Market for 'battle damaged' aircraft models?

[aferguson]

i just saw that Lindberg had a line of 1/72 jet fighters that have optional 'battle damaged' parts. I don't know how extensive the damage portrayed is but it's an interesting idea and got me wondering if there would be a market for battle damaged pre-built models.

There are many famous pictures of B-17's, for example, that had portions of the tail blown off, or chunks of wing missing or a fuselage nearly sliced off by a ramming attack and these would make interesting subjects for models; also a B-17 that has had a belly landing would be interesting. Loads of other possibilities too with other aircraft.

Do you think there would be a market for something like this?

[ketelone]

I think so. Battle damage along with weathering makes the aircraft more realistic. I don't know of too many people that prefer that 'showroom' or just 'out of the factory' look.

[aferguson]

agreed.....i think once and a while a battle damaged plane model would make for a very interesting change of pace.

As an aside, while looking into these Lindberg kits i got reading about North Vietnamese aces. Of the 16 aces (ie with 5 kills or more), 9 of them have the last name Nguyễn. I read further and discovered that Nguyễn is the most common Vietnamese surname and it is estimated that 40% of the population has it for a last name!

[tmanthegreat]

I'm more of a fan of a heavily-weathered look as opposed to battle-damaged. I'm interpreting "battle damaged as having bullet holes, flak damage, shredded surfaces, etc. It could make for an interesting display piece, say depicting a specific moment in a mission or something. Aircraft would not have flown with extensive battle damage after the mission during which it was incurred - the damage would have been repaired.

Still, this thread made me remember the old Galoob Star Wars Action Fleet vehicles... Some of the ships that came with the playsets were extensively battle damaged and torn up. They looked neat, but were little better than diorama pieces.

[[CAT]CplSlade]

I think it would sell better if there was a way to swap out the parts (without detracting from the accuracy/look of the model).

If anyone recalls the Pteranodon kit from the old Aurora Prehistoric Scenes series it had optional torn wings to simulate battle damage as well.