Postscript to my indecision...

My wife presented me with the sardine boat 'Lori' Friday as a very early B'day present. She knew I had had better weeks. She saw the smile - and heard my "Oh well!" when she told me that the store no longer had the lightships on display and that this one was a boxed 'spare'. I knew I would wait too long.

Fearful I would find the remaining huge boxes, Alaina retrieved them from her closet minutes later, and my lightship fleet was complete. She was correct - that store no longer had them on display! I now have the Chesapeake, Huron, and Portsmouth as well. All four are 'S' variants with glass cases.

I didn't even notice the difference in case size (The Lori's is shorter in height.) in the store. I am not sure where to display these guys - the 1/2 off and price stickers must be removed and the glass cleaned first. I guess I was just fortunate she couldn't remember which ship I wanted... so she bought them all. They also found a new undisplayed Yacht 'Kim', but she knew I hadn't seen it and didn't 'want' it (yet!). I assume she didn't do better than 1/2 off as they wouldn't budge earlier.

Well, they are quite nice... but more display space - and, gads, where to put those boxes? Thanks for the helpful suggestions, everyone!

John