The Little World

I often write paeans to frugality, now that I’m retired. No big stream of money coming in means you must cut your coat according to cheaper cloth – and use smaller bolts of it. Fortunately I am skinny so a little covers a lot.

The plastic model hobby is also a field for care. I peer at the price tags in my favourite hobby shop and form my opinion ( as quoted by a famous modeller…) as to whether I would like the new kit or food to eat for a week. Hamburger often wins…

There are sources of relief, however. People give you old kits that they have not finished. Sometimes old kits that they have never started. Birthdays and present-giving holidays occur each year. Stash clearances and swapmeets are announced periodically.

And there are various internet groups of modellers who trade and sell kits to each other. You can see them circling in the clear air of a summer evening, their contrails looping an swirling as they dogfight…

And there are always cheap kits in even the most expensive hobby shops. They will be basic and common – but the prototypes they offer will be classics and some careful research, imagination, and modification can stretch a $ 15 box to a month’s enjoyment and a gem for the collection. Some makers are applying the most advanced moulding machine techniques to these starter models and the rest is well up to you.

There is also that opportunity for the frugalist to make accessories for dioramas – bases, coverings, structures, and figures upon an extremely economic basis. The model is one thing that might take a month – the diorama another 30 days – and you may well have stretched $ 20 to 60 days pleasure.

Try doing that down the pub.