Family Interests in Hobby? (1 Viewer)

As a retailer I find the interest of the wife/partner can be very important to the collector (and me !).
There are the two extremes. The unlucky ones are the collectors who come in and feel they have to smuggle their purchases into the house unless the wife finds out.
The very lucky ones are the ones where the wives actually thank me for selling their husbands painted soldiers ! (If you are a Forum member married to Megan you are one of them). These wives are not so common but I usually joke that if I had a cloning machine I would make more of them to hitch them up with other collectors (not sure if Megan's husband would approve !!!). I have one wife who thanks me each time I call her husband to pick up his figures.
I have a few customers who come in with their children and they choose together. I have a teenage collector whose father does not collect (yet !).
My worst reaction from a female was the mother with two teenage boys who entered the shop door. As soon as she saw it was a Big Boys Toys type of place she said "I hope your father never finds this place" and dragged them out of the door.
On the other hand the clever family members should realise that their birthday, Christmas and Fathers Day gift problems are solved if the collector briefs them properly. I had one guy last year who had three relatives buying him Christmas presents based on the list he provided.
I think an important point for the family to realise is that the collection might be worth decent money in the long run.
Regards
Brett
 
I suppose I am relatively lucky when it comes to family interest in this hobby. My wife before we had met each other actually painted 120mm figures for chess sets. And is a bit of an accomplished artist in her own right painting in watercolours. I used to paint and sell gloss figures and that led to outwork painting for various companies including Sarum Soldiers. My wife used to help now and again and eventually painted the Victorian Ladies and Wild West ranges on her own (all I did was to clean, assemble and undercoat the figures).

I moved on from collecting gloss to matt and now if you have a look at my profile page there is an album showing my wife’s Streets of Old Hong Kong collection (so far!). I am allowed to some degree to amuse myself with new acquisitions as long as she is not forgotten. On the other hand neither son or my daughter has shown any or much interest in soldiers, oldest boy was cars his brother does have a LOTR collection of about 60 54mm matt figures and a couple of dozen Marvel comic figurines. My daughter shows perhaps the most interest but only in the mounted sets, as she is a keen horse rider herself.

Jeff
 
Dear Jeff,
You mentioned a "LOTR collection of about 60 54mm matt figures".
Being a LOTR fan I would be grateful if you could let me know what brand they are. Not seen anything like that down in Australia. Nearest was the plastic Armies of Middle Earth.
Regards
Brett
 
The Military Workshop said:
Dear Jeff,
You mentioned a "LOTR collection of about 60 54mm matt figures".
Being a LOTR fan I would be grateful if you could let me know what brand they are. Not seen anything like that down in Australia. Nearest was the plastic Armies of Middle Earth.
Regards
Brett
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Hi Brett,

It's a weekly partwork from Eaglemoss Publishing http://www.lotr-models.co.uk/. My son has the first 60 models plus a few of the "Specials".

Hope this helps.

Jeff
 
Although my wife thinks my hobby is totally odd she enjoys painting figures with me. She also takes great pride in her finished job.
 
Dear Jeff,
Thanks for the details. I get the feeling this series will not make it to Oz. On their web page it says they are no longer taking subscriptions.
They are very nice figures and a good price.
Regards
Brett
 
