Verlinden, Last Straw

The time has come to say good-bye to all things Verlinden, and it
won't be any harder than giving up Cheez-Whiz, a phony, plasticized
imitation.
Recently on RMS I posted  not so favorable review of what I believed
was a Stalin lookalike Saddam statue by Verlinden. In addition to
being of poor quality, I felt the kit as a whole was not true to the
original.  But my dissatisfaction has been brewing for quite some
time.
For years I have felt Verlinden to be nothing more than a
hypocritical, self agrandizing organization, more concerned with
profits than with quality product.
First case in point:
At the same time Verlinden was profiting by copying other
manufacturer's kit pieces, he railed against companies copying his
stuff. (Verlinden Productions Modeling Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 3) By the
way, in 1996, they "borrowed" my signature from RMS, "It's better to
have entered a model in a contest and lost, than to have collected
stamps,) without attributing it to me. If you know which of their
publications that was, please let me know, as I tossed mine.
I wonder when the idea came about that paying a fee to join a Masters
Group made one a master? The question is a rhetorical one.  Verlinden
himself tells us in Verlinden Productions Modeling Magazine, Vol. 5,
No. 1, and admits part of the reason was, in his own words, a
commercial ploy to make money. Had I known about this fee (I don't
need my ego fed by being called a master) I'd have stayed home from
the one and only contest I entered of theirs in '96.  But more telling
was the side contest they run to see who spends the most money there.
Sour grapes?  Hardly.  My only entry took a Gold.  It'll make a nice
base for a model soon, as I long ago stripped it of the ridiculous
medallion.
Even though I swore off attending any more Verlinden sponsored
shindigs, I have still fallen to temptation over the years and
purchased some of their products:
Israeli Armor dry transfers-out of register, but replaced after some
haggling.
Zelda M-113 PE armor-a joke, with the holes on the armor extending all
the way to the edge, in a very UN-prototypical way. Not to mention the
edge wasn't even parallel with the rows of holes.
Various lifeless figure sets-'nuff said.
Civil War cannon-huge air bubbles which ruined the hardest part to
fix-the barrel. Not to mention it's missing several pieces.
So again I backed off, but like a victim of battered spouse syndrome,
came back again this year, and met with disappointment EVERY time.
First was the T-62 upgrade.  The incorrect engine (and they MUST have
known it was, because it was reviewed and identified as such)
apparently is recycled from their T-72.
Then their T-55 engine compartment-an obvious use of the same
incorrect engine, recylcled yet again, only this time they add insult
to injury by casting a way undersized cooling fan at the same angle as
the rear hull plate. To me that's not just poor reasearch, it's just
blatant laziness.
Even more recently was a review someone posted about their Hummvee
"upgrade."
Not only did it not fit the kit it purported to upgrade, but the box
art deceptively showed a set of resin wheels that were not even
included.
So what then is the final straw?  The announced release of thier
newest groundbreaking trend in realism-a defecating figure. Apparently
this is their second offering of such a figure, perhaps feeling that
one didn't satisfy the market. This is a new level of classlessness. I
guess they felt there weren't any other suitable subjects left to
model.
I however, could think of a few:
A US soldier handing an MRE to an Iraqi Kid
A Special Forces medic inocculating a young Afghani.
A Dutch or German ISAF soldier rendering aid to the latest victim of a
suicide bombing directed at them.
A Civil Affairs soldier teaching a group of kids to read, or brush
their teeth properly.
Man, the mind boggles at the possibilities.  I have to ask myself if
political correctness doesn't sometimes preclude people from having
the stones to model something good, something decent.  Instead we're
treated to another defecating soldier. More Verlinden crap if you ask
me.
It wouldn't surprise me to see the "Jessica Lynch heroically emptying
her weapon into the advancing Iraqi onslaught" figure soon. Anything
to make a buck, I suppose.
Now that I've vented, you can find all of my unbuilt Verlinden items
for sale at Missing Lynx's Flea Market soon.  I'm purging myself of
it.  And no, I won't be making a buck off of it-that money went into
Verlinden's coffers long ago.