There’s a pretty good chance you built a few plastic models when you were growing up. I know I did. I had cars, airplanes, tanks, all sorts of things, it just seems to be part of the process for those of us who eventually turned into motorheads. Well, military models are under attack and it’s not from peace groups. Company lawyers are demanding royalties from model manufacturers that these small model makers can’t afford. Jim Dunnigan at Strategy Page explains:
manufacturers of the original equipment, especially aircraft, are demanding high royalties (up to $40 per kit) from the kit makers. Since most of these kits sell in small quantities (10-20,000) and are priced at $15-30 (for plastic kits, wooden ones are about twice as much), tacking on the royalty just prices the kit out of the market.
The lawyers (and the companies using this tactic) don’t seem to understand that building models is a great publicity and goodwill builder. It is just something the budding engineer finds interesting, who knows, that young model builder may want to work for that company in the future. I think the lawyers need a hobby so they’ll leave the rest of us alone.