Category: Hobby Shops
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When You See Behind The Scenes…
A casual question in the local hobby shop sent my heart to my boots. The brand of paint to which I had pinned my hopes – the brand that I had determined to change to – the best material with which I have yet worked – had lost their Australian distributor. What I saw on…
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Hobby Money – Part Two – When They See You Coming…
I understand certain things about economics. Such as, everything costs something; time, money, trouble, blood, ec. In the case of items sold by shops the situation of the shop can noticeably influence the prices charged. Knowing this all along doesn’t mean that seeing it in operation is rendered any less distressing when your pocket is…
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Going Into Business Sale
Not as common as the opposite – the ” going out of business ” sale, but infinitely more useful to all concerned. I’ve seen both types and from both sides of a sales counter and I much prefer the former to the later. The Chinese have a commercial tradition that says the first customer in…
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The Nakajima Nate
Or Nakajima Ki-27 if you want to be technical. This one slipped through the studio without being photographed on the sprues – but that happens sometimes when you get distracted and are anxious to start doing something. It was a Sunday afternoon visit to an old hobby shop that started it – the shop is…
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No Stash
Gasp! Shock! Horror! What kind of monster would say that? No stash? No collection of model kits carefully stored for the future? No hours spent gloating over future happiness or profit? What sort of world…? Well, a world of immediacy – of freshness – of learning and instant gratification. A chance to be a kid…
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The Wrong Light
When I used to sell Epson inkjet printers in a camera store I was frequently asked about colour management. It’s a topic that makes or breaks photographers and more often causes tears than smiles. Fortunately at the time when some manufacturers introduced even more complex methods of operation, a few saw the need for a…
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Convair 440 – Part Two – How Much For That Busted Box?
When I was engaged in retail trade in cameras and photographic goods we would occasionally receive a shipment of equipment that had a tough passage. External cardboard cartons might have been roughly handled by the shippers and ended up dented or breached. We rarely had evidence of tampering or pilfering, but it was possible. Trucks…
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Convair 440 – Part One – The Visitation
I went to a new hobby shop – Hobby Mania. It was up a flight of stairs and shared premises with an accountant’s office. No-wonder – the accountant has the shop as a personal hobby venture. He must be doing well enough – he had an employee there to show me the room of stock…
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Serious Money For Lighthearted Spenders
When you enter a hobby shop, do you do it with a happy heart? Do you skip in with a Tra La and a happy whistle? Do you greet the proprietor as an old friend? Or do you slink in round the corner of the door and growl at the staff behind the till? Do…
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Messerschmitt 109 – Part One – Never Let A Chance Go By…
I am indebted to a friend, Paul, for that bit of philosophy. He’s another modeller/collector/builder type and makes regular visits to hobby shops and toy stores wherever he goes. And he has the modeller’s eye that sees viable scale building materials in completely unlikely products. In my case it was a visit to a store…
The Little World 