Category: Miniature Philosophy
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Hobbyist Approved…
Oh dear God. I have just seen an advertisement for a portable airgun that is ” Hobbyist Approved “. The world is spinning before my eyes. Bells are ringing and strange phantoms drift in an out of my vision. Whether they are approved by hobbyists is unknown. Children, we are scale model hobbyists and we…
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I Can Quit Any Time I Want
But building model airplanes is a cultural activity. And good for the economy. And, and, and… Don’t go in there; that’s the stash room. If you open the door the sealed atmosphere will be contaminated. Where was I all day? In my workshop or at the club, of course. Clubs, actually. Uh, workshops, as well,…
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Morning Sickness In The Model Workshop
You’ll know you have it when the smell of fresh thinner makes you ill. It will probably not be pregnancy, particularly if you are a member of the local Men’s Shed. Few of the chaps over 60 in my club fall pregnant in the course of a year. It may be one of a number…
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No Is As Good An Answer As Yes
As long as you are asking the question of yourself. One of my hobby clubs has opened a new sales cabinet at our rooms in which shops and individuals can put kits they wish to sell. The shops are wise if they put otherwise unsalable stock in at a hefty discount – the private sellers…
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Whenever You Feel Guilty
Whenever you feel guilty about spending money on your scale models at the hobby shop, reflect on the other places you could go to: a. The liquor store. There are bottles of wine that cost more than your entire wardrobe, including the Mickey Mouse bathrobe. Once bought, most of these bottles can never be drunk;…
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Looking For A Good Time, Big Boy?
I’ve seen these advertisements in the back of the newspaper. But they are rarely from hobby shops… I don’t think we need to make our hobby – scale model building – sleazy and profitable to attract the masses. I am not sure how you’d add porn appeal to an M4 Sherman tank in 1:35 scale,…
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Discover the Joy Of…
A recent advertisement on FACEBOOK* told us to discover the joys of building a ship model. Fair enough. There are people in our club who do just that – build wooden and plastic vessels – and it has been a joy to see them at work. Watching them search the grey concrete floor for a…
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Do Miniaturists Live Minimal Lives?
You might get that impression from the television and movie portrayals of model makers. We seem to be the losers skulking in the basements of the world. Many of us are psychopaths. Well, that may be you, but it isn’t me. My childhood interest was converted to professional purposes and served me well for forty…
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The Stoics Guide To The Little World
For stoics, if problems exist outside, they have ways of dealing with them, inside. The stoic dips very rarely into the pool of external anxiety, and then only briefly. Their first step is to determine whether some event truly affects them or is the affair of another and can be safely ignored. In our hobby,…
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When Physics Doesn’t Help
There is a rule in motion picture production when using scale models in action scenes; fire and water won’t work. Not that it isn’t done…but it is very rarely done well. The physics of fluids mean that scale ships never sail as well as real ones. A miniature explosion always gives itself away. Note that…
The Little World 