Scale Modelling

 

I was an admirer of well-designed machines back when I was still a child. I could literally fall in love with a car, an airplane, or a tank just because it looks aesthetic to me. I remember checking every detail of my favorite machine carefully from any media available to me at that time. Later in life, I learned that there was a hobby involving those machines. This hobby lets you build your dream machine, albeit a smaller plastic version of it.

The machine, be it a tank or helicopter, comes in a box as a kit. It is made of plastic parts attached to the main frame through some sprues. You cut individual parts from these sprues and glue them together according to a build map that is included in the box. After completion, the model needs painting to look like the real one.

These plastic models have a scale to show how small your build is compared to the real version. For example, a scale of 1/35 means your build happens to be 35 times smaller in size. The scale of the model can vary so that the size of the model you have differs—the smaller the scale, the larger the model.

The hobby proves mind-opening in many senses. It sharpens your child’s motor skills while instilling a sense of passion and motivation in your kid. They also learn to be patient, as it takes long to finish one build. Lastly, scale modelling can teach a child about the mechanics of machines and encourage them to work in engineering-related fields.

Tanks Are Still Relevant?

 Gone are the days when massive rows of tanks filled the battlefield to launch an armored attack. Recent developments in shoulder-launched anti-tank missile technology has demonstrated that the survivability of tanks diminishes rapidly.

Tanks are thought to be the spearhead of any infantry strike, softening enemy defenses with their firepower. World War Two has witnessed the heydey of tanks, when armored assaults with precise tactics proved decisive. A coordinated tank attack had a good chance of wrecking havoc in the enemy’s ranks.

Today’s battlefield has changed a lot compared to the days of World War Two thanks to advancements in warfare technology. We have stronger radars and UAVs to precisely detect the enemy’s whereabouts. A big column of tanks ready to strike will immediately sound the alarm for the opposition. Attack helicopters boasting a diverse range of anti-armor weapons have the capability to hunt the tanks from afar.

The war in Ukraine has shown that tanks fall victim to Manpads (shoulder-launched missiles) often. These missiles can lock on tanks from miles away. All the operator needs to do is push the trigger and forget. The missile guides itself to the target pretty much automatically. These missiles hit the tanks from above, where the armor's strength is weakest.

These and similar gadgets reduce the survivability of the tank dramatically. However, tactics and strategies on the battlefield are known to adapt to changing threats and conditions. A winning tactic can always be met with a counter-tactic that could potentially nullify the other. There is still room for the tank in today’s warfare theory. It only takes time for tactics to evolve and triump over each other.