flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

KC Hobbies,,well its not exactly local,its 40 miles from my house....I got up to go this morning (this is where being laid off doesnt help) at 10:30, jump up hit the shower, cup of joe, and half a sandwich...well my need to have list is a .25 motor mount, a .15 motor mount and a quart of 1/2a fuel.....and while I'm in Archdale pop over 5 miles to Bsarges job to say hey.....well on the way out the door I spot a miscellanious (sp) box of stuff and low and behold there's a .15 and .25 motor mount, cool now all I need it the 1/2a fuel, get there walk in, lots of folks in there shopping, the owner catches me walking in, ask me if I need help , I say no thanks, just lookin, well theres one plane hangin from the ceiling I though about getting,,,its gone,, it was a Tiger 400 park flyer with an OS .10 on it, I had one with a norvel .074 on it.....so I wander around a bit more just looking and another kid asks am I finding what I'm looking for? I said I just need 1/2a fuel...."oh, we dont stock that anymore"....Bsarge is tied up at work intervieing for like an hour,,so it was pretty much a wasted day....there is some more cool planes at the shop hanging up, but I dont need anymore really....Rog

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Yes Rog,

KC Hobbies and King R/C are the only "real" hobby shops I try to get to anymore. Even though its pretty much an all-day trip from home-there-lunch-and-back - its worth the trip twice a year (jeeze what a shame!).

There are a couple of hobby shops that are closer but . . . well, its like if Wal-Mart stocked ARFs.

Now the folks at ToyTown (not my favorite name) in Fuquay-Varina (that's the name of the town and no I didn't make it up) are very friendly and do their best to order things - but its mainly a car shop. I need to get there more often.

But as for 1/2A fuel, the last quart I bought was at KC - 33% nitro car stuff (I forget the brand).

I bought a quart of Sig castor oil at the same time. I mixed the two in the syringe until I got the 33% down enough to add the castor to the can. The exact ractio I have now is about this much's per that many's. In fact that's what I intend to wipe out the competition with at your next Reedie Race.

If youse needs any more technical fuel-mixing assistance, feel free to ask.

Tom Nied

Sounds like a successful day to me. Plus if you did it right, you ordered the fuel and you have to go back sometime. Getting up and out of the house is a good thing.

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

Naw, didnt order any, I can get it from glowplugboy on the bay for about the same price, and I have some paypal bucks left..Oh I did buy a plane,,I have searched two walmarts and one k-mart for a $4 styro glider, to plant an .049 on, maybe this one wont flutter apart on me, of course since its a hobby shop it was $9....wonder if it would stand up to a .10 or a norvel...hey I've been cleaning up some long setting engines, man are they dirty, but I am missing my novel .061, found an .049 and 3 .074's I know I sold/gave one away, cause it was BobHH's and he always had trouble with it and didnt like norvels because of it and whoever got it ended up finding the connecting rod bent slightly......now where did I put mine?....Rog

DeviousDave

I'm afraid that anymore, the only good way to get proper all castor 1/2A fuel is to order a case of it from SIG. At least in a group buy the HAZMAT charges can be minimized.

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

Just buy gallons of castor from Sig or Klotz.

Dwayne

I don't keep gallons on hand...lol but alas it is the only way to get 1/2A fuel in my neck of the woods. Luckily my LHS is heavy into RC cars so they keep a complete line of Omega car fuels on hand I just buy a quart of 30% and spike it with 2.5 oz. of castor, works fine.
Dwayne

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

If you buy it by the quart there is no hazmat shipping fee,, I usually get a quart of sig from tower, but for the last few years gone to KC...I've never been to King, but I have heard good things about it, almost wish I could open up a KC's 2 up here,,Theres a nice hobby people arf store 20 miles away in Greensboro, but I've never been to it, the last new hobby store we had here was mainly cars, but "can order it for you"..but I can do that from here too....one of the last times I went in, I asked if they were getting ready to close and the girl said , "we might as well thats what everybody keeps asking us", and I said well the shelves are empty!...they were gone soon after that......I have bought a gallon of heli fuel ..omega syn/castor blend at %15,,works pretty well in all my engines and for me a gallon lasts quite a while,,but sometimes you want an edge to make your reedie scream (especially around those pattern guys and to help with the .010's, and .020's so you want some 25-35% stuff for kicks)......Rog

controlliner

The shop you go to, is it Leading Edge Hobbies?

