Misguidance, bait-and-switch, and deception have been long a
part of many aspects of life, particularly of advertising and politics. The
results are the same: you end up with a product (or a president) that is NOT
what you wanted or expected (in case you were naive enough to expect something,
I certainly wasn't, other than the abominations happening nowadays).
Exploring a quaint hobby shop in a galaxy far, far away, tucked in an unassuming little mall in the remote island of Kauai, I discovered this box of HO scale (that is 1/87th scale for us un-trained, pun intended). The box art described a group of vehicles, which I naively thought to be the contents. As the box was sealed I couldn't verify my credulous belief and bought it (the price was fair, so no harm done really).
In opening the box at home I discovered that there were only two trucks, identical ones. Such is life for the suffered modeler. On the other hand, the instructions were reasonably clear, the molding and detail decent, the subjects viable, and what's more, attached to the instructions were perks! These took the form of wire for the wheel axles, and teeny tiny lights! Clear AND red! whaddayaknow!
Con-Cor, a company I wasn't aware of, caters for the railroad modeling community, has been for decades now. I use this type of kit to create models that accompany my 1/72nd scale model planes when photographing them, positioning the vehicles in a way that the scale difference is not as noticeable due to forced perspective.
The beginning of the text (about deception) points out to the fact that only if you look at one of the box ends you may see a little label that described the actual contents. I am sure that many a distracted modeler got tricked by the deceptive box presentation.
In any case, as said, no harm done, I got for a fair price two refueling trucks to add to the diorama land vehicle flotilla for photographic purposes.
Quality is somewhat -but not quite- like the Jordan Highway Miniatures products. Decals look well printed and sharp (they were printed by Microscale), we'll see if they are still OK when the moment of applying them arrives. The detail is quite fair for the scale, including various interior and exterior small parts:
Goodies included:
The truth about the box contents revealed for those savvy enough not to be lead by the box art:
To be continued....