The Little World

Aaaaaand We’re there!

We’ve succeeded in the most difficult part of scale modelling – deciding which model to make. The question and decision may have been asked and made in several ways:

1. There is a picture of a ship, plane, or tank that we’ve seen on the net…or in a book…that just calls to us. Now we have to organise the structure and the decoration. Let us hope that there is a kit close to it in a a scale that we want to build and a decal sheet that will mark it up. If there are bottles of ready-made paint that duplicate the finish we can just wear loose clothes and go on holiday!
2. There is a model kit with box art that instantly appeals. This kit may not be the scale we build and the subject may not be one that we really are interested…but the box artist has broken through those barriers with their brush and paintbox. In truth, we want the artwork…and would be just as happy framing the box lid and throwing the kit away. But we never do…we build it. The most bitter disappointment comes when the result looks nothing like the box top.
3. We know a particular plane or ship. It may have a connection to us or to our family. This is the most dangerous of models as it will either have to be absolutely perfect…or can be absolute rubbish. We see beyond the surface to the history.
4. A plane or car or locomotive is preserved in a museum and the model kit makers have produced a model of it. This sounds dull, and you may reflect that you are building the same model as someone else, but think about it. The theng actually exists in 3D and is available for study. It might have history or not, but it is far more real than the single blurred image on Google that everyone sees of something else.
5. We’ve always admired a particular plane or car. We are in danger of building eight of them in different colours. Ship modellers rarely do this, though the waterline builders may collect a whole class of destroyer or cruiser.
6. There may be only one kit in the entire shop that we haven’t built yet. That’s the one. It may be a shop that only has one kit and we may be stuck with nothing in the stash. This explains some horrid decisions over the years.
7. We may remember building the kit when we were children and buy it out of nostalgia. This can be wonderful or horrible as we discover in modern terms why we did not achieve a good model all those years ago. It wasn’t our childish fingers – it was a brittle, warped bastard of a kit back then and has not improved.
8. We like the colour. It might be inaccurate or garish, but it seems lovely. The fact that it is attached to whatever model is irrelevant. We’d feed a stray dog if it was painted that colour.
9. It is cheap. We only have limited money and this is affordable. No shame in cutting your fuselage to suit your styrene, so to speak.
10. And finally – a reason that makes sense. We need a particular model as part of a larger display. It might not be what we’d normally make, but it is necessary.