Ive already mined 18,500LTC shares. When do i get a payout??

Payouts are processed when a block is found. Which hasn't happened yet. I also recommend reading https://poolmining.org/faq

Okay thats what I thought. On the Litecoin page there is no feedback/tab for Blocks or Payments like there is for the Dash pool.  It seems Dash blocks are found every few days.  How often are Litecoin blocks typically found in this pool ? thanks again sorry for the noob questions.

There are no noob questions. The reason there are no blocks displayed on the Litecoin Pool's page is that this pool is very young also has been extremely unlucky so far - it has yet to find its first block. I know this is not what you wanted to hear and I would totally understand it if you'd switch to a different pool immediately after reading this. The good news is that thanks to how PPLNS works, you'd even get paid when other miners find the first block.

:( if I leave now will I still get paid for the work the miner has done so far? or do I need to be here in the pool at the time when the block is found to get the payout?

Didn't I answer that already?

Not really. If I leave to another pool now I will still get paid for the work I did when the next block is found? yes or no? thanks again :)

I wrote 3 hours ago:

The good news is that thanks to how PPLNS works, you'd even get paid when other miners find the first block.

So, the answer is yes of course.

thanks alot man. btw i really do like what youve got going on here and when I get my next two D3's ill point them here :)