The Little World

And let us have more of it.

The recent big local scale model exhibition had a surprise near our stand – a model steel furnace.

It may have been intended as part of a model railway layout, but could equally be a stand-alone display. It was good to look at from all four sides. Built to HO scale – 1:87 – it may have had other scale elements in it. Indeed I wonder if a few of the implements and machines were derived from sources other than hobby shops.

Far too few industrial models are seen, and it’s a great pity – they are tied more directly to all our experience than ever the military subjects. I remember a cutaway display of model steam boilers seen in the Science Museum in London that has stayed fresh in the mind for 35 years – it was the clearest explanation of the subject I had ever seen. Would that we could have more of this sort of diorama.

The red and blue lighting was particularly striking in the gloom of the mill. LED’s are ideal for this sort of thing – John France is getting great results with strip lighting inside a model aircraft carrier. Power requirements are low and modern battery packs can operate a display for an entire exhibition.

Note that this is also the case for a number of LED light panels that we use in tabletop photography. The lithium ion battery packs can run half-chat for 6 hours. No heat, all light.