To: fsterns@aol.com

Hi, I'd just like to say how much I've enjoyed looking through your site
this evening after discovering it via your posting at madmansmodels.com.
Your down-to-earth, builder-friendly approach is a real breath of fresh
air. To continue the atmospheric metaphor, I hope you can forgive a
long-winded e-mail. Don't worry, I know you're too busy to respond in kind.

I'm very much like, I suppose, a great many modelers: a guy who just wants
to build but has become a de facto collector because of a lack of modeling
time. I love the silly things too much to stop buying them, but my building
can't come anywhere near the pace of my buying. Especially since I get
slower and slower in building, being less willing to let all the screw-ups
stand. Sigh.

It was really only about three years ago that I connected with the modeling
community in any way, by stumbling onto a local contest. That really fired
me up, and soon I had a subscription to SAE (a godsend in my opinion, no
matter what flak they take). The classifieds were always alluring, but
sending off for a list of kits for sale was just a little daunting--which
of the dozens of dealers should one start with?

So swap meets became my main buying venue. I had never known these events
existed! Here were models I hadn't seen since childhood, and others I had
never heard of. But the prices! My puny budget just didn't permit spending
$125 for that '64 Bonneville kit I wanted, or $60 for a built Olds F-85
wagon (I seem to have a thing for station wagons).

So I became--confession time here--an eBay addict, earlier this year. It's
hard to know how eBay will affect the hobby in the long run.  I've found
kits I've never seen elsewhere, including some great 1/20 scale Entex kits
from the '70s, the amazing Fujimi Enthusiast line (OK, I had seen, and
bought, a couple of those before, but I had no idea of the range produced).
I've met some interesting people, modelers and non-modelers alike, and only
one or two jerks. I've gotten some bargains, paid somewhat dearly for a few
kits I just had to have (maybe $39 for an Enthusiast Ferrari Daytona was a
bit much, but that's my all-time eBay high), and seen many of the kits I'd
just bought go to much higher bids just days or weeks later. My philosophy
is the same as yours: unless it's a rare opportunity on a kit you MUST own,
the key is to bid low and not care too much.  Another one will come along.

Well, I'm rambling way too much, and I'm sorry to take up your time.  The
main thing I really wanted to say is, Way to go! I'll be ordering from your
list soon, and probably putting in some wants. You have a terrific site!

--SW
Jefferson NC