A MODELMAKER’S LIFE: THE HIDDEN ENTHUSIAST…

Not everyone has that appetite for exposure. Some, in fact I’d argue most, are keen to simply build their models enjoy the process and move on to their next enjoyable escape…

7th June 2025

First things first. Thanks to everyone that has followed me this week, both on here and the other social media platforms that I frequent. It’s be gratifying to see that my work is still striking a chord and though most of it has been about a hidden project and an aircraft that seems to be proceeding at a glacial pace, you have in the main been intrigued enough to follow along. I will I promise, reveal some of this nonsense over the next week or so, in particular the façade that has been filling my waking hours and haunting my dreams, in equal measure. Once that’s delivered next weekend, I’ll drop some images on here for sure.

This afternoon, Liz and I popped out to do a bit of shopping. I needed some materials to complete the box and frame for the façade, so we trekked over to the local retail park to visit The Range and then Hobbycraft for all of the bits and pieces I needed, mount board, foam core, and some picture framing tape, you know, the kind of exciting items that make a Saturday afternoon go round.

Whilst mooching around the isles, I became aware of a fella looking through some of the Tamiya kits. It’s judgmental of me I know, but he looked far too sporty to be a modeller (which as I’m typing this out I appreciate sounds utterly ridiculous…) and yet there he was, eagerly looking at the kits, in particular the cars, one of which he eventually bought.

Moving on to the job in hand (trying to find some thin wooden laminate that didn’t need the sale of a kidney to buy, which was, as you might imagine, a thankless task…) I was reminded of a conversation many years ago about a modeller I had seen in Truro who was buying kits and Tamiya paint and how I’d wondered at the time, what sort of enthusiast he was and how he enjoyed his hobby.

Look, I live and work in a very public space when it comes to building models, as indeed do many of the friends that I have within it. We all no doubt assume that everyone is like us, eager to build our latest masterpiece and then take all of the plaudits that come our way as images are taken, posts made and endorphins spike, as the oohs and ahs rain down from on high. But of course, that’s simply not true. Not everyone is like us. Not everyone has that appetite for exposure. Some, in fact I’d argue most, are keen to simply build their models enjoy the process and move on to their next enjoyable escape from a world seemingly hellbent, on turning itself upside down.

Out there there are thousands upon thousands of people who build models just for themselves, work that’s never seen by anyone else, never shared, never placed in a public space. These are the enthusiasts who keep the industry moving, who buy the kits that allow companies to release the cool stuff we all enjoy. Another Spitfire? Another Mustang? Yet another ‘109? How boring! Yeah, maybe to the 5% of enthusiasts who consider their voices to be important within the industry, not to the 95% who buy them over and over and over, again. They’re the hidden enthusiasts who go to work, come home, spend time with the family and then as a way to unwind, grab an hour here and there to work on a plastic model kit that provides them with peace and solace.

I know nothing about the chap I saw today and chances are I never will. One thing I hope though is that he enjoys his kit and that he keeps coming back to buy more. After all, it’s modellers like him that keep the hobby rolling along, not those who build and write for their living, like me.

See you tomorrow.