The Little World

And in cold weather, too…

I needed a harbour with water – dry water – to display my float planes. No good just posing them on a glass shelf like dried cod – they needed to look like they were in their natural element.

No time, and no inclination, to do the complex water-building that model railway enthusiasts do. No careful preparation of the streambed and then layers of clear resin on top. No wind-ripples brushed or carved on the surface. No foam streaks and little tufts of reeds. Maybe one day when I retire…

For now I needed to fall back on the Teddy Roosevelt Principle: do what I could with what I had, where I was.

Pre-made display tray sized to fit the library shelf. Piece of black foam board. Piece of green paper. Piece of clear blue cellophane ( The only purchase – Officeworks. ).

Laid out the float planes in line facing the wind. Traced around their floats, and then cut out the float prints.

Glued on the green paper and slit it so the float prints would have a depression in them. Weighted it down with old musket balls. Then crinkled up the blue cellophane and tacked it onto the green paper with spray glue.

Set the planes into their little wells and add a few buoys. Of to the library.

I will regard this as a training exercise for a diorama of a flying boat harbour.