---------------


If you want to guarantee that the model that you get from a local hobbyshop has all the parts in it, you have to do an "on the counter" inventory in front of the hobbyshop owner. Other folks pick through those kits. Some of them squirrel away parts and leave with them when the clerk or owner are not watching. I finally got tired of this and began ordering from high volume sales businesses. Businesses that were essentially warehouses, where no customer gets a chance to lift the parts.

As I progressed in the hobby, I wanted a specific brand of fuel of a specific mix. Did the hobbyshop stock it? Of course not. How about props? Ditto. On and on and on. Then I had shop owners complain to me because the R/C guys didn't spend as much in their shop as the R/C truck and car kiddies using Mom and Dad's credit cards. That was enough for me. I try to avoid hobbyshops whenever possible.

Most of the time the shop owners don't know diddly about what I'm doing in R/C and give volumes of bad advice. There are exceptions, but they are very, very rare.

I guess it just depends upon your perspective of the hobby and your level of involvement as to whether you find the typical hobbyshop useful at all. I don't.


Ed Cregger