The Little World

Here in Australia we have Yahoo Serious. He is not an internet server….but he has served us well over the years as a comedy actor. Serious laughter is a Serious matter…

In the scale modelling hobby we can also encounter a spectrum of involvement that goes from the Terribly Serious to the Delightfully Comic. I shall leave it to you to decide which is worse.

The sombre side of scale modelling is often represented by the Anorak or Rivet Counter – but in some cases the Serious Scholar will outdo him flat. When someone knows a subject well they may slip out of the handcuffs and run amok in any discussion. Woe to anyone who wheels out of line and attempts to dispute a point with them. Experts have references and footnotes and texts and you are going to be bazooka’d every time. By the end of the plodding discussion you will be neither right nor happy.

The fun bits come when someone decides to indulge a fantasy. The colour will be strange, there will be rockets attached in unlikely places, and there’ll be an odour of the Japanese cartoon. Just pray that there are no tentacles. You will be expected to be amused and indulgent. If you find yourself neither, bring a cat who is prepared to knock the thing off a mantlepiece.

Okay. Some serious modellers are not as far gone as the first paragraph would suggest. They do know a subject, but can be sufficiently flexible as to actually complete a kit without replacing every part with resin or brass. They see a high point and capture it – and then can defend it against all criticism. Their chief goal should be to move on to the next little triumph and not stand by the first, preening.

Some comic builders are good – if they are good comics to begin with. If they can set up a joke, feed the lines, and hit the punch at the right time, they have gold. If they know enough to leave the room wanting more, they are on their way to stardom.