Everything I know about life I learned from model aeroplanes
The Tao of Airfix
Although model aeroplanes don’t teach us much about biology, we get occasional insights and tenuous connections. The Renwal Visible Man is obviously not a model aeroplane, but it’s plastic, and it’s a model kit. It was intended to be educational – about human (internal) anatomy. But it actually teaches us more about unrealistic visions, frustration and disappointment. Which may be more useful.
Continue reading “The Renwal Visible Man”
As a small boy, I had several copies of the Observer’s Book of Aircraft. But what I really, really wanted was Janes All the World’s Aircraft, aka JAWA. (Not to be confused with the Czech motorcycles of the same name). Can’t recall how I learned about this magical book detailing every current aircraft in the world, but my vague sense of wonder still persists.
Along with memories of going into the charming old fashioned bookshop in Enfield Town. And a numbing sense of shock when a nice man told us the astronomical cost. The original price in 1965 was £8 8s 0d – more than £160 in today’s money. That was a lot of pocket money and was just never going to happen. All very disappointing.
Continue reading “Janes All The World’s Aircraft – a childhood ambition finally achieved”“And you may ask yourself – how did I get here?” Words about a mid-life crisis, apparently, which may also explain how I ended up with so many 1/48 Ju188 kits in 2004. But that’s another story. This is about how I first got into model aeroplanes, some stuff inbetween, and how I got out.
Continue reading “How did I get here? The journey to becoming an ex-modeller”