🚀 go-pugleaf

Perhaps I am not the best qualified person to express an opinion on
this subject because I was born in a country (Mexico) where nobody
bothers about swastikas.

But I think that there is a deeper issue behind the accuracy of
a model, and that is history.

Ideally, history should be concerned with truth. If somebody
erases the swastikas form the tail of a Bf-109 or from the
sides of a P-51, it won't change the historic fact that these
planes flew with swastikas on them.

Therefore, I think that removing swastikas from an airplane
tank or ship that in real fact carried them (or to add them
to subjects that didn't) is paramount to trying to change
history and telling people that WWII never happened or 
that the Germans never won a battle during that conflict
(Hollywood's standard message).

I understand that a lot of people suffered during the conflict
but that includes people in Germany as well. Should we avoid
modelling a B-17 or a B-24 in order not to offend them? After
all these types killed several hundreds of thousands of German
citizens. Should we avoid modelling the B-29 (specially the
Enola Gay) in order not to offend the Japanese?

What would you think of me if I told you not to mention
the State of Texas to me because I get offended because 
up to 1848 it was Mexican territory? 

There are several conclusions to this.

1. No matter what you do (not only in modelling, but in everything
in life) you are likely to incomodate or to offend someone.

2. People that get offended by an aircraft displaying a swastika
on its tail are probably not modellers and very unlikely to see
your model.

3. The actions of WWII are, on average, 50 years old. They belong
to history and history doesn't change by taking swastikas out
of German models.

4. The swastika ban considers only the feelings of europeans
that were on the wrong side of the Wehrmacht. It doesn't consider
the feelings of other peoples involved in WWII or in other wars.

5. The modeller should consider his or her own feelings while
building a model.

Here in Australia we have a big arabic muslim community. March
1991 wasn't the best time to put an israeli aircraft in a model
expo. I did it and nothing happened. Why? Because people that
may get offended by an aircraft with blue stars of David on
the wings do not attend modelling shows.

Of course these opinions are only mine.

Rafael Rodriguez
V.C.A.H. Ltd. Australia
rrg@vcah.EDU.AU