Rising price of our hobby

[Agent G]

Do they know where "Blue Jaw" Magoon is buried? Seems that the boys misplaced him somewhere in the desert. You know how that goes.

Now a days, when you are "86'd" from a casino you are allowed walk off and come back the next day. 

Back then, it meant you were taken 80 miles out of town and placed 6 feet under. 

Huge housing growth has unearthed, ...........ahem, ...........a variety of concerns for the local gendarmes. Seems they had to hire back some retirees to deal with the rising cold case rate.

Lets not get started on what has been revealed with Lake Mead's level falling at a rate unseen before. Sleeping with the fishes isn't confined to back east.

G

 

[SfanGoch]

Now a days, when you are "86'd" from a casino you are allowed walk off and come back the next day. 

Back then, it meant you were taken 80 miles out of town and placed 6 feet under. 

Huge housing growth has unearthed, ...........ahem, ...........a variety of concerns for the local gendarmes. Seems they had to hire back some retirees to deal with the rising cold case rate.

Lets not get started on what has been revealed with Lake Mead's level falling at a rate unseen before. Sleeping with the fishes isn't confined to back east.

G

 

Ask Buggsy, the granddaddy of what Vegas was to become,  about what happens when you skim off the top.  

[Agent G]

Yeah, old Mr Siegel lost his mind............................

G

 

[GT4494]

That's why we have alligators.  Hard to find any evidence. 

[Greg Myers]

Swine seem popular these days as depicted in the old west as in "Hell on Wheels" and " Deadwood".

[bbowser]

What a quaint explanation for 86'd, I've never heard that one before.

[Mike999]

When visiting Los Angeles, you can also visit Bugsy! And you can still see Virginia Hill's house in Beverly Hills, where he was shot. Along with the nearby house where the shooter stood.  There are old photos of LAPD detectives looking over the crime scene. On the outside, both houses are pretty much the same as they were in 1947. 

Bugsy's own mansion in Holmby Hills, built in 1938, is also still standing.  In 2013 it sold for $19.5 million (original asking price - $49.5 million!!!)

You'll find Bugsy at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., in the Hollywood Forever cemetery.  He has lots of famous company there, including Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino and Marion Davies - mistress of William Randolph Hearst, and the model for "Susan Alexander" in Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." Rosebud...

Col. Griffith J. Griffith is also buried there.  All that stuff named "Griffith" in L.A. is named for him, including Griffith Park, Observatory, etc. In Sept. 1903, Griffith became convinced his wife and the Pope were plotting to kill him.  He shot his wife thru the right eye, but she lived (to divorce him).  At his trial it came out that Griffith, who publicly claimed to be a teetotaler, was a secret alcoholic with serious mental problems.

   

[Joe Handley]

Went out and bought some building supplies (mostly paint) without an employee discount for the first time in 15 years.......ouch.

[Bob Ellis]

Depends on if they buy direct from the model company or through a distributor.  Full cases through the model company is cheapest,  mixed cases through a distributor costs more, which is how many hobby shops fill their shelves.  I've heard shop owners complain that the dealers at model shows sell the kits cheaper than they can buy them.

Interesting thought: In the 1970-1980s Woolworths was selling AHM model trains to the customer for less money than hobby shop dealers were paying with their discount.  needless to say, it killed their business.

[keyser]

I was buying those AHM's then, still have them. No local shops would try to do anything close. Minimal mail order, cheap overhead, and I needed other supplies. Pretty myopic they'd tell a kid full retail. Model Railroader had ads, I had envelopes and checks. Problem solved. I offered them biz, would have been lots of impulse buys too. Nope. I spent hundreds on controllers, track, etc in mid 70's with a couple shops. I was looking at Tenshodo brass etc. I could afford better with money I was saving. They lost the biz. They killed their biz. Sorry. 

[Ace-Garageguy]

I've been thinking about this topic for a while, and though the list prices of models, paints, tools and materials are definitely rising, it's controllable.

Tools are expensive, yes, but if you buy GOOD ones, they last forever. I still have tools from over 50 years ago, and they work as well now as when they were new. Buying abrasives from hardware or real-car outlets is a whole lot cheaper than buying stuff packaged for "modelers". Same goes for detailing wire, tubing, etc. You can often find things in craft stores that just aren't available from other sources, and cheap. I just got 10 feet of the best-looking, most realistic scale 2.5" rubber radiator hose I've ever seen...for $2.

Glue and paint are going up, but again, costs are controllable. You get a lot more paint in a Duplicolor can than you do in a Testors or Tamiya for the same money. Buy model-specific paints and primers when they're necessary, use cheaper stuff when possible. Buy bulk MEK for glue if you're able to control the fumes. And an air-brush, though it's some money, will ultimately pay for itself in reduced material cost and higher quality work.

Models? Yeah, they're going up. But buying smart from online sellers can save you a bunch. If you don't have to have the latest release TODAY, wait a few months and it will be a lot cheaper. I just looked up a few kits, and for example, the Revell '57 Ford sedans can be had for less than $20 shipped to your door. And for gotta-have new releases...well, I paid $20 apiece for three Revell '30 Ford coupe kits using 40%-off coupons.

Consider buying "parts kits" and gluebombs too. Frankly, I'd usually prefer to build something nice from a $2 piece of somebody else's trash than hack into a new $30 model.

As much as I'm able to control most of the costs, I usually don't feel too bad when i DO spring for something fairly expensive...which I rarely do.