The Little World

For a number of years I avoided going into hobby shops. Whether I thought they were passé or whether I thought I was more sophisticated…I don’t know. The result of this was I missed out on some of the really great hobby experiences – things that came and went while I was somewhere else. Now that I’m back, I can see an echo of former times – and now I can participate to my heart’s content.

The need for a hobby experience – the little train/boat/plane/car etc – never went away in the interim – but it was channelled into different things. They sometimes involved getting official permission to have fun and eventually that very circumstance meant that, after the authorities had their moment of enjoyment regulating everyone else, there was little fun left over for the hobbyists. It’s still that way with the R/C aircraft and drones, the R/C boats.and probably the R/C cars as well. Someone, somewhere has to be begged for permission…and that makes the hobbyist into a beggar.

I’ve opted for the other way. No permission needed – no permission sought. The only rules on my Little World are the ones I devise. In my case I am seeking a sort of Unified Field Concept – where I can build or buy what takes my fancy and have every element be in harmony.

I had hoped to achieve this with model photography – it’s a branch of two hobbies that can use multiple scales and lots of technical tricks to make a fake world look real. It works, and I’ve even found an internet audience for it. But I want more…

I am expanding the RCAF station at Wet Dog, Alberta to come into the modern era. No longer just a transit station for the BCATP, it has been handed over to the Canadian Department of Transport as a regional airport and some of the old structures moved from their wartime positions. Of course, some things cannot move, and just leave their footprint where they were. But the extension of the Canadian Pacific Railway branch line out past the air station means industry is finally there.

There was a lot of Dominion land left over after the war, and most of it wasn’t built on – until someone came up with the idea of opening a museum next to the airfield. They’re going to be putting up dedicated new hangar/museum buildings and acquiring aircraft from all over to fill them. With enough advertising on the Calgary-Edmonton highway, they should pull in tourists all summer. Plus they can offer extra accommodation for private air ventures.

And best of all – no planning permission, council regulations, noise abatement act, or police licensing required. It’s almost like the old days…