Aoshima Mitsubishi A7M2 Reppu "Sam"

Further to the blogs on Aoshima (or Aosima) kits here and here  I came across this Reppu box art on an internet auction site. It's an early "white" one I've never seen before and appears to show bomb-armed Reppu taking off from Iwo Jima with Mount Suribachi smoking ominously in the background - or maybe it's meant to be Rabaul? It must have taken a very special kind of idiot to use the box top for the sales graffiti, including the desecrating non sequitur "Rare!" (rare it might have been but its esoteric value plunged with that unnecessary adornment). Anyone who has any of these kits in his or her collection will appreciate why the absence of decals is no big deal anyway.

It is arguable whether this sort of vandalism is on a par with those people who post collectable mint boxed kits in jiffy bags, allowing the postal services to demonstrate just how flat they can make them, or the memorable kit box I once received where the sender had sealed it all round with duct tape before putting it in the jiffy bag. The duct tape had not prevented the postal flattening process so it was a double whammy. What had been a pristine box when sold was absolutely destroyed by the time it arrived. It was then damaged even more by being soaked in tears . . . 

Image credit: © Aoshima circa 1960 via unknown retailer