CoosBayLumber

My Feedback: (1)

Small towns

I was bought up in a small town out west. Due to the overall size of the community, we did not have a full-time hobby shop for supplies. To get parts or whole kits the magazines had mail-in suppliers which we used quite often, but we had to go based upon what was written in the pages. About once every 2-3 months one of the parents took us to the big city which had a dedicated hobby shop for the missing items shown on the plans. The local hobby needs was taken up by a special aisle in another type of store.

Over the years, the aisles were located in.....

Jim's Sporting Goods.
Jack's Hardware which got changed to a Western Auto store.
Mid-town Stationers (kits only. No engines or fuel)
Heywood's Ice Cream shop
Kirby's Television Repair (for radio control equipment only)
and yet another sporting goods store I cannot remember the name to.

If you lived in a small town, where did you get kits, engines, fuel, glow plugs and other flying supplies?


Wm.

staggerwing

My Feedback: (5)

I got a lot from America's Hobby Center (AHC) and Polks by mail. Closest hobby shop was Lee's Toys and Hobbies. It was a wonderous place. Got a lot from Midwest Model Products because I worked there when I was in high school. Frank Garcher was a wonderful guy!!!

Rich

piper_chuck

My Feedback: (12)

I remember drooling over stuff at the local Ben Franklin store. There was another, but the name is eluding me at the moment. Seems it had car parts too.

big max 1935

My Feedback: (9)

My first contact with hobby supplies was through the Junior High School principal who was a modeler & sold supplies through the school . The club met in the wood shop every other Monday . The other shop I remember was the Universal Shoe Repair in Sioux Falls , S.D. Got there about twice a year . In 1957 a buddy & I were stationed in the USAF in Germany & ordered a 100 O&R props for $10.00 from AHC in N.Y. ,they came by boat (slow boat!) We had to pick them up at the main base PO as our mail clerk couldn't get them as the box was damaged . The box looked like they shipped a porcupine with all the prop blades sticking out of it . We opened it expecting many were lost or damaged but there were a 117 of them in the box. Never forgot AHC for sending extras ! MAX H.

TPAGEL

My Feedback: (6)

My addiction started at Davidson's Bike Shop in Fargo, ND. They had everything a modeler wanted or that was available in the 1940's . Of course when you are 10 years old the funds were limited.

dicknadine

way back in the middle 1930's, in Detroit, we had a Fromm's hardware that carried balsa and a lot of Cleveland Kits, in fact, I still have mine- partially built- it traveled around the country with me while in service and which I still and has never been completed. there was also a kit producer a few blocks from us, his kits were too expensive, something like $3, for us but we were able to get lots of dropoffs balsa. on and on thru automotive, full sized aircraft, missles and spacecraft, till I have become a compulsive Scratch designer and builder of 1900 and thru 1940's odd ball aircraft. at 81 years young. all I need is a 3" 3 vu and away I go and end up with a 80" + RC model, gas, electric. need more in detail, just ask. dick

airbatic

Nice skirt Piper Chuck,

Always used mail order. No shops around. Hobbytown in Macon is not a shop. It's a joke.
One day maybe I'll make way to Mac's.

Kraus

MajorTomski

In Akron Ohio we had Glenn's train shop, they are still there but not in the same spot and since the 70's they've been nothing but trains. Then in the 70's there was Ruth's hobbies. So they were real mom and pop shops.

At Grams in Essexville MI the dime store down in the main shoping area had a lot of plastic kits.

Gremlin Castle

My Feedback: (14)

I the town of Vincennes Indiana the choices in 1952 were Robbie's Hobbies run by Mr, Robb a retired local policeman, Blanns Hardware, Saiter Morgan department store and O'Neils Airport across the Wabash river.

Robbies was the real hobby shop with the Aristocraft Stearman biplane complete with a Morton M-5 Radial and three bladed ground adjustable metal prop. It was the focal point of the store majestically hanging from the ceiling.
In that store you were allowed to open the kit, look at the plans and admire the die cutting under the patient supervision of Mr. Robb.
Also you could spend hours drooling over the motors under the glass top counter.
The other places had some stuff but for an 11 year old boy Robbies had it all.

Strat2003

My Feedback: (1)

Our hobby shop was a counter at the rear of a newstand. they could order lots of stuff for you but had a very limited supply on hand. I spent what seemed like an entire summer doping a Voodoo with a 1/8" round brush and about a million one or two ounce jars of dope!

jessiej

[Hobbytown in Macon is not a shop. It's a joke.]

I fear that most hobby shops are a joke to the builder today-all oriented to the RTF toy crowd. I find that more and more of the things that interest me come from cottage industry.

jess

David E.

My Feedback: (7)

I was blessed to live in Lock Haven. Home of Piper Aircraft till the early 80's.
We had a hobbie shop run by one of our club members. Planes were a fact and way of life. Now I live in Winchester VA and planes are a minor thought. No aircraft hobbie stores till DC but we do have 2 car hobbie stores that can order items. A place that has a population 2 to 3 times where I grew up and it is harder to get the items that I need.
David

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

How far are you from San Jose Cal ? If your not far the drive to Sheldons Hobbis is well worth it , they are loaded with RC supplies

JohnBuckner

My Feedback: (1)

Our current LHS in the wilds of northern Arizona consists of an "aisle" in the local Budget Truck and tractor rental yard. They also have an aisle of yarn supplies and one with a selection of darts and dart supplies for the local saloons.

Back when in the mid fifties we lived in the citrus country (now inner city) thirty miles east of Hollywood Ca. No LHS in sight. My dad operated a small contract motion picture processing plant and around once a week I would ride with him into town to purchase film stocks at Eastman and he would always drop me off at Reginald Dennys on hollywood Blvd. I was one of the local street urchins that always hung around only I was just a weekly urchin.

Never will forget the magnificient giant scale model of the Martin M-130 China Clipper that hung in the window of that old house converted to a storefront. It was there for many years and was built by Mr. Denny for the movie China Clipper I think around 1940 or 41.

Most of my early Ukies came out of that store as well as my first radio a Babcock Kit and an Airco Aero 9.

John