ID model story

[dstauffer]

I have heard a story about those WW2 recognition models I would like to run past the group.  The ones I remember were a molded rubber.  But a friend remembers making them in school, from wood and plans supplied by government.  An article I recently read claimed that actual models used to train gunners and aircrews were indeed mass produced by government contractors, and that the ones made in schools were part of the effort to make civilians feel more involved in war.  Comments?

[Kenny Horne]

Hi,

For the most part, the recognition models used by the forces were indeed the mass produced variety, though in the beginning it was the intention to use the school versions.  The story of the ID models is a very interesting one, and one that in many ways formed the future of the modelling community in that indeed this huge burst of activity in carving Solids was in fact a death throe.  The Gov. determined that they could not get the models produced quickly enough and to the standard required (though by the looks of some of the drawings what could be expected :-) so they asked industry to produce them.  These accurate "plastic" models then became available to the public, and people being as they are chose these rather than carving from scratch.  The days of carving a model out of a block were over.  Strombeck produced a line of pre-carved wooden models, some with plastic parts, but eventually plastic took over and we started assembling models rather than creating  models. 
Not that there's anything wrong with that 
Kenny