The Little World

I should have known better – but in my defence I was unsupervised in front of a computer…

The Facebook group that deals with 1/35 scale tanks is quite skilled in their model building. Every day there are pictures of builds or completed models that have amazing detail, fine camouflage, and careful weathering. They far surpass any skill I’ll ever bring to the workbench. And the people who post them are serious builders; I had no idea how serious until I told some jokes.

The mistake was telling them jokes about scale model tank kits. I could probably have gotten away with political rants or personal abuse but as soon as I included plastic tanks it became religious, and I was a heretic.

To be fair, there were some people who realized that they were meant to laugh – indeed a couple followed suit along the same lines. But there were a number of the readers who took it seriously and offered serious advice based upon the joke. And a third, smaller, group who seemed offended that humour had been attempted at all and were scathing about it, and me. I’m not sure whether to be horrified or delighted.

One joke involved the JS-2’s big cast seam on the turret and the rough textures – another pointed out the incomplete nature of the hull under the track fenders. The first is reasonably accurate for the time, though it needs a little toning down. The second was just Zvezda saving design and plastic. I’ll end up using Evergreen sheeting to do what they didn’t.

And I shall be very chary about joshing with readers any more. To be fair, it was quite hot in the northern hemisphere at the time, as well as stressful and politically tense. It cannot have been comfortable wearing an anorak in that weather. I didn’t press them.