The Little World

Do you remember playing?

If you can recall your childhood and still picture the games and toys that amused you…you are a very lucky person. Even if they were modest things, they helped you to understand the world and prepare to be an active part of it.

You grew older – hopefully wiser. You l learned at school and at work. You grew more serious…perhaps slower and stronger. You learned about money and the need to earn and use it. And, as the religious text puts it, you put away things of childhood.

Let’s hope you did not put them away in a place that you couldn’t access – because later you might jolly well enjoy them again. Scale modellers, collectors, dollhouse makers, model train enthusiasts, and model airplane fliers know this very well. And they are more than willing to tell people about their joys.

I delighted in all sorts of toys as a child – most of all scale models and little world building sets. Now that I am retired, I am fortunate enough to be able to afford some of these again. And I can play with them in my studio.

I need to strike a balance between accuracy and charm, and I favour the latter in many ways. While I do not pursue the whimsy of the doll house or the fairy worlds, I do recall the pleasures of the toy train layout and the play sets. My specialty is model airports, and I have built at least three major layouts as well as a half dozen dioramas. If I had access to the larger hobby supply outlets that the UK and US enthusiasts do, I would do more scratch building as well.

Will these toy airfields ever win a prize? Not from a contest judge, but the pleasure I get from playing is reward enough.