The Little World

” What If ” modelling – colloquially known as Whiffery – is an established genre in the scale world.

It is the basis for a good deal of science fiction work, and can be very well thought-out indeed. It permeates the doll house genre and appears in many hot rod builds. But it is most noticeable in the plastic model and military modelling world – as well as with the wargamers.

Most of the what-iffery in plastic modelling concerns itself with the period of 1945 and onwards within Europe. People build up scale models of possible German war machines based upon speculative plans and a premise that the Third Reich was not defeated.

I often wonder if this can also be described as ” if only ” modelling and whether the people engaged in it would actually be delighted if nazi Germany had carried on to win. In many cases I fear that is exactly what they think, but do not say.

I note that no-one ever models a ” what-if ” that centres around the great depression never happening or posits no WW1 or the Versailles Treaty. Perhaps peace is not to their taste…