The Little World

Decision time comes at many stages of a build – Shop, Shelf, Box, and Bench. For the desperadoes amongst us we can add the Screen.

a. Shop.

Which one to go to? The closest one? The one with the biggest range? The one who gets the newest kits in? The one with the best prices?

It’s not an easy choice. If you are kid on foot, the first choice is generally the one you make. If you have built every variety of the easy kits, you may opt for the second. If you are a novelty freak or need something to beat the competition at a modelling show, you’ll choose number three. If you are strapped for cash it will be number four.

Note: There is no shop that has all these attributes – there is no styrene El Dorado…

b. Shelf.

Presuming your shop has stacked the kits according to type and size, you need to decide whether you want to build a plane, ship, tank, or car. If the shop just heaps all its stock up in one big pile in the middle, just grab something from the edge of the mountain and get out of the place before it shifts and buries you.

c. Box.

Well, the box art, graphics, design, and size are what get you in the first place. Few of you go into a hobby shop with such a fixed idea of what you want that you cannot be won over by a better box. Even the size and weight of the container may sell the kit to you – let alone the picture on the outside. It can also work the other way – garage kit manufacturers take note. I have noped my way away from kits that might have been fun to cope with on the basis that the packaging was naff.

d. Bench.

Well, you’ve got the blessed thing home and the box is open and you have to decide which of the three variants you’ll build. Or which of the two…or one. If there is nothing at all in the box, you may have a stealth kit. Go ahead and build it, and give the contest judges the worst day of their lives.

If every alternative invites you to move on, move on to the…

e. Screen

The internet has more ideas than you do, and probably better lies than you can tell yourself, so you might as well see what you can find about your kit. There may be a dynamite paint scheme just waiting for your airbrush. Or, if the kit is a multi-coloured horror, you may find a plain scheme that saves the day. If you spend too long, however, you risk never making up your mind and being trapped in a netloop. Quit before this happens.

I didn’t like the colour scheme or decal set that Academy supplied, so I googled until I discovered a Camel at the RAF museum at Hendon. This, at least, has the advantage of being an actual thing that really exists now, albeit the scheme might not be what flew in 1917. Reality trumps profile books.