Thanks for all the comments and compliments, folks.
I have another Pro Series story.
In the Spring of 1992, Gary Rosenfield and I were making a sales trip to the big hobby distributors (Hobbico/Great Planes, Horizon, Hobby Dynamics, United Models) which all happen to be located in Illinois.
Gary and I were being given a tour of the Horizon warehouse when our guide was called away to take a phone call. We decided to explore the warehouse and headed over to the Estes section.
Now the Pro Series products had all been released except for the Patriot missile model at that time.
As Gary and I looked through the Estes inventory, my eyes caught sight of a unknown box on a bottom self. It was the stock of Pro Series Patriot missiles which had just arrived at Horizon. They hadn't even started shipping them out to hobby shops at the time.
I picked one up and started looking it over when our guide returned. I held the Patriot box out towards him and asked if I could take it with me. He rolled his eyes, took the Patriot box and told us to wait for him to return.
About ten minutes later he returned and said the paperwork was done and he'd send us the bill. I left Horizon carrying the Patriot kit. I suspect I may have been one of the first people to get their hands on one of these kits.
Several weeks later, back in Las Vagas at AeroTech, the company bookeeper asked me about a bill AeroTech had received from Horizon for an Estes Pro Series Patriot kit. I explained the situation and gave her payment for the kit.
I guess I'm the only person who ever paid AeroTech for an Estes kit.
