The Little World

Gasp! Shock! Horror!

What kind of monster would say that? No stash? No collection of model kits carefully stored for the future? No hours spent gloating over future happiness or profit? What sort of world…?

Well, a world of immediacy – of freshness – of learning and instant gratification. A chance to be a kid again. Consider…

a. When you were a kid, you did not have much money. That meant not much modelling money and a limited supply of new model kits. You may have lived somewhere they were not available, or in a place that would not let you build them much. Thus your exposure was likely to be a serial experience rather than a parallel one. Put simply – you built what you could get and you got them one at a time.

There was no stash.

b. You did not have the skills or materials then that you do now. The airbrush was unknown. Acrylic paint was unknown. Indeed, matte paint was probably a mystery then. You were lucky to have an old scalpel knife and some brushes. Now that time and 560 trips to the hobby shop have remedied the situation, you can bring all your new resources to focus on the hobby…but you cannot do so if that focus is spread over 15 models ” on the go “.

A spread of 15 targets is no fun in any game or combat, and none of them receives your attention efficiently.

c. The cycle of anticipation – action – gratification is a powerful mechanism to reward your brain with good chemicals. Whatever they are supposed to be – endorphins – seratonin – ethanol – or paint fumes – they need to be fresh to be fun. No-one likes to drink stale beer the next day and stale model kits five years later are no good either.

Go to the shop – see the kit – buy the kit – take it home and open it – start building and painting. You’ll be excited every stage of the game, and it will continue in a unified flow right up until you put the finished model on the shelf. Then the glow of satisfaction sets in.

d. What did you have for dinner last Wednesday? Thursday? Can’t remember? Well try remembering where you were on the masking and trimming of the model that you started 6 months ago and put aside. Try whipping up enthusiasm for leftovers.

Build fresh. Build now.

Ah, but there must always be an argument put forward from the devil when any blessing is proposed. In this case there are several:

a. What if I never see the kit again? What if it is a one-off that will never be repeated? I NEED to buy it to be safe.

The answer to this is ” what if you see it on the shelves for the next two decades in repeated form? ” This is highly likely given the trade in moulds amongst various manufacturers. Like buses, there is always another one coming. And some are cleaner and newer than the ones you miss.

b. What if I can’t afford kits later?

Then build from scratch, because you can do that for pennies. You’ll take just as much time and have just as much fun with smaller projects.

c. It’s an investment. I’ll be able to sell the kit later for much more than I paid for it.

Horse shit. You can try to sell it along with the other shifty dealers at the swap meet but unless you are selling it for what you bought it for, no-one is going to hand over money. Remember they are as greedy as you are. You’ll end up giving warehouse room to the kits for years for no purpose.

All the above – pro and con – having been said, I realise that people will still hoard plastic kits. But I shall build my stash and then buy fresh off the shelves whenever I fancy a bit of fun. My bet is I’ll never come home from the hobby shop sad.