The Little World

My recent visit to the WASMEX show was a lot of fun and I was impressed with the models that the hopefuls entered into the competition. A lot of them won prizes in the various divisions. ( There were a lot of divisions…). Yet some of the entires might only be seen that once – and possibly never again. Such a waste of talent and work.

Some lucky entrants – like our own club members – have a semi-permanent display space available to them at the SMCWA club. The big cabinets are glass-fronted and locked. The lighting is good, and a new model can stay fresh for a long time. It’s a real incentive to become a club member and not just depend upon once-a-year exposure.

Other people may find other venues willing to show their models. There are state, military, naval, and air museums in our metro area that may provide space for some display. Of course this must be negotiated with the officials of the venues, and modellers may find that items for display have to be what the galleries want – not necessarily what they like to make. It’s not realistic to expect any pay for this work, and you need to remember that anything left on display may be subject to the hazards of the public.

Have we thought of other places outside of the mainstream? Libraries, shops, community centres. Old folk’s homes. Schools. Pubs and RSL premises.

I use the internet for my year-round display. This column has a regular stream of model aircraft flying through, and the advantage of the WordPress site is that it is both free and semi-permanent. This is a good thing unless you are always making typo errors and then you have to look at them for ever more.

The rewards of public display are real; increased pride in what you do and contact with like-minded others. Sometimes a gem of a reply will show up that can give you otherwise unknown information about your subject matter.

And if half of your models are stored at someone else’s expense, you have space to build more…