Small Scale Military Headquarters

When I first started collecting, a model was considered satisfactory if it looked "spectacular" sitting on a shelf or on its base. However, flaws in my models became all too apparent. Since my collection is centered around FoV, my attentions were based on its vehicles. By flaws I mean historical innaccuracies, and innacurate depictions of parts. For my prime example: the Forces of Valor Panther. For starters, the massive mistake with the gun mantlet: flipped????? Then, the hatches' handles. Instead of being "punctured," having an actual space between the handle top and the vehicle, it's solid metal. I'll have to drill through the hatch to make it look reasonably authentic. Such details are standard in model kits, but apparently with diecast it's much harder to render. The most "flawless" of models in FoV would remain to be those with the least metal: the HIMARS, the Kanonenwagen, the Hanoamag, because they contain the least metal construction and therefore the greater level of detail. However, this reasoning is not present in 21c's older molds. The Sherman playset showed up at a Target in my AO, and upon seeing that the handles, tow rings, turret hatch handles, and headlight thingies were just solid pieces of plastic, I had to turn them down. Such flaws are present in almost every die-cast/plastic model, and I feel it is not up to the modeller to fix it (although some of us take pride and joy in fixing such mistakes), but rather the producer's responsibility to fix them. I e-mailed FoV China, and they said as much: die-cast details are hard to work into, but we will try to fix them all eventually. That's heartening to know. But when? How long will the collector have to endure solid hatch handles? I hope the quality of future releases will be much the better to what I'm seeing now. What are your views on this?

FOV is a toy, a Dragon or Tamiya is a kit.

even then the Dragon and Tamiya stuff can also have flaws.

You have to remember that, especially with the case of 21st Century Toys, these "models" are really toys. Now, they are fancy toys and often designed with the collector in mind, but they are just toys in the end. We still get amazingly accurate pieces for what they are, but again, as these are toys, and the designers can take small liberties with them. I give both companies kudos for simply making pieces that resemble the actual vehicles as well as they do. An upside down mantlet or slightly wrong handles does not bother me too much. There is a lot that could be worse. There are other companies (Hasbro, Chap Mei, etc) that make vehicles, but which do not have a shred of realism. If you want the really detailed stuff, you have to build it from a kit or customize an existing 21c or FOV product to your satisfaction.

I wish there was some way to incorporate the details of a model kit into the heftiness of a diecast model. Sometimes buying a "toy" off the Intenet seems to be a more desirable solution to sniffing glues while applying treads. I guess that's where aftermarket parts come in. From the models I have built in the past, the details from any vehicle comes from the effort one puts into it. It just hurts a little to admit these to be simply toys.
Thanks for your opinions.

I can't build kits anymore so I thank the plastic gods for FOV and 21st.

Heck, with 21C built and painted models for a third of the price of a kit I think we are getting a veritable bargain. Plus, I can't build and paint nearly as well as these Chinese factory workers so I am glad to have them!

I'm with rowsdowser on this one. 100%

Also the 21stC and FoV are a lot tougher/rugged than my old Tamiya kits. Nor do they start having tiny pieces fall off as the glue begins to fail a year or three down the road. And the axles/road wheels don't break (as easily).

I do understand that these are just toys, but I definitely understand his argument. I'm in the middle of kit-bashing/customizing a 21st panzer III and FOV stug III to make a 501st support Panzer III N, and I have spent more time correcting the flaws on the tank then fabricating the parts that don't already exist (which keeps getting pushed back further and further as I find more flaws that need correcting). It can be frustrating, but i never l get to caught up in the deficiencies because these are just toys.