There’s a satisfaction when you lean back and look at the finished product. The smell of solvents still in the air, the delicate lines etched onto the wings, the matching camouflage colours, the precision , the detail, all courtesy of your hands and eye. Very satisfying, and sure it might not be quite as good as those super detailed pictures on the internet made by other plastic modelers who are anal to the Nth degree, but this level of completion is very tasty, a nice little chestnut roasting fire inside your heart, a warm beach in the tropics where you lie on a blanket and let your mind go blank sort of vibe.

Your eye runs over each rivet, and the memory of holding the grinding tool spins through you, the smell of melting ground plastic, and the mixing of the paints; half turpentine, half paint, the smell pervading the room. Finger pressing into the fingerprint sized release trigger the cold metal warming underneath, the fine spray of particles drawing a picture on the bland plastic, making it come to life. The decals need to be soaked in a bowl of luke warm water and they’re applied to the gloss finish that smells like varnish – now dry, later a spray of ‘dull coat’ matts down the whole surface and blends the decals imperceptibly with the paint work- magic of the craft. Then the model is finished, this 48th scale picture of precision, this beautiful result of your handiwork is ready for display to any who may be interested to view it. Time to start on the next project- the opposition- this time a Mustang fighter- could be tricky painting it in silver chromalloy- the taste of anticipation fills my mouth as I free the spigotted pieces from a flimsy plastic wrapper.