Just discovered that -rumor to the contrary- Campbell Scale Models is still in business as a three man operation and are taking direct sales phone orders at (541) 664-9296.
This is good news for the folks looking for Campbell structure kits or the Weston line of figures, as both the kits and the figures are going for high prices on eBay since most people think that they're no longer available.
For instance, Weston makes a little HO scale Mexican guy taking a siesta under his sombrero and serape. One recently sold for over $32 on eBay, while Campbell still has them available brand new for somewhere around $6 each.
(Campbell has six fewer than then they did this morning: I just ordered them to inhabit my Sud Pacifico de Mexico trains...)
Gee, do they also have a little ten-year old black kid in a jockey costume waiting to take the reins of your horses? I bet that would sell even better on eBay, especially if you advertised it in Southern Review and National Socialist.
Geeeez!! What the hell does your fanatical self-promoting diatribe of your alleged military service have to do with a little bitty teeny Mexican taking a nap on somebodies layout?? David's right about you. You are a certifiable wack-job. A card carrying Looney Tune.
Ah, you know how memories come up from a word (Tijuana) or a smell ( Tijuana . . . or jet exhaust, or stack gas), and us old farts just ramble down memory lane.
Yes. Yes you did. You said that Campbell still being in business "was really good news", but said of the continued availability of our little sleeping Mexican, "that isn't". That's a purely negative value judgement on your part.
Then you went on to shake a metaphorical finger at us and tell us
*why* you thought it was a bad idea by making a specious comparison to the old curbside statues of black kids that were originally intended for securing a horse's reins.
Given your value judgement and your stated reasons for it, there's crystal-clear suggestion that such things shouldn't be available, nor should we be buying them.
Stereotype, sure; but it's not "racist" if it isn't generally offensive to the race in question.
Example: there's a Mexican restaurant just west of our town -and when I say "Mexican" I mean a place owned, staffed, and generally patronised by Mexicans because it serves *real* Mexican food- and we'll call it "The Cocky Cactus". Their logo is (surprise) a Mexican guy in a serape and sombrero sleeping up against a cactus. It's printed on their menus, their napkins, and adorns a large neon sign out in front.
A couple of years ago some self-appointed "representitive of the local Latino community" decided that said logo was an affront to the proud heritage of Latinos in general, and launched a very vocal campaign to force the owners (who are Mexican themselves, remember?) to take down the sign and change their logo. Our activist got lots of coverage in the local media, and in response the owners of the place did a novel thing: since they *didn't* want to offend the Latino community, for the next six months the owner and his staff queried every single Latino customer that walked through the doors as to whether or not they were bothered by the logo.
The result was that *not one* Latino customer said they were upset by the logo. Not one.
Did this satisfy our activist, you ask? Hah!
He promptly announced a "grass roots" campaign to boycott the place, making it clear that the only thing he was interested in was getting his face in the papers. Alas for him, it's now two years later, business at the Cactus is still as good as it ever was (very); and the little Mexican guy is still there on the menus, napkins, and the sign.
Yes, as a "serious" model railroader you're no doubt qualified to quantify what's silly and what's not about grown men who still enjoy playing with trains...
Can you say "pretentious"?
Of course it was. The "Happiest Place on Earth"=A0was a reference to a well-known Simpson's episode in which Crusty the Clown makes up for his earlier sins by taking a bus-load of kids to "The happiest place on Earth! Tijuana!".
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