The Little World

No, you fools, not the ninja turtles.

The real Da Vinci and the preparatory drawings he used to do in chalk and charcoal before launching out onto canvas and oil paint.

Think you can pick one up for a bargain price? I mean it’s just a chalk sketch, right? How much could chalk cost…?

You went and googled the prices, didn’t you. Now you need to change your underwear, don’t you.

Well, you can do better in the scale model world. If you do not want to spend money and commit to big, long builds, you can go the cartoon route yourself. The box scale re-issue, the vintage classic, or the tiny scale are your chance to sketch in chalk like Leonardo.

The smaller, older, cruder kits are never going to give you a chance to super-detail but they will provide a platform for imaginative decoration. They will let you build sets, rather than singles. They have a charm all their own.

Many boast engraved panel lines and quite reasonable parts fit. You will not get wing sag because the wings are tiny. If you do not want to risk spindly landing gear or the tail-heavy build, you can put them wheels up on inexpensive commercial or extremely inexpensive home-made stands.

I have done so with a 1/144 airliner and will probably do it for eight little fighter kits that have landed on the desk at Stein’s Air World. If I stagger the heights of the stands they will nest into a smaller shelf space.

I need to remember that I am building three-dimensional cartoon sketches.