GSI Creos MR. Hobby Aqueous

I’ve ordered some of the GSI Creos Mr. Hobby Aqueous paint to  review. This looks like it might be a good source for this paint (but I’m not certain)

Galactic Toys LLC

A few weeks ago I was despairing over the loss of Testors and Badger paints, the last two U.S. brush paints (that I know of). Now I’m feeling better. I’m seeing that we’ll all have to shop via the internet, and buy paint from Poland (Hataka Blue), Denmark (Army Painter) and maybe Japan (Mr. Hobby Aqueous) but THERE WILL BE PAINT.

I’m also doing more experimenting with Vallejo Model Air. It’s not what I’d call “great” but it is usable. It takes some “faffing about” to make it work, that’s all.

And that’s what this blog entry is about.

The Brits have a word for everything. “Faffing” sounds vaguely obscene but I’m betting that it’s not because it shows up on the suitable-for-disney Airfix Tribute Forum.

Faffing is a word that covers a lot of ground. So does the word “fiddly.” Both of them summon up visions of working on some impossible detail for days or weeks, only to find the it was 1) a fail, 2) can’t be seen in the finished product, or 3) silly because there’s a tool that does that job in ten seconds.

All of this is beside the point. I faff and I fiddle. THOSE are my hobby. Faffing and fiddling are what I do. Just following the leader, holding on to the tow line and being deposited at a posh hotel where nice girls in fancy peasant clothes feed me pastry is how I like to take vacations.

Not how I like to do my hobby. A hobby is all about the faff and the fiddle. That is what it is. Even if there’s a machine, or it’s a fail, or it’s invisible– if I choose to do it, then it’s fun and I find something buried deep inside that thing that is the whole point of the enterprise. You can call it “being in the zone” or “mindfulness” or “nirvana.” It’s what my hobby is all about.

2 Replies to “GSI Creos MR. Hobby Aqueous”

  1. You’re correct that faffing isn’t even vaguely obscene (if you want a near synonym that is, then use “fannying around” – though that’s off-colour in a way that US English doesn’t expect) but your example is a little off. Faffing around would be spending 2h on the internet looking for image references for the impossible detail, getting side-tracked into reading blogs, doing the washing up, ordering the correct paint colour etc etc and never actually getting around to laying brush to plastic…

  2. Thanks for the clarification! My feelings regarding “faffing about” are still positive. I see it was a part of the process. An important part. There is no American equivalent of “faff.” There is a word for the opposite: “hustle.” My goal is to walk a fine line between too much “faff” and too much “hustle.” Perhaps, in a perfect world, we will find this “middle path.” Americans tend to fall into the “hustle” and forget the “faff.” This leads to a mechanical, perfectionistic, soulless kind of activity that’s more work than play. It’s efficient but it’s also the primary recreational activity in Hell.

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