The Little World

And not the jig-saw kind.

I mean the sense of uncertainty and curiosity that arises when you see certain aspects of our hobby. Here is a list of head-scratchers:

1. The builder who has a magnificent and expensive kit to hand – in whatever scale or genre best suits them – and instead of building steadily upon it, they do one part and then put it aside for months. The interim is spent starting other, smaller models.
2. And whether any of these actually get finished…
3. The scale model kits that would seem to have no connection to the average modeller. Odd subjects, odd makers, odd designs. Someone has to pay for this oddity, and in a lot of cases it seems to be the retailer who is stuck holding the parcel.
4. The modelling tool that does something…but you cannot figure out quite what. Nor can you imagine anyone else in a different form of modelling using it for any purpose. Is it an escapee from a cooking shop?
5. The detailed model that has been drafted from one grainy photograph taken in 1931 of a prototype that was cancelled before it was manufactured. It was broken up for scrap a week afterwards and all records of it have disappeared. Yet there is a colour call-out, 5-part decal sheet, and aftermarket wheels and a brass fret for it. IPMS members trade arguments in forums about it.
6. Items from overseas that are supplied more cheaply than a postage stamp from your local newsagent. We are told that the smallest coin of our particular realm is 5 cents, but I reckon they could split this.
7. Paint colours that are placed in a category where they have no sensible place. An example: pink with metallic pearl in the warplanes section. Gundam, manga, doll house maybe. But unless you are modelling Elvis’s car, you will never buy this paint.