sad day

Or to order online. Here in Cracow Poland we have 2 or 3 hobby shops yet I always order in internet shops - Not only there is much more stock there but also prices are better (including shipping when order is big enough usually

40$ is enough)

Maciek

Although we have a number of model shops in the North-East (UK), they vary in quality. About a year ago, we lost the oldest model shop in the region and, it is believed, in the country. This shop, The Model Shop in Newcastle upon Tyne, opened in the 1920's and was in business continuously for about eighty years. They sold everything you could want but went out of business for lack of support. They were losing money and couldn't justify staying open any longer. I miss the shop sorely.

Fortunately, there is another model shop at the coast that caters for the real enthusiast modeller and that is now the only one I go to. The others are more like small model supermarkets and don't really have the atmosphere or the stock for traditional modellers.

I think the reason is that the nature of modelling has changed and the newer modeller is accustomed to a different approach to modelling and a different range of products to go with it. No shop could stock the ranges of kits, materials and aftermarket items that an Internet business can carry and fewer people now want the materials for conversion and scratch building in the volumes needed to keep a traditional model shop open.

That's something else that makes me feel old!

Gordon McLaughlin

True, but you just don't get it. Given the choice of staring at a screen looking at Spitfires when I type in Spitfire in a search box or going to a store searching for Spitfires and by chance finding a Sopwith Pup in

1/48 scale...well, the store wins every time.

John

The folks live in Naples.FLA. I always wondered if there were any hobby stores down there,the damn city is growing way too much,there should be some decent shops around.

We are growing every month down here in Ipswich and it is mostly by mail order although we have a good walk in trade and have four active model clubs in the area. However, you are right about stock. We can't carry anyweher near what everyone wants - just think about all those decal options on Hasegawa! We are fortunate in our two main suppliers

- one in the UK and one in France. Between them we can source pretty much everything on a regular schedule - as in call us by 12 pm Wednesday and it will be here Friday. And we don't charge for postage

The two suppliers complement each other - for instance both supply us with Trumpeter or Revell but we get Eduard from the UK and Lion Roar from France. It works well but we have to be very pro-active about what we stock. We have got to be the only supplier in a lot of the world for Montex masks and are currently shipping worldwide free of postage (for how long we are not sure) but by being very pro-active about this we are able to build a business.

Our local model clubs and individual modellers understand that they can only get their Alclad and Xtracrylix from us if they also buy the kits that they used to go to H******ts for. They are also realising that getting the latest kit on Saturday is easy as we order them Wednesday and they get here in time. If they want something that has been out for a few weeks, months years, then they have worked out that they are probably not going to build it in the next 5 days so are happy to wait for us to get it if we don't have it.

We hope this formula will work and enable us to stay around for the long term.

David SBX Model Shop

of Montex Masks to the world!

I hope all model shops get put out of business by the internet and Wal-Mart. I absolutely do not like model shop owners or the smart *ss kids who hang out in them.

"Von Fourche" wrote

Of course, your shitty attitude would have *nothing* to do with this... Just don't complain when you have to wait a week for that tin of matte black paint and a tube of glue to ship from Buttecrack, Idaho.

RobG

There are no on-line hobby shops in Buttcrack, Idaho. The nearest one is in Elkass, ID.

Ya know, I've been thinking of this thread since it was first aired. I collect old "Air Trails" magazines from the 1940s, and have some even older in my collection. What you're talking about is really pretty much the same thing that has been going on for the past 60 years. Point - back in the 1930s, there were a few wooden static models, but most were balsa stick and tissue; after the Second World War there was a shift to pre-carved pine models (Monogram Speedie-builts and Strombeckers come to mind). Then plastics were introduced in the late

1940s and early 1950s. The plastics started out crude and got progressively better, but now at the local shop I'm seeing pre-painteds, large-scale figures that look like hi-tech versions of G.I. Joe and progressively less and less injected kits. Out of curiosity, I went over to the flying models section and found almost nothing (and this is a pretty big shop). When I mentioned my "Air Trails" collection to the owner (and a flying model buff) he asked to see (and copy) as many of the old designs as I had - seems that ~he~ has been looking for old free flight and control line designs and has noted that there hasn't been a lot new in years. I guess that the bottom line is to enjoy the kits that you like while you can and to realize that when they're gone, then they're gone. Nothing lasts forever.

willshak wrote

Ahh, that'd be coz you're looking in the wrong town - BUTTECRACK has an online shop - 2, in fact. BUTTCRACK, OTOH ain't got jack - not even a KFC. Talk about a one horse town. (c;

RobG

Good to see that not everyone's lost their sense of humour.

RobG wrote in news:Xns97AC64AA1A2C6rgrinbergspamspam@203.87.95.150:

Couldn't find a decent one in Pigknuckle, Arkansas either.

Dennis

You missed the turnoff to Jacksonville... ;-p

nothing in devil's elbow, mo. (a real place.)

Probably nothing in Intercourse, or Blueball, PA either. (other places that really exist too).

Bill Shuey :-)

Nothing in Dry Prong, LA either.

it's the all american p.o., gas station, general store, crackhouse, and bar. yep, one building. been through intercourse, just to say i have.

wasn't there a minor skirmish there during the insurrection?

Nor Bird-in-Hand, also for real.

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr.

...awaiting the report from Humptulips...

Sounds more like some of those 'towns' up in Sullivan County, Pa. Intercourse is filled with tourist shops, a feed mill and several residents. :)

Bill Banaszak, MFE Sr. just up the road