Building a miniature ship inside a bottle is impressive, but not as impressive as forging a giant glass shell around the outside of an aircraft carrier. One-up ordinary hobbyists with today's Groupon: for $15, you get $30 worth of models and hobby supplies at Master Hobbies in Leicester.

For more than 20 years, Master Hobbies has packed its shelves and display cases with a cache of hobby supplies ranging from R/C cars and planes to plastic model kits. Today, R/C helicopters and planes ($39.95+) hover over pint-size plastic ($12.95–$29.95) and die-cast ($19.95–$59.95) models of cars, military vehicles, and ships that ferry Lego men across bathtubs beset with hazardous ice cubes. Model rockets ($9.95–$29.95) count down to their assembly and launch, waiting to streak across the skies in the colors of individual paints ($1.59+) or full paint sets ($14.95). Always eager to cultivate new interests, the store's eclectic hobbyists guard an arsenal of airsoft guns ($29.95+) and paintball ammo ($14.95/bag) and can order any special items by tying a 1/10th-scale form to the leg of a carrier pigeon.