediately
following the September, 1944 Finnish/Russian armistance. Later,
of course, the Finnish national insignia was changed to the white-
blue-white cockade but for a period of a month or so, the 'X'
insignia was used by merely painting out the crossarms of the
Finnish swastika. So, the hasegawa markings may not be as
inaccurate as obscure. Cheers!
--
Bill Shatzer - bsha...@ednet1.osl.or.gov - aw...@FreeNet.Carleton.ca
"It's useless to fight the forms. You've got to kill the people
producing them." Vladimir Kabaidze
Michael Smith
Omitting the swastika is common, and was long before "political
correctness" descended on us. In Germany, display of the swastika is
illegal, even on a model box top, and many mfrs. don't want to print
separate boxes/decal sheets just for the U.S.
In Germany in 1991, I bought the old SUPERMODEL kit of the BV-138,
which was made in Italy. The swastikas on the box art had been very
carefully covered with black circular stickers. Also, the 1/35 armor
kits I bought in Germany had the decal sheets "sanitized;" the
swastikas and SS emblems had been carefully trimmed from the license
plates, etc.
On the other hand, I worked in Saudi Arabia from 1989-92, where I found
tons of old 1/72 AIRFIX kits from the Seventies: Fw-190, Stuka, etc.
None of these had swastikas on the box art. One funny note: some
Moslems are offended by public display of the cross, which is seen as
Christian propaganda (or something). So some of my AIRFIX German
planes have the black Luftwaffe crosses crudely eradicated with black
Magic-Marker!
Irritating as it is, the best solution for the missing swastikas is to
buy aftermarket decal sheets.
Mike Smith (gra...@ix.netcom.com)
In <350977638...@tyrellco.com> cfree...@tyrellco.com (Chris L.
Freemesser) writes:
>
>I recently bought an Airfix JU-87 kit in 1:48 scale. While looking
over the
>kit and admiring the halfway decent job they did on the decals, I
found that
>the kit INTENTIONALLY doesn't include the two swastikas needed for the
tail.
>
>Is this a typical thing with all makers, or just Airfix? It seems to
me that
>if they REALLY wanted to provide an accurate kit, they'd dispense with
the
>political correctness and supply accurate decals.
>
>
M Nelson
> Decal sheets consisting of nothing but swastikas are available in
> several scales here in the US. The decal companies must make a bundle
> off them, since so many kits don't include the swastika. I have a
> 1/72 scale sheet of swastikas at home, and if anyone wants the name of
> the producer, let me know and I will look it up.
>
> Peter Trott (pe...@ncube.com)
Xtradecal (Hannants) makes 1/72, 1/48 and 1/32 (includes some 1/24) scale
swastika sheets. All three sheets have a variety of sizes, 'colors' and
styles of swastikas. the 1/72 and 1/48 sheets also come with decals
appropriate for the pre-war swastikas with the red back-ground.
_____________________________________________________________________
Mark (From Kites & Other Delights in West Edmonton Mall)
------------------------
mne...@compusmart.ab.ca
------------------------
Kari A Lumppio
>Well, I'm not completely sure on this one but I think I've seen
>references to the use of the 'blue X's' in the period immediately
>following the September, 1944 Finnish/Russian armistance. Later,
>of course, the Finnish national insignia was changed to the white-
>blue-white cockade but for a period of a month or so, the 'X'
>insignia was used by merely painting out the crossarms of the
>Finnish swastika. So, the hasegawa markings may not be as
>inaccurate as obscure. Cheers!
Never even heard of this. That would be VERY big news. I know the artist
(he is a finn) who prepared the finnish Me109 decals for Hasegawa. The only
reason for X's was that it's illegal to print swastika in EU, although
you don't have to censore swastika away from original historical photos.
BTW, The finnish Me109G decals were printed in England and then sent to Japan.
No, I'm sure there was no X`s on FinnAF planes.
Kari
Ora Lassila
>In 1920, an German armed militia, the Ehrhardt Brigade, named after a Captain
>Ehrhardt, painted this symbol on there helmets. Adolf Hitler met them in
>Munich during the same year and may have got the idea of using this symbol
>to head his propaganda.
I think Hermann Goring was married to the daughter of the Swedish count
Erik von Rosen and spent some time at his hunting lodge in Sweden in the
early twenties; Rosen's personal lucky charm was a light blue swastika
which he had on the wall at the lodge. Coincidentally, von Rosen was a
great friend of Finland and donated an aircraft to the Finns in 1918. This
plane, when donated, had blue swastikas on its wings.
Who knows really how the Nazis came across the idea of using a swastika as
their political enblem.
- Ora Lassila
Michael Smith
writes:
another theory mentioned by several German writers (Joachim Fest, Wulf
Schwarzwaller): before he took over the Nazi Party, Hitler was under
the influence of some odd characters in the German political arean; men
like Guido von List, Lanz von Liebenfels (both rabid anti-Semites),
Dietrich Eckart, and Theodor Fritsch. In the early 1900's, von List
flew a swastika flag at his house. He had already adopted it as a
symbol of his racist and nationalist views. Many of Hitler's early
mentors belonged to the Thule Society, whence came much of the "pure
Aryan" nonsense he later incorporated into the Nazi Party. Speaking of
Parties!--some sources claim that the Thule Society had links with
Britain's Order of the Golden Dawn, led by that avowed practcer of
Black Magick, Aleister Crowley. Among other fun things, these guys
(the Germans) allegedly experimented with mind-altering drugs such as
peyote.
GRN BERET
I don't know the answer to your question, but thank God you're not in
Germany. All swastikas are banned, hence they are removed from the decal
sheet, ant marked over on the box art.
Robert
David G Haren
: Chris,
Oddly enough I have a Korean model of a WW1 aircraft with a band of
big swastikas around the mid-section, which flew against the Germans
with an american pilot. i suppose big red circles should be banned
as well...<GRIN>
Dave
LIM KENNETH IGNATIUS
Airfix had no swastikas, and the box art from Hasegawa had the swastikas
blacked out or just omitted (depending on whether they had time to do a
new repaint) curiously enough, when i bought a more recent Hasegawa model
of the same -D9 that had started the whole thing off, it had a separate
sheet of tail swastikas in white and black and (this is the fun part) a
bunch of little tiny ones arranged in a box and an arc- presumably some
dude's kill markings, about 15 i think- looks like its not only the 'bad
guys' planes that can't show swastikas.
Ken Lim
LIM KENNETH IGNATIUS
: On a historic note, the swastika is used in many cultures as a religious
: symbol. In England there is a flat stone, named the Swastika Stone, on the
: edge of Ilkey Moor in Yorkshire, that dates back to the Iron Age. The hooked
: cross has also been found in the ruins of Troy, Egypt and China. It is also
: used as a symbol on Hindu and Buddhist relics in India.
swastika, rather like an inverted cross, and i've heard this did not go
down well with those who knew what the swastika actually was. In the TV
series 'Nam there was a conversation about how US soldiers saw the
'religious swastika' on grave markers and taking it for the Nazi version,
gunned down the markers. 'Its hard to win their hearts and minds when
they see us shooting up the graves of thier ancestors' is as close to a
quote as i can come.
Ken Lim