The Little World

If you have been awake during the last 20 years you will have noticed a new channel on television; the Shopping Channel. It is a modern day version of the old pentagram and candles that invites demons into your home. You don’t give them your soul – you give them your money.

In the case of several mining magnates in Australia, this is effectively the same thing…

But let us come away from the writhing horror of the television and gaze upon the hideous face of the computer. Here we will meet the Mints, Exchanges, and Clubs that are devoted to purchasing perfectly ordinary scale models, tarting them up with ” Collectable “, ” Vintage “, and ” Exclusive  ” stickers, and flogging them to you for 3 x the price you would ordinarily pay.

Do not scream foul. The goods are perfectly fine. They are model aircraft, trains, cars, and ships that are as good as their original makers could turn out. If they are jigsaw puzzles, prepare to be puzzled. If they are memorabilia, prepare to remember. But whatever they are, prepare to …Umm…Umm… Well prepare to assume two things:

a. The worst.

b. The position.

Because what will happen to your Visa card will echo what will happen to you when you open the parcel. Look at the ceiling and think of the Empire.

Is there any form of protection from this sort of scale-model piracy? Yes. But it will require you to begin the painful process of thinking and shopping for yourself. You may wish to own a scale model of a German armoured train of the 1940’s – I mean, who amongst us has not woken of a morning from a wonderful dream of panzers? And who amongst us would dream of embarking upon a romantic relationship without a shelf of railway guns at home? Stands to reason…

But you must resist the temptation to send money to an internet company that has posted on your Facebook page – particularly if they have been instrumental in persuading a Chinese factory to do the work for them. You may be about to buy a USRA Baldwin locomotive painted in RAF A/B camouflage scheme for an immense amount of non-returnable money.

Or to put it bluntly, there are two participants in  the transaction – one of them will be happy, and it won’t be you…

If you must Facebook, reserve it for cat pictures and political biases. Go to the hobby shop in person and let them rob you face to face. You’ll be happier for it.