Category: Collecting
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The Search For A Good Time
Well, isn’t that what we all want? The question is how we define it and where we look. Other people search for sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Scale plastic modellers search for styrene parts that fit and paint that doesn’t dry in the bottle. Also the bits that drop on the floor. We are…
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Toying With A Model
And not the artist’s model in the garret, either. We’ve all seen the ” Carry On ” movies. We know what goes on… I mean the scale model – or the scale toy. I realise this will rile readers – this coupling of two genres – but riled readers are the stock in trade of…
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It Is Hard To Sell A Poisoned Chalice
Especially if you have been killing off people’s enthusiasm with it for years. This sentiment applies to a lot of things; hobby publications, exhibition organisation, and box-scale kits come to mind. The magazines we loved to buy are slowly giving way to YouTube presentations that take up hours of our time for minutes of information.…
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How Many?
And how would one ever find out? I have been amazed at the number of firms that make plastic scale model kits. I knew of perhaps eight when I was a kid – and some of them have long disappeared – but they have been replaced in the shops with what may be hundreds more.…
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You Only Really Aim High Or Low In Scale Modelling
The centre of the target is not interesting – a direct contrast to rifle shooting. When you buy a model, or are fortunate to receive one as a gift, you are either going to chop out a lot of money or very little at all. Oddly, most modellers don’t notice either sum. The large expensive…
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Your Stash Is Not You
You are not your stash – any more than you are your collection of CDs or your underwear and socks. You may indeed possess many kits, and CDs, and socks and jocks, but they do not represent your skills, thoughts, or achievements. At best they are potential things. And just as you cannot wear all…
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The Half-Built Bargain
However you acquire a half-built – stash sale, donation, or legacy – you buy more than a box. You buy a dilemma. A fresh kit, with a sealed box or bagged sprue trees, is a clean field to play on. It may be old, with tatty decals and useless instructions, but at least when you…
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The Courage To Play
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…
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And Yet…Here We Are…
As a kid and teenager I took a serious interest in scale models – and was increasingly scorned for it as years went by. The climate of the country changed – people expected more serious behaviour – there was nothing cool about pursuing something that a child could do. I was expected to grow up,…
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How Does A Hobby Fall Upon Its Prey?
Having been savaged by at least eight major hobbies in my life, with the wreck of finance and intellect as evidence, I am finally drawn to wondering why… Why these things, why me, why anyone. Why do ’em, and why pay for ’em. Every child plays with toys, if they are lucky. Every child runs…
The Little World 