The Little World

There are many paths, Grasshopper…

a. It was the plane my father flew in the Battle of Britain. He was on the Finnish side. They shot at EVERYBODY. Little Helsinki on the Avon was a hotbed of aerial warfare.

b. I had the money and the shop owner seduced me…by putting the kit on the shelf. I mean, what was I to do? If I had not built it, someone else would have. I saved someone from a fate worse than debt.

c. It was recommended by SCALE MODELLER and to refuse to buy it would be an act of sacrilege.

d. It was Saturday and I could either build a kit or mow the lawn. Guess what the smart money did…

e. I failed to build it in 1958 and have suffered nightmares ever since. In some of them I am naked and in some everyone else is. The ones with Russ Hinze are terrifying.

f. The contest table at the Big Local Scale Model Exhibition has never seen one of these Heinkels. I’m going to blitz them…

g. I am nostalgic. For things and times I never actually experienced. A plastic kit lets me be maudlin for $ 34.95 and then get on with life.

h. I am an artist. Question me at your peril. I will answer at MY peril…

i. It was cheap. I watched the kit on the shop shelf as it went down in price month by month. Rather than wait until it reached the dumpster out the back, I bought it. Now it is either the Shelf Of Pride or I go looking for the dumpster.

j. It is a gem. Unrecognised and left in the shade. But I love it. Don’t judge me.