Something very weird happened to me last Monday at the LHS I frequent.

We have a little model club the meets at the LHS and some members brought in some models that the owner let us put on display as kind of an advertisment for the club.

So last Monday I bring in 3 jets and my 1/350 New Jersey for the case. While I was there I thought I would pick up some supplies. Because lets face it I for one can't go in there for just one pourpose.

The owner looks at me and says. " So when you going to pick up that 1/350 North Carolina" in a joking way. " Because being in the state it would look great in the display case"

Now seeing the price he wants/ has to sell the kit for I look back at him in the same joking way and say. " You give me the kit I'll bring it back built and you can have it to display in the store"

After about an hour of talking with him about everything under the sun except the kit. ( because as I said earlier I thought he was joking) as was I. I put my stuff on the counter and get ready to pay.

He looks at me and says where's the kit? I look back at him and point to it on the shelf. Without a word he walks over grabs the kit lays it on the counter and says. Seriously this time. "Bring it back built when it is done". Then adds "any supplies you need for it let me know and I'll get it for you".

So needles to say I know have a 1/350 North Carolina and an open check to get the supplies I need to build it.

So when SWBO gets home she sees the kits and gives me that look that we all get when I huge kit hits the door. She asks the obvious question about what the damage was to the wallet and I tell her what happened. She gets this other look on her face. I look at her and say " I know what you are thinking but you can't make this stuff up".

After 30 minutes we go out and about the town and drive by the hobby shop. She looks at me and says " I want to see what models you brought to the shop. Knowing there is an alterior motive afoot. We go in and she walks over to the case and looks and then as casulally as she can brings up the kit in question.

The owner tells her he did it because I was willing to do something for the shop and since I have left he has had 4 people ask about ordering them a 1/350 ship kits. After seeing the display case.

He then verifies the story by looking at me and says are you back to get some supplies for the boat and do I have to order it. I look at him and say. "Do you want it right out of the box or with the PE set". "Which is quicker he says". I said "out of the box". "So be it. If you need any paint just let me know and I'll order it for you".

As we leave I get this look from my better half and as we make our way to the truck I look back at her with a grin and say." See I told you you can't make something like this up".

So you finally got one up on the better half, huh Paul??...been tryin for years myself, Bro, to no avail...great story, thanks for sharing it with us!
Gunny

I'm not sure it's wise, or even safe, to "get one up on my better half." Whenever I do I normally get punched, or she finds some other way to make me wish I never had. :-)

Great story Paul. It's things like that that keep LHS in business. If only more would work that way there'd be less of them going out of business.

:-) :-) Are you the one we send our wish list to? :-) :-)

Hopefully you'll post some photos of it, before she sails to the hobby shop.

My better half won't let me buy another model until I've buit whats in the closet. But, being a sign painter, I can trade my services to my LHS for kits. So far I've got a 1/350 KGV and a 1/450 Akagi. She left the loop hole there for now.

subhunter

Hi Paul!

Good for you and your LHS has a owner with vision - He will probably keep in business for a long time acting like that

SWMBO had a hard time - maybe she will start to trust you

Please take some pics of your progress, and you know that anything you'll need (appart from models and supplies) we are around to help!

Skipper

Great Story!

Why is it we have to justify every model, but that they'll never justify new cloths or the eighty pairs of shoes in the closet?

What a wonderful event. The problem for me would be having to give up the ship in the end, so it wouldn't work. I "finished" my Nimitz 3 months ago, it is in the back room, yet at least 4 - 5 times a week I go in there for something and everytime I stop and gawk at her. She is just so beautiful. I have my Missouri and Essex perched on top of my entertainment center wall unit so I can look at them everyday. My King Tiger is near my backyard door, I just can't really pass by most of my kits without looking. Giving one up would be like losing a child.

I never really was trying to get one over on her. She knows when I go in there I am going to come out with something more than I actually really went in there for.(isn't that the norm)?

She just likes to see me squirm on why I bought it. I never really had to "justify" it per say. It is her way of poking fun at me. She is really great about it, but going from a little $2-3 bottle of Super Glue to a $120 dollar 1/350 battleship kit is quite a jump and like I said in the beginning of the post. You can't make something like this up. Have no fear though she will be waiting in the weeds to get one over on me soon enough.

