The Little World

Or ” It’s My Party, And I’ll Glue If I Want To. “

A. Are you a bold and original individual? Are you a trend setter? Have some of the trends you’ve set gone off in your face prematurely? Well join the Queens Own Scale Modellers and we’ll make it All Right.

The first thing that the English model broadcaster, Phil Flory, does when he reviews a kit is to take out the instructions and go through them page by page. This may seem boring, but depending upon the kit maker it can be either a literary journey or a descent into hell.

He castigated Kittyhawk models for the quality of their instruction sheets for some time, and had the evidence there on screen to show what they did. This was information he got, however, as he tried to proceed with a build – it may not have been evident on first inspection. God bless the man – when he runs up against the inevitable printing or drawing error – or worse ( wrong moulding ) he tells the world and we can all be warned.

I would welcome a central agency that did this – or an extension of the tabulating work that Scalemates does. Wave us off before we get to the round down – not when we are abreast of the bridge.

I too, have discovered grievous errors in instruction sheets – mostly of the eastern European variety – and warned people in this column. I realise there are typos in every written communication, but erroneously-drawn diagrams are another thing.

B. What if the instructions are working but the decoration scheme is questionable?

Well, there are standards and there are standards…and all you have to do to improve your happiness is lower yours. If you make what the picture on the back of the box looks like, you will be satisfied in most instances. So will 100,000 other modellers who get the same model. If you all bring the same one to the model expo you can line them up in regiments and argue about the shade of blue on the underside.

If you would like to go off on your own tangent, feel free to do so, but expect some flak from other modellers. You will always get someone who doesn’t approve of the underside and sometimes they will be discourteous enough to complain about the shape of the tail. This is an occasion where having a sharp knife to hand can raise your spirits.