Modeling is Supposed to be FUN!
By Michael Benolkin
News Flash (Washington DC) - The Surgeon General has determined that the modeling hobby can be beneficial to your health and help you relax from the stresses of the world around you - as long as you don't incorporate some of those same stresses into your hobby!
Not news? It shouldn't be, but there are too many folks that have lost sight of one fundamental truth about modeling - it's supposed to be fun! Let's take a look at those folks that I'll call 'reality modelers.' I count myself amongst them to a point. These are modelers that enjoy recreating pieces of history with varying degrees of detail and finesse. The snapshots in time that they create help all of us to consider and appreciate some aspect of history being depicted. Unfortunately some of these same modelers take their zeal for accuracy to the point of near-fanaticism and loudly object to Luft '46 kit releases and/or fantasy/science fiction subjects. You know, things that might have been or might be in the future. There are even rumblings at local and regional IPMS contests suggesting that all such 'nonsense' be banned from entry (keeping the depiction of history pure). Sound familiar?
Let's take a look at the gatekeepers of some of our history. The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC is one of the world's largest repositories of aviation history. Dana Bell and his colleagues do a great job at capturing, cataloging, storing and displaying significant snapshots of our aviation heritage from the voluminous mounds of data, photographs, relics and (of course) aircraft in their custody. This operation is about as serious about historical accuracy as you're going to find, yet what is that thing hanging in the entrance of one of the galleries? Isn't that the Starship Enterprise of Star Trek fame? How can this be?
The Enterprise is very much a part of our history, not only for the entertainment value it had for TV and cinema fans, but also in how it reshaped our current-day technologies. In the mid-1960s, we didn't have personal communication devices but now we have very small two-way radios and cell phones. Back then we didn't have bridges/command centers that wrap around the commander - now we do. Back then we didn't have energy weapons that could disable or destroy a threat - okay, we're still working that one, but we have disabled satellites in orbit with prototype lasers and we are about to field the YAL-1, the Airborne Laser, to kill missiles in flight. The list goes on, but you get the idea. Oh yes, many museum visitors as well as modelers are also Trekkies. Why? Because it is fun!
Is the NASM a bad example? Let's look at another staunch keeper of the history, the US Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH. Now here is certainly a focused display of aviation history as it was affected by the men and women of the US Army Air Corps, US Army Air Force and finally as today's USAF.
A few weeks ago, I took my younger son out to visit the AF Museum and show him some of the things his father did in the Air Force (back when dinosaurs still roamed the planet). As we entered into the hall of modern flight, I was pleasantly surprised by the new exhibit parked next to the B-52D.
Yep, that's right. A genuine Star Wars Episode I pod racer with none other than young Anakin Skywalker posed alongside. This appears to be one of the set props made available for this exhibit and what a great exhibit it is! What is the historical significance? Well, if getting dragged around a hostile racecourse behind a pair of bionic J79 engines that are only cabled to what's left of your convertible Mini Cooper is your thing, then you're in luck. If not, the fact that the cinematic experience of that race was nothing less than a major adrenalin rush, and it was FUN! (Thank you Lucasfilms and USAF Museum for making this exhibit possible!)
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If these two staunch keepers of the historical 'faith' have room for the 'what might have been' and 'what might be' in their significantly limited display space (and budget), then perhaps its time to relax the reality-modeling expectation as well.
This hobby is about learning history - one snapshot at a time. This hobby is about broadening your horizons - modeling a different point of view can help you see more of the history and what could have been. Most importantly, this hobby is about recreation and fun.
Relax - go build a model!