Roger you are right. He will be in buisness for a long time. He is the only one here in town and I have been going in there for years. Usually and he knows that if I can get it from him at the same price it would take me to order it from the net with shipping. I usually order it from him just to give him the buisness. Plus if he does order anything he doesn't charge shipping to anyone.

Steve I know what you mean, but as much as I am in there I will be seeing it alot. Plus the fact the others that frequent the shop will see it too. He is getting more orders for kits everyday since we put our little display up.

In the original deal he tried to make was to sell me the other kit he had for $50, so I would have one at the house but since he told me that he would give and order me all the supplies I would need to build her free of charge. I thought that may be way too much and didn't want to feel I was taking advantage of his gesture.

I mean I tried to buy masking tape yesterday ( I was working on my F-15 at the meeting) and he wouldn't take the money because he said that I would need it for the ship at some point.

Skipper I will try to post pics as I go, but being "Digi Cam challenged" as in I don't have one all the time I will do what I can. The only thing I am struggling with is he wants it OOB, but I am thinking about rigging her and as par for the course that is the only thing the directions does not cover. So that should be an adventure in itself.

She is docked only an hour up the road from where I live so I may have to find the time to go see her but the offer is appreciated and will probably be taken alot as this thing progresses.

Paul:

Where in NC are you ?? (Never mind, just looked in Big-A NC thread & found you).

I'm in Nags Head & also working on the NC right now. I'm a bit stalled due to other things but hoping to make post on progress into Dreadnought Campaign soon. I've got both WEM & GMM PE & L'Arsenal 20mm & 40mm. Unfortunately none for free; fortunately, wifey didn't see it all come in the door ...

As you're in J-ville area, then I'm also recruiting for our local club in New Bern -- see http://www.ecpmod.com for info. Love to see some of you folks up here for a meeting.

John

John:

Hope Ophelia didn't hit you to hard out there where you are.

When I say club all we really are is three to four guys that meet in a small room in the back of the Hobby Chest every other week.

We bring a kit and some tools in with us. Sit at the tables and have a little build session and talk about everything under the sun. A very informal thing.

I noticed on the link you provided. That you were going to try to hang some flyers up at the Hobby Chest.

Our next build session/ meeting is Saturday Oct 1st. We usually meet every other Saturday. If you happen to be there on that day stop by and say Hi. We will be the 3 to 4 ragtag looking guys in the small room in the back sniffing fumes..

I was looking over the North Carolina kit and she looks like a beauty. One thing that did jump out at me was there were no blast bags for the 16 inch guns or am I missing something there. I am not a huge detail person but something like that just caught me eye.

Was also thinking on entering the Dreadnaught Campaign as well, but don't know if I could get that thing done by April. I am a very slow builder but the challenge of the deadline may give me the kick I might nedd to speed it up a bit.

Paul:

Ophelia was non-event -- we are about 60 miles N of Hatteras & when it turned east, it took us off the hook.

Our VP, Chris Ketcherside, dropped a flyer or two off last last week. What I'm trying to do is entice you folks to come visit us on one of your weekends. We're recruiting.

NC: No blast bags, props are wrong (s/be 4x4 not 2x4 & 2x5), missing a few ladders, 20mm aren't great.

Biggest issue so far is that upper & lower hull don't match well & I had to work at that bu cutting the cross-members. That of course made it harder to fit the deck sections. Further complicating things is that the 3 deck sections don't fit together well, especially the front center and that means a lot of delicate work to fill the gaps without screwing up the plank detail.

Once through all that, it should get better, I hope.

I do Campaigns with best of intentions, but I think I've only completed 1 of about 8 on time. I get overly wrapped up, or off track, or something. A lot has got in the way of my NC build, so I'm behind, particularly with the amount of pE to work in. But the interaction with others is fun.

John

Ever heard :"This is something completely different ...!" ?

I can only talk about German ladies, but the above sentence is a standard female excuse for being as "guilty" for something as a man and not getting into further trouble. This is also the alarm signal for the man to stop any further investigation; if not, you get the hell of a discussion.

Nice story, Paul !


Some 15 years ago, when I started aircraft-modeling, a friend of mine worked in the LHS; needless to say that I always got 50% sales ...: "Hi buddy, what's the price of that beautiful brand-new Dragon 1/72 Heinkel 219 ?" "The brand-new kit costs about 50DM, but I can let you this "incomplete" kit in its deformed box (he took out the sprues and jumped on the box !!!) for 15DM. OK ?"
I was speechless.
I love my LHS.

Frank