Dwayne

Yes it is, they are actualy not bad a good selection of balsa, paint and other supplies. They even carry dope.

wolfy888

Hey Rog and Raymond: If you guys ever get down here to Myrtle Beach, check out Ed's Hobby Shop at the corner of Hwy 501 and Oak st. It's downtown Myrtle Beach proper. They've been there for at least thirty years, they carry an enormous selection of all aspects of modeling items, and although they run 5 to 10% higher on some items, it's worth it (for me anyway) not to have to wait for shipping. Most of their prices are in line with even the big boys, and if you count shipping costs, it's about a break-even prospect. There, now your significant others can thank me for giving you an excuse to vacation at the beach, and from where you guys are, it even makes for a really good (albeit long) day-trip.

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks Wolfy,

I'm gonna need a few days at the shore when it warms up a little more. I told myself that I'd spend at least one day a month pier or surf fishing every month when I retired to beautiful downtown not-too-near-raleigh. Alas, I've been twice in nine years and caught only pinfish. But hope springs eternay - and if there's a good hobby shop nearby - wellll.

Hmmm, I wonder if a separate thread on good hobby shops, current or long gone, would be of interest? I could wax poetic about Kirk's in Pittsfield, Massachusetts in the '50s. Not much by today's standards but it was Mecca to a twelve year-old.

Big Al-RCU

Hi Ray, boy you sure described the situation here. Up until a couple years ago we had Mercury Hobbies nearby. They were actually a distributor located in a warehouse, but Janet (the owners wife) ran a hobby shop in a corner of the building. It was small but crammed with everything. And if she was out of something, no problem, she just ran to the back and restocked right on the spot!
Contrast that with yesterday when my son and I drove to New Orleans to get a motor mount for his Sato 4-stroke. Went to Hub Hobbies, an old stand-by, been there forever. Something seemed odd, they had airplanes hanging from the ceiling, etc but none on the shelves. Turns out they no longer stock ANY R/C . Lots of HO trains, plastic kits etc but no planes, motors or radios.
A shocker, but not a problem, we’ll stop at Hobby Hut on the way home and try there. Well another surprise, they were not exactly ‘closed’, since the door was open and there was a truck backed up with a ramp. They were removing the showcases and emptying the otherwise vacant building.
Well we went home empty handed and kept muttering, “Can you believe that, New Orleans has no hobby shop?�
al

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Al,

I've written - and deleted - a bunch of words to follow up on your last post. Fact is I have bi-annual, bi-lingual, bi-pedal, or bi-whatever thoughts on the subject. That is, I can see two sides to hobby shopping.

Its got to be hard to make a hobby shop buck in today's economy. I order what I can from the local car-oriented shop mainly because they are so pleasant to deal with. But otherwise its easier for me to order something online (and yes, I do business with Hong Kong too). Saves gas and time.

I have reconciled myself to the fact that the days are over when I could lean on the counter for half an hour or so and have a conversation with someone who actually builds (not assemble) and flies what he sells.

Andrew

I consider myself pretty lucky. As we say around here, "I don't live in the middle of nowhere, but I can see it from the backporch".

We have a shop about 20 mi. away that is fairly well stocked - planes, lekkies and glow, helis and cars. The fellow that runs the shop is retired and started it to support his hobby - he likes to build and just started stocking parts, then later selling. There is also a very nice dirt track out back with hook ups, computerized lap counter and elevated driving platform where the car boys race every summer weekend.

If he doesn't have it, he'll order it and usually matches Tower prices. On Saturdays, he serves complimentary coffee and doughnuts and the shop has become a gathering place for folks to just visit and chew the fat. One of our club members now works there full time and is a top of the line heli flyer and mechanic, plus he is very good with fixed wing and cars. Since the shop is out in the country, you can literally step out the front door and do an engine runup or fly helis. It's full service and they'll set up a plane, heli or radio for you - one section of a room has a 4x8' workbench that anyone can use if needed. He also has a flight sim set up with a large flat panel for customers to try.

Good shop, nice knowledgeable folks and a great atmosphere - yep, I'm pretty lucky to have them around.

andrew

combatpigg

My Feedback: (3)

The fun of going to the hobby shop was seeing the hobby being done right there and talking with knowledgable people who were in the hobby. The best stores always had a work in progress on display. I liked the places that sold old magazines, too. I'd buy them by the hand fulls.
This part of our culture has been replaced by the internet [RCU, on line shopping, etc.].
In some ways what we have now is just as good, if not better. There is better information available right at our finger tips now. I think I can get the straight scoop on "this and that" better now than ever before.

