Time is distance

 

Ever since I was  kid, I always wondered why folks use time to tell distance. It's about 60 miles to Portland from here but if you were to ask anyone, they would say "It's about an hour and a half away." The store down the road is "only a few minutes from here".  The last job I did in Penna. was about 7 miles from my house. It took about 40 minutes to get there.  When I moved to New Hampshire, my first job was almost exactly the same distance, 7 miles. But it was only about a fifteen minute ride. So even though each were the same distance away from my home, I would say that one was 40 minutes away and the other fifteen minutes away. Of course we all know why. There were no less than a dozen red lights and lines of traffic in Penna. And the N.H. run was a straight run on a 55 mph highway. In fact when I first moved to N.H., there were no lights within a 45 minute ride of home in N.H. (that's about 30 some miles) And trying to funnel all that traffic through all those interchanges in Penna. was like moving a lot of water through a small diameter pipe. It just doesn't get done quickly.

So what does this all have to do with modeling? Absolutely nothing. But it does say something about how we think. Our time is valuable to us. And we would rather see distance in terms of the time it takes to go from one place to another than on the actual measure we have relegated to distance. Our perception of time takes precedence over distance. OK, enough thinking out loud, now to the models.

I've mentioned the Athearn vehicles in kit form before and picked up another of the Ford F850 kits. I used the Athearn frame and placed the Boley roll back wrecker unit on it. That's basically it except for the paint and weathering. The 'advanced design' Chevy pickup (1949-54) is from Busch and I replaced the wheels with plain steel rims from Jordan.

Next piece I did was another quick, down and dirty model with not a lot of fanfare. I chose the Sylvan Scale '37 Chevy panel truck. Aside from putting the plain steel wheels from Jordan on it, fitting an acrylic windshield and of course the finish, there's no change to the model as it comes in the kit from  Sylvan. The last photo of this truck has some 'photoshop' type effects that I thought made it look like a hand painted post card.

This last one has become a favorite. It's the first of Clare Gilbert's (Sylvan) 1936 Chevy trucks that I have done. I scratch built the wrecker unit and the bed for it. The wheels are from Jordan again. I jacked the cab and body up slightly to give the truck a bit more aggressive stance.

 

So a little trip back in time (how far is that?) for this posting. Thanks for taking the time to visit and no matter how far away in time or distance your loved one's are, reach out and give them a call.