I've always been fascinated by old adverts in modelmaking magazines. Go back far enough and they reek of fathers who wore suits and smoked pipes accompanied by their children attired in school uniforms complete with caps. On a Saturday.
The modeller would be asked by the shop for their requirements in the same way a posh tailor will ask a customer what they would like in the way of a suit. Railway modelling was a much more serious business then. You made everything yourself but then so did everyone else. With none of the sophisticated materials we have to hand now you did what you could and we rightly proud of it.
Something as tiny as a new type of rail chair would be announced with all the solemnity that a Pope is revealed today. There was none of this colour photography or attracting custom by furious price cutting either. If you wanted something you paid for it. In cash too.
The wartime adverts are the best. Unsurprisingly hardly any materials or parts were available but the manufacturers kept faith and continued to advertise. Across the country they knew that men in sheds and air raid shelters were still beavering away is defiance of the hun, creating miniatures to be proud of.
Compared to today's modeller who rushes to the web to whine about minor discrepancies in a new model, you have to take your hat (or cap if you are at school) off to them don't you ?
1 comment:
I think that's why I prefer using the 'Minority' scales like 09. 0-16,5 or 1:55, because people tend to appreciate what the manufacturers do, rather than whine about it, and people tend to encourage each other and use what is to hand.
Funny how it's not scarcity but plenty that makes people complain.
Post a Comment