h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Errrrm...

.... out here,there is a goodly number of men who have resolutely failed to grow up and who still, in their forties and above, make a hobby out of collecting toy soldiers and wargaming with them.

Now sooner or later, especially if you are into one of the more flamboyant periods like the 18th Century or Napoleonics, the age of Beau Brummell, where military uniforms were so elaborate and brightly coloured that even Jean-Paul Gaultier would have wept and handed in his scissors, you will encounter a problem.

What do you make your armies' flags out of, where each scale batallion would have carried three or four? The plastic or metal casting with the figure is invariably way too thick, in scale. (That standard-bearer would be lugging around half a ton of cinema curtains, not a relatively thin silk flag).

So you need a substitute which is scale-thin, hardy, and which will accept paint/colour.

Step forward the humble Rizla, which does all these things to perfection.

And World War Two tank and vehicle kit modellers also find the Rizla perfect to represent a scale-thick canvas tilt on a lorry, or a rolled tarp on the back of a tank, or even a standard issue Army tent.

I've even seen them used to represent the fabric coating on WW1 airctraft frames!