The Model Mom By Cecilia Karr

Mom's Taxi takes a different route! Not to the Ball Field. Not to the Mall. Not to the Park. Not to the Arcade...

Where to, then? To the Exciting World of Hobby Shops and Drug Stores...

The model mom knows where to find krazy-glue. She knows a good price on krazy-glue when she sees it. She also puts krazy-glue in the Christmas stocking. And she puts basic Testors paints, brushes, x-acto blades, de-bonder, toothpicks - all those goodies - in the stocking, too. Dremel bits go either in the stocking or in a HUGE box, crammed with decoy fillers... Gone are the days of batteries as stocking stuffers! Yeah! Shopping's so easy when you're a model mom. You get the list, you head to the favorite hobby shop (where, of course, they know you as the chauffeuse) and if the pick is not in stock, a pact of secrecy is formed with the owner who then holds one back for you from the next shipment. IF the pick is still in production, that is... (you learn these things!).

Of course, there are the family outings to collectors' shows, mom armed with a list of what to look for (and the check book, just in case an advance on the allowance proves necessary). This is also a golden opportunity to do some of that Christmas shopping - for the out-of-production stuff. It can get tricky, though, since it's hard to hide a purchase. Worse yet: having just located a hard-to-find model and snatched it up for a good price, it's a real strain to contain the enthusiasm.

And there are the ever-more-important-growing model contests. They lend structure to our lives. They set the pace around here: deadlines, deadlines, deadlines... "well, if I don't get it finished for XXXX-con, I'll just have to take it to YYYY-con, but I really want to have it for XXXX-con". It's a gamble up to the last minute: will a dab of krazy-glue end up on the clear part? Will that heavily modified landing gear irretrievably drop into the debris on the floor? Will that bless-ed decal curl?

Model mom gives up on a neat kid's room. The modeling corner grows. Tracks lead from the work area to the homework desk, the bed and the book storage. They are a modeler's tracks: bits of sprue, stretched and non; wads of masking tape; varicolored plastic dust; chips of balsa wood. Vacuuming this room is an adventure, and a wise model mom refuses to do it! The young modeller himself even cringes when he performs this inevitable activity - what was that clacking noise? Custom shelving along two walls holds a collection of unbuilt models that could turn even some grown-up modellers green with envy. Built-ups - the good ones that turned out (both winners and non) - grace the living and family rooms, vying for space alongside the more experienced dad's creations. You know, they do quite hold their own!!! Model mom is proud...

Did I mention tweezers?