The Little World

I am not really an armoured vehicle person as yet. It is not an aversion – just a lack of attraction. Perhaps this will alter in the future, though I hope I will not have to step to yet another scale if I do try it. 1:72 and 1:76 seem to be rewarding enough.

I note that many of the members of the Tuesday Soviet are armour men – mostly in the common 1:35 scale. They pay the price of their lusts, however, with the minute work that modern kits require in the track department. Gone are the days of a soft rubber strip that curved around the drive sprockets and sealed with a hot screwdriver. Now each link may have 3 or 4 parts and there are about 80 links per side. They have a particular look on their faces about a quarter of the way through the job and it doesn’t go away for weeks…

These examples from the 2019 Sandown took my eye due either to the unusual subject – check out the Soviet tractor turned into a vegetable stand – or the extremely fine paint work. Note, as well, that the organisers have put a sign by each model threatening punishment if the model is removed before they say it may go. Whoever said plastic model building was not a blood sport…

I was experimenting with the camera to see if a flash approach was better than depending upon the venue’s lights. I think it makes for a flatter presentation but captures more detail for future study.

And when all is said and done, this level of skill is a pleasure just to look at.