Category: Miniature Philosophy
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Lemme See That Invoice
Suppose you were a person who imports scale model kits from Ruritania to sell in Australia. Suppose you have been selling them for years at Price A. Then suppose that a great national tragedy strikes Ruritania – war with neighbouring Latveria. Factories are deserted and stocks of Ruritanian scale model kits are threatened. Fortunately you…
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Your Fuss
Not mine. The recent introduction and passing of laws within Australia prohibiting display and sale of Nazi memorabilia and symbols may be a good thing – but not in the eyes of some scale modellers. They are already decrying it as a restriction upon their freedoms. I shall let them confront people who want to…
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The Royal Noranda Pensioners
A fine body of men… The British Army has an institution for broken-down old soldiers in the London suburb of Chelsea – the Royal Hospital. It provides accommodation, clothing, food, and care for those who have served for many years and have no better place to go. The Légion étrangère does the same at Aubagne…
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Middle-Class Modelling
Worrying about not being seen as better – or being seen as worse – than you really are? Perhaps it would be more accurate to refer to it as having a case of muddle-class modelling. However one defines it, by the time someone finds themself thinking they are in the middle of it, it is…
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Shoot Low, Boys.
They’re riding shetlands. The magazines that are published monthly, and bought yearly, all seem to praise extraordinary efforts put into scale kit building. It often involves extraordinary expense as well as inordinate time. The model engineer hobby is the prime example of this; years spent making a workshop – to spend more years making specialized…
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Model, Toy, Or Artefact?
When you pick up something from the Little World, you are often faced with the problem of classifying it. That is, if you regard it as a problem. I don’t, but I am unscientific. This is a result of my circulation; my blood goes down one leg and up the other… This may be a…
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Lima Beans And Spinach
Some people like lima beans. Some like spinach. Some cannot stand either vegetable*. If they are in a restaurant it’s easy – they don’t order either. If they are eating at the family table or someone else’s house the problem becomes more difficult. They may have a heaping helping steaming there on the plate and…
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Styrene Broker – Part Two
The scale market’s answer to Madoff and Ponzi. In case you are wondering what the answer should be, ” No ” is safest. Anyone who has seen a pyramid or junk bond scheme in operation will recognise the game as it develops. We’re after a better class of broker here. I have disposed of many…
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Styrene Broker – Part One
Like a stock broker, but smelling of cement, not gin. A recent conversation with another modeller about yet a third hobbyist who is late, led to the question of what will be done with his accumulated scale model production. A great deal of it resides at his former hobby club, and is magnificent, but somewhat…
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Be Prepared To Be Wrong
Those of you who are married will find it a familiar feeling… But making mistakes in scale modelling is slightly different from the errors experienced during marital bliss. For one, they are quieter… And less permanent. You can paint something wrong, or badly, and realise it…and never do it again…without having to hear about it…
The Little World 