A really nice book with good pictures and color profiles. So far so good.
I also bought all the decal sheets that go with the book. These sheets are a major disappointment. I suspect AMMO got AI to make the sheets.
Some numbers and national insignia are supplied in double.
However, All unit markings, insignia etc. are only supplied as visible in the book. Meaning you only have decals for one side of your AFV.
It is a stunning issue which I suspect is due to AI designing the decal sheets.
I have written to Mig Jimenez / AMMO, but have received no answer.
I show a couple of examples below.
Oh come on now, that’s silly. What evidence do you have that it was AI? And please tell us: Exactly how does one distinguish between an AI-produced sheet and one that was the result of good old-fashioned, natural human incompetence?
I could see if the HUMANS behind the product thought they could save money by splitting the markings in two to get a quantity discount on a larger number of small sheets and simply forgot to check if two sheets were included in the package. You don’t need AI to do that.
The fact that the same marking was duplicated exactly for opposite sides is not an uncommon practice. I have seen a number of sheets where freehand marks - misalignments, tilting, and drips included - were exactly duplicated for application in different places.
Look at this! A Testors decal from 1983 and a Tamiya sheet from 1975 with hand applied numerals and slogans exactly duplicated for multiple locations on the tank! How could that POSSIBLY have happened without the sinister hand of Artificial Intelligence!?!
Notice the attempt at gaslighting on the Panzer IV set where they went to the trouble of explicitly identifying which group goes where while supplying three clearly identical markings. “You say the decals don’t look right on your model? You must not have followed the directions. Did you put them in the correct places?”
Are you planning on building an M41 da 90/53? I have one in resin. There were a few different resin offerings, but mine had no markings supplied whatsoever. I did make an aerial recognition symbol for it though. As far as I know there has still been no injection molded kit of it in 1/35.
There are two white, mirror image silhouette decals of the vehicle on the sheet. I will gladly send you a few bucks for them,
@KurtLaughlin I have absolutely no prof that it was AI. Hence the reason I wrote that I “suspect” it.
The reason I suspect it is that decals are only made of what is visible in the pages with standard numbers and national insignia doubled. If front and one side of the vehicle are visible those are the decals on the decal sheet. If only one side is visible those are the decals on the sheet. That is why I suspect AI but could just be human error.
The decals you show from past history are complete, right?
If yes, it does not really compare to this situation. Here mistakes are not repeated. All sides of the vehicles not shown on the pages and therefore invisible to AI are simply not reproduced.
In any case whether it is AI or human error is not really the point of my post. The point is that the decals sheets are incomplete - just so other modellers are aware of it.
Yes, a suspicion does not require proof, however it should have some evidence, some indication, or some observable fact that leads to a suspicion. Otherwise, it would be perfectly OK for MIG/AMMO to say they “suspect” that you are actually an AI-generated bot created by a competitor spewing fabricated stories to damage their reputation. Do they have any proof? No. Do they have any evidence? No. Do they have any plausible reason to back up their claim? No. Does any of that matter based on how you view posts claiming a “suspicion”? No.
So your go-to conclusion is AI (the newest version of a conspiracy theory) was behind it. It’s not that the person making the sheet was forgetful or an idiot, it’s not a situation like I described where the company made an economic decision and somebody goofed up in the execution. The cause that comes to mind first, the one that makes the most sense to you, is that the sheet was designed, ordered, paid for, accepted, and packaged, completely without human intervention. That is the most plausible explanation to you?.
How do you explain that sheet does contain complete markings in some cases?
The reason the sets are “complete” is that the company did not know what the other side looked like so they just duplicated what they could see. You mentioned that the second set you received was still wrong because the markings did not consider that items were different on opposite sides. That’s exactly the same situation: duplicating markings, whether on one sheet or two, is not helpful if the real markings were different. That mistake has been made for 75 years. It is not an indicator of AI.
Then why did you mention AI at all? If awareness of problems with the sheets was your goal, wouldn’t:
A really nice book with good pictures and color profiles. So far so good.
I also bought all the decal sheets that go with the book. These sheets are a major disappointment. Some numbers and national insignia are supplied in double. However, All unit markings, insignia etc. are only supplied as visible in the book. Meaning you only have decals for one side of your AFV.
I understand my AI suspicion has turned into a bigger topic. It was really not my intention and as I said, the point of the post was just to let people know the decal sheets were not complete.
In my later post to let people know about the good customer service from MiG Jimenez.
