The Little World

Have you ever heard this phrase in the mouth of a bikie – someone who deals in drugs and crime and standover tactics? Doesn’t it make you want to spew?

But take it a little lighter – and apply it to your scale modelling. Don’t say it to others – you don’t want to be that arrogant – just say it to yourself. And add some questions:

What are you modelling? What are you modelling it for? WHO are you modelling it for?

Before you go off in a brown study ( and remember there are 56 different browns in the hobby shop paint racks. None of them are quite right… ) also remind yourself that you are not doing this for survival. No sheep stations are being wagered on your model of a Morris Marina. A kitten doesn’t die if you get a bit of silvering under a decal.

You’ll have days when it all goes swimmingly, and days when it all goes drowningly. You’ll get praise from some, damnation from others, and indifference from the rest of us. The only basic that you can take from all this is:

You need not achieve the best result possible – you just need to achieve the best result that you can do. There may be a wide gulf between the two, but that is your business – and not the concern of the club or competition critic.

As time goes by you’ll get better – and then as more time goes by you’ll get worse. At no point is it wise to tell people how good you used to be…lest they do some investigating on their own. Just carry on and have fun as long as you can.