Model Airplanes

[vincegamer]

Should military aircraft manufacturers get into the business of model making?

Does Lockheade Martin deserve a piece of the mini action?

Is your hobby supporting the military industrial complex?

Discuss.

Here is an interesting article about how defense contractors are trying to get their hand in that lucrative model business:

Philadelphia Inquirer
p.s. That Schechter guy is one smart cookie. He was my Copyright and Trademark professor and the only professor I took twice while in law school.

 

[donga666]

I dont care as long as they are good.

I heard Games Workshop are branching out into heavy ordinance lol Money grubbing swines!!!

 

[supervike]

hmm...

I didn\'t get a chance to read the article, because it is asking me to register, but anyhow....

Military and airplane modellers as a whole (I don\'t really know any of them) seem to be almost anal about \'accuracy\' as far as the models go.

SO, using that argument who better to make a scale model of a fighter jet than the company that actually makes the fighter jets?

Whether it is ethically ok to \'support\' that sort of thing is a bit more difficult to answer. Just how many of the products and services I already use go to that sort of company? It would be scary to actually find out.

I say, let them in. Without the backing of a fat federal contract, they will have to compete for the model airplane money the old fashion way, the free market.

Of course, if my tax money goes to funding it, that\'d be another story...

 

[Orb]

Interesting!
Again I didn\'t sign up so didn\'t read the article but I can\'t imagine it being that lucrative for the Aircraft manufacturer.

They would surely only make models of aircraft they produce or have produce, very limited in scope I would have thought.

However, it may allow for some models to be made that otherwise wouldn\'t; the US Stryker vehicle currently used in Iraq is not to be made in kit foem due to copyright issues - if the manufacturers of that vehicle made a model, no probs!

Ethically......well, that\'s a good one. Who knows exactly who invests in GW and the others for example?

 

[vincegamer]

Well horn-swooped bungo ponies!
The first time I followed the link it took me to the story, but now it\'s trying to get me to sign up too.:flame:

Summary:
every time you buy a model of a real car, the car company gets about 4% of the sale.
Now Boeing and LM and others are trying to claim the same royalty.
In the past they considered it free advertising, but now they want to profit from it (kinda like selling t-shirts that say \"pepsi\").

The model makers are fighting it by trying to get Congress to do something.
That may not be necessary though, because to say that the shape of something is protectable intellectual property, you have to say it\'s unnecessary to function and that it indicates maker.
If Boeing starts saying its jets have unnecessary elements the military will get mad.

I don\'t want to support the MI complex by buying platic toy jets, but on a psychological level, even without money crossing that palm, does buying plastic toy jets (and tanks etc.) support the MI complex?

For a less balanced view, here\'s another link:

Why do they always blame the lawyers?

 

[Rab]

So the defence companies in question wouldn\'t actually be producing the models, they purely want royalties from the sale of any kits representing their products?

Seems faintly rediculous to me, not to mention greedy, but Ferrari and others have already done something similar in the car model world. I suppose, from their point of view, other companies are profitting from their image without the attendant costs of marketing the brand in the first place. Of course, it won\'t be the model companies that end up out of pocket, it\'ll be the model buying public.

Might be interesting with respect to manufacturers that have since disappeared, who gets the royalties for Chance-Vought or Focke-Wulf?

As to supporting the companies in question, a similar topic often comes up in the world of F1 modelling, some people feel that the models shouldn\'t be represented with any tobacco related logos, regardless of how the car actually raced, as it could be seen to be promoting smoking.
In fact one manufacturer supplies the tobacco decals separately from the main decal sheet in a wee black bag, possibly so they can remove them in territories where they are forbidden.

Rab.

 

[No Such Agency]

I don\'t want to support the MI complex by buying platic toy jets, but on a psychological level, even without money crossing that palm, does buying plastic toy jets (and tanks etc.) support the MI complex?

Don\'t kid yourself, your tax dollars do far, far more to support the \"military-industrial complex\" than buying a hundred models. Care to guess what percentage of the average American\'s taxes go to supporting the military and all its endeavours both proper and misguided? It\'s late and i\'m lazy but I bet... a lot. (Sadly, here in Canada, the answer is \"not enough\" - I\'m not asking for carrier battle groups, just helicopters that don\'t fall out of the sky with our guys in them... )