The Little World

Ah, but when does the time come? Answer me that…

If we admit first off that we have a stash of unbuilt models we can proceed. The model stash may be actual kits, homebuilt kits, scratchbuild ideas, or piles of raw materials. It may contain dead models from long ago ready for revision or cheap junk found at jumble sales ready for wrecking and revival. It may be nothing more than a pile of pictures of the very thing we want to build. But there is a common thread with all these; there is something that attracted our eye and planted an idea in our brains. And it is sitting there in that stash.

Now the next question is when do we build it?

Do we wait until every other thing in our lives has been attended to? Every job ambition fulfilled, every house renovation screwed and painted, every course studied for, every holiday or birthday celebrated…?

Consider your life honestly. None of these darn things ever stops. You are never finished until the end, and waiting for a break in the traffic of average life to pull out and hit the fast lane of fun means you’ll be sitting by the side of the road until either the street sweeper truck or the hearse calls past.

The time to build the stash is now. Sod the storm windows.

But which thing in the stash to choose? If you’re like me there are a number of choices – and not all in neat boxes. What you have to do is match the build to your needs. You might be lacking that one vital part for your model railway layout and there it is in a plastic bag with instructions. That’s a simple answer.

You might be nostalgic for your youth. There’s the reason for picking up that old Revell box kit and the tube of cement. You can go two routes: do your proper research and carefully convert that old 50’s stinker of a kit into a definitive example of whatever it was meant to be. Or you can get a glass of chocolate milk and plate of cookies and just start gluing. If you can put Howdy Doody on the television and turn off the colour, you may find yourself bawling before you finish. Beware that your wife may find you as well, so have a plausible excuse ready.

You might be intensely pissed off when you see what is on offer at the toy stores…at the glittery, distorted nonsense that modern toys have become – and decide to make a model of real life as it really was. Cue that new weathering pack and a dozen old photos . Be prepared to lose brushes in the fray.

You might finally realise that you will never be rich enough to own a luxury car or skilled enough to build a hot rod but you can rock any model you set out to do. This is wonderful compensation. It is also wonderful when you make a model of a luxury car and present it to the owner of same – and they realise that you are more skilled that they will ever be and you see that realisation dawn on them.

My personal approach is to treat the stash as I would the pantry and freezer. I bought the stuff in there to eat because I like the taste. But I would never eat the same things every day for months…ennui and nausea would set in. I vary my menu. One day one thing, and then perhaps leftovers until another thing later in the week, With my building – and my collecting and model photography – I ring in the changes. Last week I finished some plastic bren gun carriers. Tomorrow I start on a tiny Soviet aircraft. When spring comes I’ll make a balsa wood airplane and try to fly it in the local oval on a still day.

And all the while, I’ll be adding more ideas to the stash. The annual plastic model fair saw to that. Talk about a kid in a candy store…!