The Little World

Or in scale modelling terms: is it real yet, Daddy?

There comes a time in every scale model build – whether it is with scratch-built parts, a kit, or a box of Lego – when it becomes real. Perhaps not real as in finished, but real as in a model of something under construction. And in some cases that is a fair ways down the track.

In the case of the suffering armour builder, that track may be composed of hundreds of parts and hours of fiddly labour. Telling themselves that they’re having a wonderful time gets the builders through the first few hours, and telling everyone else that they are doing the job properly occupies a few days more. But there must come a time when the seasons or government change and the modeller realises just how long it has taken to get the thing to the second road wheel…and either goes into holy orders, berserk, or home.

The airplanes become real when they have wings and a tail on the fuselage, but some of the detailed bombers are living before you close them up. If you can adjust your mind as you adjust the cement surfaces, it becomes an experience much like working in a real aircraft factory. That confident feeling’ll go when you start to scrape and fill seams, but keep the memory of it.

Cars are real as soon as there is a chassis with axles and wheels standing by itself. If you’ve ever stripped a vehicle this far back you’ll instantly be transported back to it when you see the plastic model – and from then on up you’re working in real, tiny, life.