The Little World

I’m a 1/48th scale model of a dust cart.

In a world of Messerschmitts, Super Hornets, and Saturn V rockets…I’m a dust cart.

Two wheels, a bin, and a handle. You get a broom and a shovel on the sprue and a set of decals that look like banana peels and cat puke. The instruction sheet is in three colours and eighteen languages.

I haven’t sold quite as well as the wholesaler promised…in fact in the four years I’ve been on the shelf no-one has even taken the box down and turned it over. It’s only the fact that the packaging is so unremarkable that has kept me on the shelf – otherwise I would have been given away for a Telethon auction or used to prop up the short table leg in the staff room.

But someone wants me. To someone I am the answer to an fervent prayer as they struggle to complete a diorama. I am the final magic touch that will convert a toy to a model and a diorama to real life. I just need to get out of my box and off my sprue.

It’s not like I am hard to assemble –  a can, a bottom, a lid, and two wheels. I can be painted any colour you have left over and no-one is ever going to run a caliper over me and complain about discrepancies on Britmodeller. I am authentic.

I just need better promotion. A full-page advertisement in AIrfix magazine. Or a marching band down the main street. Or just someone picking up my box and turning it over.

PS: I come with scale rubbish. And a patented 1:1 smell.