The Little World

That sounds like one of those passive/aggressive questions that bullies invent to make people feel bad. But bear with me – it is legitimate.

Are you proud of the models you make? I am, and I display them at my studio in IKEA cabinets. I take pictures of them and post them on the internet. I show some once a year at the Big Local Scale Model Exhibition and all year round at Cambridge Library. I pester the rellies about them.

Do I collect praise thereby? I do not. But I get the satisfaction of having done a decent job with this craft experience. If the pats on my back are done chiefly by me, you must at least admire my dexterity. A lot of people my age wouldn’t be that supple…

If you are, indeed, proud of the scale model work that you do, take every opportunity to expose it and yourself to the jeers of the unwashed public. My Cambridge Library show runs perilously close to educated people, but you can still get the comfort of a foolish question occasionally. In my case I always give courteously foolish answers.

The best thing about modelling pride is when it is not overweening. If your greatest achievement is buying expensive kits and stashing them, you may be missing out on the point of the hobby. However, all you need is to pull one of those rattling financial indulgences off the shelf and start clipping and cementing, and you are well and truly back in the game. And on a level playing field with the kid and his 50¢ Airfix baggie. The rules are the same and if he wins, he wins.

You win too, if you are having fun, and aren’t afraid to show it. When your fun comes to a glorious finish ( cement fingerprints and all…), show it off and bore all your relatives rigid telling them about the kit. We’ll understand.