The Little World

I went to the opium den today to buy some brushes. Not a real opium den, you understand – that would be far less dangerous and addictive. I went to the hobby shop.

The crafty villain…I mean the nice lady behind the counter…was cheerful as always and waved me on to my destruction in a pleasant and graceful manner. I daresay she has seen the downfall of many a modeller, and helped to push them further down the pathway of doom.

I did not pause in the kit aisle and cast only the most cursive of glances at the weird shit shelves with the Czech kits and the gundam. I went straight for the brushes and accessories. And was immediately stopped by the variety of goods on display. I wanted three new brushes for plastic models but I was confronted with dozens of choices – and many of them involved kit sets and exotic shapes.

The kit sets might have tempted me in my early days, and may well have been a good buy as they contained more brushes per dollar than purchasing them on an individual basis. But each kit seemed to contain odd shapes or textures that I would be puzzled to employ. I passed them up in favour of three individuals that I could see were going to be actually useful.

The modern brushes also come with triangular cross sections to the handle. – some sort of ergonomic addition. I find it actually helpful, so will opt for these in the future.

None of this lessens the usefulness and increased choice of the airbrush. I am turning to it more and more, and as I can schedule lines of parts and assemblies for different coats of colour, the workflow is quite efficient.