The Little World

1/35 scale vehicles and accessories – a new standard.

You can hardly fail to notice the 1/35 scale vehicle and military market. Tamiya started it, continues it, and shares it with any number of other makers. There are aisles of tanks, trucks, troops and trash cans in every hobby shop and the kits in the boxes can be superb.

I gave in to this scale with a small starter kit from IBG and was delighted with the different feel of building armour as opposed to aircraft. I am glad I started in 1/35 – it would appear to be an unlimited genre – but I do not wish to be the super-weathering champ that many armour modellers become. I can spray a little dirt onto wheels and tracks and dab a bit of thinned oil paint, but that is as far as i want to go – I don’t do it for my aircraft either.

So what convention will justify this? The armour museum. There are enough of them around the world to supply justification for the look, and small plinths and bases are well enough to support the models. A few signs scattered here and there and a civilian model or two looking like a tourist will do fine.

The other set that can support this is the museum workshop – models can be shown open and even cars ca be worked on. A basic set can be lit to look like the real thing.