The Little World

Well, you get to see a new thing every day – it is just a matter of keeping your eyes open. The purchase of the Hobby Boss Lockheed P-38 brought me two remarkable experiences.

I visited a hobby shop here in Perth that I rarely call at. It is some distance from my house and requires a fairly hectic drive to get there – you have to time your visits so that rush hour does not catch you on the road. The shop is pretty well stocked, but I’ve not seen many customers in there when visiting – perhaps they are all at work.

Well, I looked at the 1:72nd shelves, rejected several Czech resin models, sniffed at the price of some more, and finally settled for the P-38. I’ve not had a bad Hobby Boss one yet and I figured that this would be another good experience. The box was sealed with heavy tape and all I had to do was navigate back to the counter and hand over the $ 19.95.

Like I said – there are always new experiences – this was the first time I have ever been served by a shop assistant while they were eating a plastic bowl of Spaghetti Bolognese – holding it up with one hand and forking in the pasta with the other. Asking me – around the meatballs – whether I wanted cement and paint. As a retired shop assistant myself I thought it was the most amazing sight I have ever seen. I’ve seen gum chewers and coffee drinkers but no-one has ever gone the full spag bog on me until now. To his credit, he did not spray sauce or cheese.

The second surprise was when I went out to the car and cut open the box to see how things were packaged. I found one of the plastic and metal security tags stuck onto one of the interior bags. As the shop has a large and crude loop gate I can only assume it is one of these passive electronic devices that sets it off. Certainly there was a ding-dong as I walked through the loop but the shop assistant waved me to just keep going. Thank goodness I have the receipt and credit card slip to prove that I do not steal toy fighter planes.

Does the shop have a problem? Are they targets for thieves? Are modellers less honest than photographers in a camera shop or ladies in Spotlight? And how is the problem solved when I can still walk out, set off the alarm, and not have it be cancelled by the transaction?

On the good side – the box has none of the odd mouldy spots that were seen on the P-47 packaging. That must have been just a summer phenomenon.