The Little World

There has been a great deal of debate on the subject of when life actually starts – medical, legal, and religious authorities have all weighed in with their opinions and formulated laws based upon findings and calculations.There’s been a good deal of doctrine and dogma involved as well – if you think about it, any sex subject is going to attract this sort of thing.

Scale model building is also sexy, and we need to apply the same science and faith to it. And decide when a kit becomes a model…and in turn when it becomes a real tank, plane, ship, or car.

Make no mistake -the best scale models aren’t – they are real vehicles and vessels and aircraft. The only discordant note is us – we are larger than necessary to fit the scale of the thing we have built.

But is the thing alive when it is in the box at the hobby shop? Or when I has come home to our house? When the box is opened and the parts dry-fitted? Or is it later down the track as the parts are cemented together? Is it when the paint layers start, or finish? Decals? Are they just makeup for MiGs? In short, when does model life really begin?

Is it permissible to terminate it before this point? Can we send the kit back to the shop? ( No, say the sales staff. ). Can we throw it away? ( No, says our wallet. ). Are we bound to build it, no matter what ?( No, say the stashes that sit there unfulfilled…).

Are we doomed to see zombie Messerschmitts and Mustangs lurch forever half-dead through the model workshop?

My own answer is crude and pragmatic* – before a plane has wings and tailplanes attached to the fuselage, it is a box of possibilities. These may be good, bad, or never to be realised, but are still at the bidding of the builder. After the wings and empennage go on it has life and must be given all the work that needs be to finally fly from the nest. It may be an ugly duckling, but it cannot be grounded or ignored.

*  I used to have a pragmanual but the gears went out and there were no replacement parts. So I updated…