kits stolen at model shows

upnorth, I agree.

These days people are doing everything to get something even though it's wrong. I myself witness an argument broke out between one of the participants and one of the judges in a modeling competition. It seemed to me that that guy really dissatisfied with the result. Well, come on do you have to fight for it. And for stealing somebody else kits...SHAME, SHAME, SHAME ON YOU! You are not a true modeler by doing that. Me, I once lost a Fujimi 1/72 F/A 18C Hornet when I was in college. I costed me a lot. I searched the kit in my country for months and finally get it. I kept it 3 days then someone 'kind' enough to steal it from me. I was so disappointed I stopped modeling for several months. Now working have my own house, I have special cabinet to store all my modeling equipment and kit.

Khairuddin
Malaysia.

PS... he probably has the model obscured in Super Glue haze with his earlobes glued to his lips.

A buddy of mine who is a vendor has had kits lifted in the last two shows we participated in. Only two were taken but to someone who works hard to put on a good display and selection it really sucks... he puts it like this: shit happens. No matter where you go it will happen. My brother-in-law is from South Africa and he says that they used to take them out in back of the store and knock him or her around a few times and the cops would look the other way. He runs a local hardware store and wishes the laws applied here too. Like my hobby store buddy says; " There's always one who wants to ruin it for everyone."
take care Ian
regards,
Jon

give them a limited run french kit with SO many pieces and only give them a gluestick

One up the judges by unleashing the rivet counters that think they know soooo much but know next to nothing and won't accept that they're wrong under any circumstances "Thats god awfull! Totally innacurate, you must be off of the true FS number by at least a whopping millionth of a degree!"

The best torture, sit them at a table with a serving tray of parts removed from their sprues, all the same colour, same scale, same subject, throw in a few excess parts but making sure there's enough missing that a complete model can't possibly be built from the assortment and give them nothing but a couple of grainy photos of the real thing to work from. No instructions, no boxtop, no clear current pictures and low quality glue to stick it together with.

It'd be like making them build a jigsaw puzzle or fold up a road map correctly with a blindfold on.

For added fun, you could stand over them, looking over their shoulders, bouncing on the balls of your feet while wincing and sucking air through your teeth every now and again when they do something. Just something to make them jittery and more error proned.

The closest I ever get to hunting is the rare fishing excursion, so firearm tortures are a bit of a foreign issue to me, however, you could take that very fine and flexible tip end of a fishing rod and use it as a sort of riding crop on your hapless thief while they're muddling aimlessly with the hopeless exercise in futility you've placed in front of them.

Hold them there until the crew with the rubber truck comes to pick them up.


If that fails, force them to make a functional origami flapping bird out of a square of toilet paper. That'll push em' straight over the edge!

Oh yeah, thats so cruel it sounds great, but have it like the movie groundhog day, every day the same thing, getting torn apart by a pack of hungry judges, sounds incredible. if they would actualy punish these low lifes maybe it would'nt seem so "easy" to them.

I was at an air show at NAS Miramar (when it was still the top gun school) a number of years ago where our club had a large display. Someone had lifted some model mags we had on display there when it was noticed we had notified security.I had not ever before or since seen such a sight.A "swarm" of m.p.'s had decended upon our tables in serch of some kid that snagged a couple of books.Talk about cool.............

As for punishing a model thief?
My recommedation would be to force the thief to build the kit .
Then I would chain that person to a table and unleash the most vial,cruel,inhumain,soul eating cretures ever to live amoung men.
Thats right folks an I.P.M.S national judging crew.
That poor bastard would'nt stand a chance.
Forcing him to listen to those guys tear in to his kit building skills might change his way of thinking or at least make him never want to get caught again.....


Just remember their are bad people every where,you just never know where they will strike.......Happy modeling all...........

This is realy the pits when so many people have run into these situations, I am a gun nut also and have heard these same sort of tales from the shops I have hung out in. to read that someone had all thier stuff taken in the middle of a tournoment is mind boggling. it would be great to catch one of these punks red handed at a swapmeet or a show and hold them till the cops show, that would give at least 15 to 20 minutes to hassle this scum till the cops took him. now that could get real fun real quick.

Hell in a handbasket? Well, as long as the California "Niveau Riche"(which is a FRENCH[AKA: sinful] term!) have there way, and they have the guns taken from the innocent and give 'em to crooks, and their "anything that involves Video Games causes violence" mindsets are aloud to prevail, civilization will be heading that way! (That and I hear that California is trying to ban Plastic Models as well, because their often military nature, is believed to cause violence, according to leading bribed scientists)
Also, we need to get pro-active. It's great to complain, but if we don't start teaching our children, and try to influence others, nothing will change! We've got to start DOING, not just SAYING!

Well said upnorth.

It is a shame that many of those people that you talk about do not understand that a child has to be taught these things...they seem to think that they are born with all of the knowledge that they need to function in the world.

I agree with you on the direction of society...I sure hope that more people pull their heads out before it goes all to...well you know!

Jerry

Amen upnorth, AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lee

I was recently at a local WH40K tournament, and the round had just finished up. We had a 20 min break before the next onslaught, so several of us stepped out for a bit. When we returned, a friends army was gone. Not a single model left, including the case. For those who don't know 40K, this equates to about 150 miniatures. Of course, none of the 200+ people in the room saw a thing...

