Not 1 Then, 5 NOW!
By Scott Kruize
The yearly Contest-&-Show held by the Seattle Chapter of IPMS was coming up again... so around February I started giving serious thoughts to what I would enter. Thoughts, once more, so wildly different from Back Then...
I began by considering what models in my stash had been started and might realistically be planned for completion in time. The concepts both of 'stash' and of 'models started but not completed' would have been beyond Scott's understanding back Then. "You've models still in boxes for more than a day or so, kits you started but didn't finish by the day after?!" And even: "You have MORE THAN ONE kit of any given airplane type?"
As stated before (expecting readers to understand perfectly) I might have two or even three kits in hand right after a birthday or Christmastime... but ONLY then. The long spans of time between, with my modest allowance, gave me a maximum of 1 model, and that fleetingly. Buy at the Thunderbird Drug Store; open the box; twist parts off the sprue; glue them together; dab a bit of black and silver paint on landing gear details, and a few more bits of color on the pilot figure (if there was one). If absolutely necessary, let the glue harden overnight. Put the decals on. What do you mean 'paint the whole model'? It's molded in accurate color plastic, right? How hard can this be... how could it possibly take more than an afternoon, or at most overnight?
Between those gift dates, purchasing by myself, agonizing over the limited number of choices I can remember available in the toy section, I had at least one rock-solid basis for selecting: what airplane was cool? Never pressed for a definition, I never had to do a detailed analytic comparison and defend a choice I'd finally make. So I Now can't give a definition of what the criteria meant... But back Then, by 7th grade, I'd read of the Battle of Midway and the disaster that overwhelmed our Marine flyers, meeting fast and agile Zeros.
Clearly, the Brewster 'Buffalo' could not have been remotely considered as a build subject. And racking my brains Now, I doubt I ever saw such a kit back Then. Ensuing years have brought me greater understanding of the War in general, and the Buffalo's role in it. All air forces flying it against the Japanese early in the Pacific War suffered horrendous casualties, doing very little damage to the enemy. Oddly, however, through complexities of early American support for Finland, in trying to defend itself against Soviet Russia, and the limited number of fighter planes coming off our assembly lines in the late 30s, a modest number reached the Ilmavoimat. Unique among all the other Brewster pilots, the Finns did very well with it. Their aces, particularly, racked up many victories against the Soviet Air Force, still bleeding from Stalin-esque purges, when forced to fight against Finland with little preparation or training.
Back to Now... Over time, what with swap meets, trades and sales after regular monthly IPMS and NWSM meetings and various irresistible 'steals' at our favorite hobby shop, I'd accumulated five of the really excellent Tamiya kits, 3 of which had been substantially started. OK, I said to myself: five air forces flew the plane and one of the categories at IPMS contests is "Collections": five or more related models. If I actually buckled down to some serious building and painting, I can put five Brewster Buffaloes out on its Category display table. In the event, I put the last few strokes of paint on spinners as my carpool ride to the Contest arrived.
I didn't win anything. Much to my surprise, this year the 'Collections' table was quite crowded. Prize ribbons went to a really well done set of nine Supermarine Spitfire Marks, a set of legendary warriors cast for those tabletop fantasy wargames and an astonishing array of modern small infantry arms: rifles, pistols, submachine guns; anything carried by and fired by a single man. I didn't count but there had to have been 50 or more such weapons, in (I think) 1/35th scale and deftly painted down to the smallest detail.
However, I'm content. The Buffalos were on display; I've never seen any like my set, at any contest, and I know that our attendees -- modelers and the general public -- should at least have been interested in seeing the same (somewhat obscure) airplane in so many different liveries. My motivations, like the resources I have to fulfill them, are equally different Now as they were Then. But as you all know, it all fits in with the Philosophy I inherited with taking over this column, namely:
Build What You Want, the Way You Want To, and Above All, Have Fun!
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