Mikey, you little flatterer, you! But seriously, I appreciate your opinion and also you did not lie - as just yesterday I had occasion to visit my local hobby shop - and there it was already:


Complete with big, beautiful repro of the classic Revell Helena box artwork! Revell really knows what they're doing, this time around (I think their reps must be lurking ModelFleet, too! ) - Good On 'Em - and the fine-scale printing of the artwork is very close to as good, IMHO, as the original-issue boxes. Actually, the repro looks to be higher-fidelity to the original painting - right down to capturing the texture of the canvass - but, paradoxically, I liked the fuzzier-effect, older one slightly more!

In any case, it is seriously gorgeous and indeed suitable for framing - explicitly pointed out, for those a little slower on the uptake. ( Though, why they call it "battle" portrait I don't understand.) In fact, this scene is not of any battle - except the one against the elements, themselves. About which let me rave a little regarding this artist, whose name I am still (criminally) ignorant of. He was a real genius, and his images are true, poetry in light and space. The actual, poetic words for the above and many of his other images for Revell clearly being the phrase, "Taking It Green". As in "green water" - not spray, not foam, but a slug of solid seawater - coming over the bow. Of course, he doesn't want to hide the bow, buried in a green wave, so he lets generous cascades of water falling away from the bow (and the rake of the deck as a whole) to lead your eye to a prominent wave at center-left, positively glowing with green light shining out of it! Meanwhile, the observer in the gun tub at right is pitching a**-over-teacup in exactly the opposite direction. Tossing On the Deep Green Sea! Genius.

While we're also anticipating re-release of the Chicago, take a good look at my older, Monogram box-top:


Note the spray flying off the bow - green - even though this color is not strictly realistic for a cloud of spray, in this light - but again the artist doesn't want to obscure the bow under a giant wave (that it just broke out of) - so instead he shows you just what color it was! Again, I don't know if this was the same artist as for the Helena artwork, above - it certainly wouldn't surprise me - but even if not this is a guy clearly also in the same league. And, having seen where Revell is going with the Helena re-release, I can guarantee you the new Chicago box is going to be spectacular, as well!

At the same time, note for both the above, the CA bow stems are incorrectly raked throughout their length - not breaking to vertical below the waterline (as accurately depicted in the Chicago mold, though not the Helena). Which just further goes to show you strict accuracy is not the primary requirement for great art. In fact, IIRC, it was once said by Yoko Ono (everybody's favorite ) that, "The artist creates illusion, but the responsible artist creates an illusion of the truth".

Anyway, when browsing the hobby shop shelves, the appearances of these boxes just leap out at you. And the other thing undoubtedly going to make them actually leave the shelves is - just as Mikey predicted - the price. Note my example, picked up from the last surviving hobby shop in this area, was even under $25. However that location was Cape Coral, Florida - nationwide leader in home foreclosures, the very epicenter of the New American Depression - so this may well be the low-end. And BTW, if you're ever in Cape Coral, drop in on Mark and Michelle's Paradise Hobbies - a true, "mom-and-pop" operation, and the Best of the Best - we're lucky to have 'em.

Good call, Mike - and I'll let you know if/when I see a new Chicago 'round about these parts!

Cheers,

-Matty