Modellers show off First War creations
Scale modellers don’t repeat history — they recreate it in miniature.
This Saturday, the Victoria Scale Modellers club will stage its annual show with a special theme: the First World War. Many of the models will depict the ships, tanks, guns, soldiers and aircraft of the 1914-1918 conflict.
Jack Funk, president of the Victoria Scale Modellers Club, is entering a plastic scale model of a 1916 British artillery gun.
But Funk also builds models of planes, vehicles and artillery pieces from many eras, always in 1/72 scale, which gives him an easy cross-reference.
“I like to hold that history in my hand and see what the objects I build would look like in relation to others from different times,” he said.
The show doesn’t end with military history. Some modellers love spacecraft, from real ones to those from science fiction. For others, it’s sci-fi creatures, monsters and heroes from books, TV and movies.
Cars, trucks and road vehicles of all kinds are always a favourite at the show, and Victoria’s Society for Plastic Automotive Modelling is an annual collaborator. This year’s show will also feature food for sale from a real truck staffed with culinary arts students from Camosun College.
The model show is on Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army Citadel, 4030 Douglas St., just north of McKenzie Avenue next to the Patricia Bay Highway. Entry is by donation. Details for modellers who wish to enter can be found online at vsm.bc.ca.