iflyg450

I always enjoy stopping at hobby shops while traveling, especally the older shops. I always find great kits off in the corner covered in dust. The owners are usally thrilled to get rid of it. The last one I ran into had BAGS of grey cox props .05 each !!!!! Add to what was said before Glowplug boy fuel off the bay is great! My local shop is nothing but cars and toys. I miss back home we had a shop I went to with my pop, it had stools everywhere and someone was always BUILDING something. It was more of a meeting hall

wolfy888

Raymond, I am truly FOFLOL at this point, because I grew up in Lenox, and remember Kirks very well. Here's another one you might recall: Saratoga Hobbies on Rt 50 going through Saratoga Springs, NY; I don't know if you & the folks traveled around much back then, but that was a premier hobby shop. And, then there was Kozlow's Hardware in Scotia/Glenville NY; I remember that was THE place to go for Matchbox cars, when they came in matchboxes, cost a quarter, and Kozlow's had a display case of them that spanned at least 25 feet. It looked like it was really about a half-mile long to a ten-year-old, and I would spend every minute that my dad would allow trying to decide which ones to spend my allowance on. Please excuse me while I go cry and kick myself for not seeing that those things would one day be worth a fortune.

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Whoa Wolfy!

Small world ain't it?

I'm afraid I didn't travel very far from Pittsfield back in the day - until I joined the Army - so I never traveled much in New York. And so never even got to the towns you listed - let alone the hobby shops there.

Probably the best part about Kirk's for me was that I could thumb through the Flying Models and MAN magazines - if I was quick. I actually bought magazines rarely - mainly when FM had a page or two of full-size parts for a model I couldn't live without. Mostly I tried to draw my own plans (on wrappng paper) to look as close as possible to the magazine features. I remember one of my favorite designers was Earl Cayton. He did CL, FF, and even a glider or two.

I don't remember ever buying a kit from Kirk's but glue and balsa and clear Butyrate dope often made the trip back home on thae back rack of my bike.

My wife and I went back to the Berkshires last Fall for a nostalgia trip (all my relatives there are gone). I had forgotten how beautiful that part of the world is.

I had been told there was a 'real' hobby shop in Lee and once I found it, I wasn't disappointed.

ebeneezer3

Raymond, does Funderbont Airlines still run a service between Fuquay and Varina? I heard a lot about it when I was at FT Bragg.

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Eb,

Truth to tell, I have no idea where one stops and the other begins - but I can tell you that it is not uncommon for an F-22 to pass over my house headed toward Fuquay-Varina. I'll bet they cover the distance between them in quick order (and with a unique sound).

I only go to F-V for two reasons; ToyTown Hobbies and the retail outlet of the vineyard owned by the descendant of President(s) Adams. Cool huh?

No youse smart *****e$ out there, I was not old enough to vote for either of them.

Andrew

But, did you attend the inauguration???

flyinrog

My Feedback: (1)

I think there might be some historical connotations here, but as I recall the distance between Fuquay and Varina is the lenght of the dash on the water tower.....but its right close to Bunn and Dunn too.......Rog

wolfy888

Hey Ray: Seems to me that the good "yankee work ethic" keeps the mom & pop businesses going; that's a good thing for us old & grumpies who still remember how to cut ribs, apply tissue, and get the whole house stoned on aerogloss dope. I have very fond memories of the high school ski team practicing at Bousquet's and Brodie. Yep, the Berkshires sure are beautiful, especially now with (COUGH) about ten feet of new snow on them. My brother lives in Schenectady, and he complains that he's DROWNING in the stuff. My response? It's your turn to shovel the walk, butthead, and no, I don't wanna trade that Enya .61 for doing it for you. Your kids are grown now, and you are finally not gonna get out of it for once! Oh, the good old days....Nice to hear from that part of the world again. Listen, when You and Rog get down this way for your shopping trip to Ed's, er, vacation at the beach with the family, bring a plane or two and we can go fly at the local county park. It's got 3 or 4 football fields all together , about 15 acres, withj immaculate grass, and there's hardly ever anyone there. Perfect place for 1/2 A and similar park flyers. I can hook y'all up with some straight nitro to add, and I've got four planes right now that're ready to maiden. Plenty of picnic area and a playground for the young'uns too.I'm just waiting for all this blustery #^*(^$#!! weather to get out of here and some warmth, cuz that prop HURTS when it smacks cold fingers. Let me know when you're coming and I'd be happy to give you the grand tour. Wolfy

Raymond LeFlyr

My Feedback: (2)

Wolf,

I skied at Bousquet's. I remember that huge fireplace and my first experience with man-made snow (hard, slick). BUt most of the time we went to the National Forrest (free). I never had the nerve to challenge the junp there but my uncle couldn't get enough. That uncle took me to someplace in New Hampshire once in a while but I forge the name of the place - "Something" Mountain maybe? Nice memories but the closest I want to get to a couple feet of snow now is the six o'clock news.

I don't get to South Carolina often but if I do get down your way, we'll stir up some sir together.