The Little World

A wise person takes inspiration from others. Thus, some politicians keep the works of Jesse James, Attila, and Torquemada handy for quick reference.

Scale modellers, too, can benefit from contemplating the work of others. This is one of the chief benefits of a scale model show – as well as access to sausages on a bun and cheap models from someone else’s stash. Thus I spent some time recently during WASMEX at the table of another modeller who displayed 100 years of RAAF aircraft.

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I was initially dismayed to see that he had done so much better than I could ever hope to…but this gave way to a more generous feeling as I realised that his models could serve as models for me. You see he had achieved such good paint finishes that they have cleared up a number of questions.

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Colour call-outs in model boxes are sometime things. Those packed with specific aftermarket decals can be a little better. Some scholarly works are quite specific, too, but you have to have access to these and for smaller air forces that can be pretty rare. I frequently find myself squinting at the internet trying to figure out a scheme from an air show photograph.

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Note that Murphy’s Luck always dictates that the one detail feature you REALLY want to see has been missed out in the photo coverage…

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But here was a table of good examples laid out logically. Never mind that they might be using decal sheets available to all – that is only to the good. It means that if I have the same decal sheet I might be able to do as fine a job on my model of the aircraft. Better still – some aftermarket sheets are multiple-choice affairs and I can be a few airframe numbers and a squadron code away from my fellow modeller.

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Note: two different scales in the photos.