What kind of world do we live in?

Everyone wants something for nothing these days.

The stealing of that kit isn't the only way it happens.

At a show once, I saw a guy (thankfully got disqualified) trying to bribe a judge for a vote in his favour. Also saw a guy get caught trying to remove another modeler's name from the information card about the model and put his own name on it so he could take credit for it.

I've also seen that typical garage and yard sale tactic of stacking one item on top of another to hide it so their paying for one and walking away with two.

Not only do the perpetrators seem to have more rights than the victim, I can only see it getting worse because (in North America anyway) its getting almost impossible for parents to properly discipline their children without some politically correct, child empowering zealot jumping at them for "child abuse"

I don't like to see child abuse anymore than the next person, but I got my fair share of swats on the rear end when I was little, right from wrong was a pretty easy concept to follow after a few of those.

Good public conduct starts in youth and the line between disciline and abuse isn't as fine as some would have you believe.

Sorry if that strays a bit off topic, we can't do anything about the upbringing of the thief of that kit and the life lessons that he or she encountered growing up (that is of course assuming they are grown up) I don't have kids and I'm not sure I want them if the current trends of constricting what a parent can do to make certain their kids can be decent, respectable and respecting citizens keep up.

Sorry again for ranting off on a tangent, but I've got some dire concerns for the directions societies seem to be moving in, the subject of this thread is just one of many societal symptoms that fuel my concerns.

its NOT an ak47, its an ak74u. also try having a squad automatic weapon there. the ak is for intimidation purposes, and if theres a holdup, u have a weapon to use against the hold up ppl

Amen fussionboy!

I take my nephew to classic car shows with me and I am always sure to let him know about not touching somebody else's stuff. I think that I have done well to make him understand why this should not happen, unless they give you permission....then that he should be very careful.

Unfortunately, not many people in this day and age feel that they have to respect others...whether it be them personally, or their stuff!

Sorry to hear about your loss Ian.

Jerry

It's a sad day when you can't even go to a hobby show and not be worrried about gettingripped off, the problem is with the crowds and the amout of people that pass by during an event there is just no way to stop these low lifes from doing this crap. It's right up there with having a model on display with 3 or 4 signs that say DO NOT TOUCH and somebody has to pick up the model you just spent untold hours building, tell their buddies what a crappy job you did on it then drop it back on the table and wander off. I was always and have taught my daughter, IF IT'S NOT YOURS DON'T TOUCH IT!!!!!!!!.

QUOTE: Originally posted by nwilliams Put theives in stocks in front of the store where they commited their crime so the customers can see who is responsible for the high prices. Nothing wrong with a little public humiliation and rotten tomatoes. N.

I agree with you. It's too bad we can't do that any more. The people that commit the crimes have more rights than the victim. What we need today is some of the old ways of dealing with them.

An AK-47 and beating them to death is probably a bit harsh for most to handle. I have always thought the public socks used in the 16&1700's in America were a good idea. Put theives in stocks in front of the store where they commited their crime so the customers can see who is responsible for the high prices. Nothing wrong with a little public humiliation and rotten tomatoes.

N.

people like that make me sick. STONE 'EM!

I was at a show and walked past a vendor who was "discussing" with his wife about a kit that can up missing while she was watching the table.

I personally I think the Teletubbies idea is the way to go.

Trevor

always cary an ak74u, the one with short barrel, folding stock, and 200 round drum, and full auto

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We should find this guy and shove those stolen kits up his rear-echelon!! And then model cement his eyes shut and beat him to death with his airbrush!

The middle-easterners are on the right track with that whole having your hand chooped off for theft thing. I think theft rates would go WAY down if you knew that being caught stealing would result in IMMEDIATE amputation of the right hand!

like the guy who stole my 69 442, he took it for a joy ride, couldn't handle the 600 horses under the hood, and wrapped it around a few trees.......... He lived, but he killed his girlfreind( who was ridding in the front seat) and he is now parralized from the neck down............


Crime, any crime, doesn't pay..........................

Personnaly i think shop lifting laws are to soft......................

sorry for wrambling.............................

Its bad enough when the "Five finger discount" crowd jacks prices up at the department store for everyone else, but when they steal from you directly like that, its a real kick in the teeth.

Butz is right, Duct tape em' up, make em' listen to Barney. Forcing them to watch an endless tape loop of the Teletubbies also has a certain appeal.

I hope they screw up big on the kit and have nothing to show for their dishonesty.

Man I feel for ya. There is always one in the crowd that ruins it for you/others.
We should seek him/her out ,duck tape them up and make them listen to Barney
Flaps up,Mike

Unfortuneatly dishonesty is in every corner, nook andcranny of this world. I attend coin, collector sci-fi, and model shows. People selling (vendors) are always having stuff taken. Lets just hope the guy (or gal) who stole the kit had a difficult time with it and that it looks like dog poo

That is horrible...I hope that is an isolated incident, but just the same...still a terrible thing for someone to do.
Regards, Dan

what kit was it? im just wondering...

when was it? ask ppl who went to the event