Davout71 said:
Although my wife thinks my hobby is totally odd she enjoys painting figures with me. She also takes great pride in her finished job.
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These days, my Wife is a keen and avid miniature figurine collector in her own right and has recently developed the confidence to start doing her own displays rather than having me do them for her all the time.
After a couple of false starts with pre-WWII subjects, she has focussed most of her collecting energies on the K&C SOHK and IC ranges, although she has said she's getting tired of them and is looking around for something else by a different manufacturer, essentially civilian but with a military connection.
She likes my recent conversion to collecting East of India's excellent ranges, (though I suppose 18 months isn't really a recent conversion after all).
In common with myself, she is amazed at the superior sculpting and painting of First Legion's Napoleonic ranges compared to other manufacturer's Naps that are presently boxed away in Heid Mansion. So much so, that she is looking forward to "off-duty" poses rather than the generally more action-oriented ones that are presently available. She wants to be able to mix First Legion "off-duty" Naps with the new civilian range from Britain's that she's considering taking the plunge into. Now, there's a clue if ever there was one.
;)....:)
As well as the pleasure to be derived from having some fairly good displays around the house, (and visitors never fail to make comment on our mutual collection), I think she likes the fact that she gains a lot of "face' when she deals with Chinese Customs officials and obtains the release of international orders from their clutches. There's not too many Chinese Nationals in our city who regularly receive relatively large-value shipments of personal purchases from the USA and UK - or so the Customs people tell her.
In addition, my Wife has also had a lot of fun scouring market stalls, brick-a-brac shops and even supermarkets in the search for suitable Chinese artifacts to add to and expand her displays - and I can use a few of these for my Samurai stuff as well.
So, although she doesn't much care for 1/30 scale FAV's, I don't generally cop too much earache whenever I turn up with, or order, a new Sherman or Panzer scale model FAV from Figarti.
All in all, IMHO, introducing Missus Heid to this hobby was probably one of my better decisions.
:):)

Regards
Harry
 
Jeff,
You might be interested to know those LOTR would probably not be allowed into Oz. The last Del Prado figurres available here had some lead issues and it would appear the producers might be wary of trying to sell here again.
Regards
Brett
 
vandilay said:
Hi
My 8 year old son isnt too interested,He has the occasional look.He likes the stuff he can play with [mainly my old britians deetail].Which remembering back too when i was i kid i can understand.
My wife puts up with it [we have some on display in our lounge so thats something] but she prefers the vintage stuff and glossy figures, not too keen on the matte finish].My son got a games workshop lord of the rings set for christmas and all 3 of us got quite involved in painting them.It became a bit of a competition.
The only member of my family who has any real interest is my mother of all people,I think i must have inherited the collecting genes from her as she has been involved with modeling since i can remeber,she made me and my brothers quite an impresive marklin layout when we where kids and still scratch builds dolls houses incl most of the furniture and people.So she has a real apreciation for them.
neither of my brothers are interested,they are both into their old 60,s muscle cars.
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Hi Rob,
My son is now 7 (8 in December) and he is just like yours on this one.The wife (and son) also put up with it as long as I keep my feet on the ground (timewise, moneywise and roomwise...). But my wife does have an eye for quality figures, I guess she was duly impressed when we visited the Tradition and Guard's shops in London, such displays...

Cheers,
Paulo
 
marco55 said:
The prices seem to be pretty reasonable.
Mark
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I saw these the last time I was in the UK Mark. You're right, the prices are extremely reasonable and you can assemble quite a nice collection of them quickly enough, in my humble opinion that is.

Cheers :)
Harry
 
VIRIATO said:
Hi Rob,
My son is now 7 (8 in December) and he is just like yours on this one.The wife (and son) also put up with it as long as I keep my feet on the ground (timewise, moneywise and roomwise...). But my wife does have an eye for quality figures, I guess she was duly impressed when we visited the Tradition and Guard's shops in London, such displays...

Cheers,
Paulo
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Hi Paulo

This must be a fairly old thread ,The boy I mentioned is now 12 :eek:
[and still not interested :) ] .My 3 year old son claims ownership of
various figures , but I guess time will tell if the bug takes hold .
My little girl plants her face against the glass seperating the collection from a grissly fate ,
but I have a feeling the apeal lies in the fact she cant get her paws on them .

cheers Rob
 
vandilay said:
Hi Paulo

This must be a fairly old thread ,The boy I mentioned is now 12 :eek:
[and still not interested :) ] .My 3 year old son claims ownership of
various figures , but I guess time will tell if the bug takes hold .
My little girl plants her face against the glass seperating the collection from a grissly fate ,
but I have a feeling the apeal lies in the fact she cant get her paws on them .

cheers Rob
Click to expand...

12!:D:. We're getting old fast:(:eek::D.

Regards,
Paulo
 
VIRIATO said:
12!:D:. We're getting old fast:(:eek::D.

Regards,
Paulo
Click to expand...

Isnt that the truth , When they start to run you of your feet playing sports
thats when you know your in real trouble ;).
And all those years of experience come into play and the odd dirty trick makes an apearance :eek:.
 
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