Category: finances
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The Half-Built Bargain
However you acquire a half-built – stash sale, donation, or legacy – you buy more than a box. You buy a dilemma. A fresh kit, with a sealed box or bagged sprue trees, is a clean field to play on. It may be old, with tatty decals and useless instructions, but at least when you…
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Selling The Unsaleable
The heart of a hobby shop owner must be made of leather and whipcord. Or marzipan. Either way, it needs to be tough and resilient. The ultimate test of this comes at the end of the day when the last customer leaves and the till is totalled up. If the last customer is the only…
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Pursuing The Wild Hare
Fine, if it involves chasing one over a meadow. Not so good if it becomes anatomical. Sometimes people come to you with schemes. The ones that involve remaking the world in a medieval mould can be interesting, but you have to ask who is going to be the lord and who the serf. It makes…
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How Does A Hobby Fall Upon Its Prey?
Having been savaged by at least eight major hobbies in my life, with the wreck of finance and intellect as evidence, I am finally drawn to wondering why… Why these things, why me, why anyone. Why do ’em, and why pay for ’em. Every child plays with toys, if they are lucky. Every child runs…
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Fun For The Whole Family
A scale modeller who runs out of kits need never be dismayed – as long as they have their family. a. The family are a soft touch. All you need to do is mope about the house complaining that you don’t have anything to do. After a day of this they will empty their purses…
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When You Are The Only Person In A Shop
You start to wonder about the viability of the place. This may certainly be the case when you go at an odd time of the day – say they open 24/7 and it is 3:00 AM. But if it’s noon on Tuesday, you have to wonder at empty aisles. Prices can do it. Inflation and…
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Well, The Maths Works Out
Dang it… As a kid in 1965 I could buy a 1:25th scale AMT car kit of a standard North American convertible for $2.50 from any drug store or hobby shop. A 3-In-1 kit with some custom parts and a fancy decal sheet. Today I saw a retro AMT kit looking precisely the same for…
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Heinkel He-111c – Part Three – Touch-Fit
And only where it touches, I might add. The Roden curse is starting to take effect. The ambitions of the moulders will need to be matched with equal bravery by the builder. The fit of many of the parts is approximate. This is surprising considering the more delicate parts like the landing gear struts seem…
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Art For Sale
And it’ll be the kind you understand. There were a number of trade tables at the WA Miniatures Association weekend show. They were selling furniture, clothing, foods, art supplies, and building materials…all in very small sizes. I counted paper craft and modelling, doll clothing, accessories, furniture, food platters, and any number of other temptations. I…
The Little World 