The Little World

It’s no good building your own Little World if you cannot write the moral rules for it.  But time is precious, so I have decided to take a short cut and borrow seven deadly sins from the church literature of the middle ages and renaissance. These will form a firm basis of what thou shalt not do as a modeller.

What thou shalt do is still under debate – particularly as there are so many different products, techniques, and practitioners out here in the audience. One man’s meat being another’s poison is tame stuff compared to the debates that modellers can engage in on finishing systems and paint thinners. In the case of the more durable finishes, ALL the thinners are poison and the only distinguishing differences between them is what they’ll do when you drop the tin on the floor – the modern ones’ll get  through linoleum but some of the historic ones can carry right on through the concrete pad.

Declaring a sin is one way of steering some people away from committing it – provided that they are more afraid of you than they are of missing out on the fun. The bold and resolute will go ahead and sin anyway and the meek will appreciate the titillating stories that they hear about this. Plus, planting the idea in their minds may make them go out and give it a go…and then you can rage against them, demand their submission, and charge handsomely for penance. Don’t say you haven’t heard that one before and don’t mention who you heard it from…

Declaring a virtue may also be a good idea, but not quite so lucrative. Unless you tie in payment for recognition of the goodness, you are likely to be disappointed  – some people will always try to be shining and joyful for nothing, the cheap bastards. Better to get in there early and tie up the market than late and have to tie up the customer.

Modellers are a funny lot, but not if you listen to them. Most of them are deadly serious, and none more so than the ones who have just spent a month’s wages and three month’s work on a model airplane that has just stacked it onto the gravel surface of the local car park. So keep tuned for the first of the sins: anger.