The Little World

Close focus on the world of scale models

” I Don’t Like It “

Some people sing a song that goes on for an entire lifetime. Happy, sad, welcoming, or disdainful…it becomes their theme, regimental march, or daemon ear-worm.

The main thing you need to do is detach yourself from it all, so that even if the noise continues for a whole lifetime, at least it isn’t your lifetime…

I am brought to this when someone looks at a model I have built and says they don’t like it. The initial reaction I have is similar to that of any modeller; anger and concern – who could not like something that I have spent so much time making? How dare they criticise the child of my workbench! And, in doing so, criticise me!

If I’m not careful I blurt something out and the day is spoiled. What I need to do is consider the situation more carefully:

a. Is the person who doesn’t like the model a modeller themselves? Or an stranger wandering into the Little World? Is their opinion valid?

b. Are they modellers of a different genre – armour vs air or sea vs land? Is their aversion a general one to the type, rather than the specific item?

c. Is their complaint about the model as a kit, unbuilt, or as a finished product? I have looked askance at some kits in the raw, but later realised that they were gems in the rough.

d. Is there jealousy? I have seen this in professions, where practitioners steadily decried their competition in an effort to gain clients. Could it be the same for a hobby?

e. Could the complaint be merely a line in a long song of unhappiness that the singer cannot stop singing? Do their feet hurt, and do they dislike the government, and tinned sausages, and the colour green? Is life mean to them at every turn?

Will they complain about being dead for years afterwards?

Dick Stein

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3 responses to “” I Don’t Like It “”

  1. christopherpflueger Avatar
    christopherpflueger

    Hmm, surprising to hear of such criticism. In what settings do you tend to meet with these negative reactions? I tend to think that all this hobbying we modelers put out there these days ought to be a classic case of “to each his own,” or “whatever floats your boat,” or “who cares? it’s for fun!” But I reckon we do live in a time when we all volunteer to be judged — either on our blogs or, though I myself don’t take this avenue, at shows! The potential for joyous sharing and welcome praise — the external validation that never used to be a big part of my hobby, because in the past there was no way for it to be so — outweighs the risk most of the time. It’s more fun knowing someone will see it and possibly appreciate it. But if we want the likes, I suppose we must also be prepared for the dislikes. Life in the 2020s! Thanks for sharing your work and your musings!

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    1. Dick Stein Avatar
      Dick Stein

      Christopher,

      I’ve had the thumbs-down on internet forums and at local exhibitions. You can do nothing about the internet…it is such a hydra that you never succeed in dispute. But the local model exhibition or a club meeting lets you launch yourself on your detractors with a shriek. I find the big Xacto knife with the red plastic handle most useful – it is one of the few times you can actually use that sickle-shaped blade that you get in the wooden box set.

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  2. christopherpflueger Avatar
    christopherpflueger

    Well, damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead! šŸ™‚

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