Monday, June 1, 2009

Spitfire decal ‘controversy’ (storm in a tea cup)

Our 'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 3 has certainly caused some comment but for a reason nobody expected. The decal itself has not been the centre of discussion, its all about what was written in the accompanying booklet. As AI customers would know, AI set a new standard in the level of detail and quality of scale model decal instructions. It's gratifying to see many other decal producers and kit producers have followed our lead producing decal instructions that go far beyond a simple (and inaccurate) decal placement diagram!

The decal booklet accompanying 'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 3 simply stated the circumstances as they were at the relevant time. A more detailed and comprehensive discussion wasn’t included due to space restrictions in the booklet and secondly, it really wasn’t appropriate. This was after all a booklet accompanying a decal, it was never intended to be a complete history of the squadron and its C.O.

Much of the comment is also making reference to my letter to the editor contribution in an aviation magazine, Flightpath (worth buying btw ;)). Whilst the letter was a ‘full pager’, it isn’t a complete history by any means. The letter and booklet were not written in such a way that hidden meaning can be extracted by ‘reading between the lines’. I’ll go into the details in an article I’m currently preparing for Pacific Spitfires. Given the article will be published soon there’s little point going over the issues here.

'Spitfires in the Antipodes' Part 3 is currently unavailable as I’m concentrating my efforts on new decals. I’ll probably make it available at a later date when time permits.