My visit to Hobby Craft to get pens.....

[chris watton]

I went into Hobby Craft last week, for the first time in about three years, just to buy some new Edding pens for work.
However, a huge display of plastic kits, resplendent in cool box art took me back 30 years, and I was 10 again! I spent over an hour looking at all the kits, despite my wife’s protests (she had left me in the shop while she went into the clothes shops..)

I feel very childish, but I told her, nay, begged her, that I wasn’t leaving this shop until I bought a model kit – I even ‘played up’ like a 10 year old! In the end, I got my way (unlike when I was younger – when my dad persuaded my uncle to buy me a pair of slippers instead of a new Tamiya Tiger tank I wanted….I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next….!)
I didn’t really want anything, but I chose a 1:32 Scale Junkers Ju-88A-1 'Battle of Britain' Plastic Model Kit (Revell), purely because it was in a big box and I had never built a bomber at such a large scale!
When we went to pay, I spotted an even bigger box on the floor next to me. It was none other but the new Airfix 24th scale Mosquito kit! Huge box! I then started to protest that I wanted that one, but alas, that was the only one they had, and it had just been returned by a customer due to missing parts.
I was so disappointed – suddenly, the Revell kit I bought didn’t seem so special, but I have to admit, it was such fun being 10 again! (And I’m not even sure if I’ll ever make the kit…)

And I will buy that Mosquito kit!

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 8th July 09:51

[chris watton]

rhinochopig said:

That's horrible - tantamount to child abuse. What a totally arsey thing to do - slippers instead of a tiger tank. That brought a tear to my eye.

I know, even now he still thinks it funny! Worst of it was, I saved up for half of the cost with my 20p a week pocket money (My uncle said that I can prove I can save for something I want, he'll put the rest) - took me ages!

And Eric, I remeber building the Airfix Westland Gazelle like it was yesterday!

[chris watton]

rhinochopig said:

chris watton said:

rhinochopig said:

That's horrible - tantamount to child abuse. What a totally arsey thing to do - slippers instead of a tiger tank. That brought a tear to my eye.

I know, even now he still thinks it funny! Worst of it was, I saved up for half of the cost with my 20p a week pocket money (My uncle said that I can prove I can save for something I want, he'll put the rest) - took me ages!

And Eric, I remeber building the Airfix Westland Gazelle like it was yesterday!

Did you ever get your own back?

I guess life’s too short to hold grudges, especially when you realise that some people, because of their very shallow (and bigoted) outlook on life, just don’t know any better. (Even much later, when I had my first TVR, all he could say is ‘Those are crap, always break. My Daewoo I bought from auction is much more reliable..” – just one of those sad people who find it impossible to say anything positive, only berate, and moan about their own lot in life – without, of course, having the backbone to do anything about it – lots of that type about, I suppose…)
I learned that, if I treated life in the exact opposite way my dad treated it, i.e. not to be racist, vindictive, bitter, moaning about work and just getting on with it, etc, I’d be OK – and it seems to have worked. Now, I absolutely love spoiling my son and step kids, when they deserve it. On that score, that maybe something to thank him for.

Anyway, models… I still love them! Even though I design and build them every day, I still get a ‘buzz’ when opening a plastic kit box up for the first time. With plastic, you can see how the model’s going to look almost immediately, which is part of fun (unlike the ones I design, where it will take weeks to get some semblance of what the finished product will look like..). And, as others have pointed out, it’s also the thrill of being able to afford whatever you want (within reason..), compared to the stark choices we had when we were kids, reading the latest kit reviews in the Warlord comic, and saving for weeks to get them!

ETA - Just realised there aren't any swastika decals in kits anymore!

Edited by chris watton on Thursday 8th July 11:24