The Little World

Which is not the sort of thing you hear at many modelling contests.

Wherever there is a judge, there will be a judgement. I suspect that in some cases the modeller is also treated like a suspect, and eventually there will be a sentencing. Watch me in the future and see if they make me wear orange overalls…

Play. Your kids do it, learning how to grow up to be you. If you are a smart grown-up you can do it to learn how to be them. And with a bit of luck you’ll have more money available for the toys.

Your model making can be serious craft, dedicated art, canny business, or just messing about. If you set your mind on any of these categories you might be frustrated when it slips over into a neighbouring one. If you look upon a good deal of it as play, it will not be harmful. Play unites the little world.

Can a doll house builder play doll houses? Yes, they can, and it can be a real experience. If they have the right attitude and some grandchildren, it can be the happiest days of their life.

How about the model railway builder. Yes, a thousand times over, provided they have built their railway with enough simplicity to really move. Here the toy train collectors with their big tracks and toy-like structures can overlay real schedules and train operation that leave the fine-scale finger pokers in the gloom. The bigger the train, the more the play.

Scale model flyers are playing every time they start something up and release it into the sky. Gravity is their opponent – never their friend – and the other people they’ll meet like council inspectors and model club officials are not a lot nicer, either. Some flights are fun, and some are nothing but anxiety. Is it any wonder that they turn to electric flyers that stand on their tails and dance.

The purest form of scale fun I’ve seen in practical terms has been on the concrete or wooden floor of an exhibition centre when the scale R/C truckers have a meet. They lay out their own little world for the day and drive round it – often with more skill that their full-scale counterparts do on the main roads. I think they pay for it, mind. The prices I’ve seen for some of the rigs would keep me awake better than black coffee.