Sm Tall alk A
s I’m writing this it appears that we’re going to get snowed on just about any minute now. But that’s not uncommon; we always get a little bit of snow the first week of April. I guess that’s just nature’s way of telling us who’s really in charge. But the good news is that on the other side it’ll be pretty much smooth sailing. It also means that the win- ter building season is about done, and the summer flying season will be upon us real soon.
Where have all the hobby shops gone?
I know that sounds like a loaded question, but it’s really not. Having been in the mod- eling hobby for some 50-odd years I have seen and enjoyed a lot of hobby shops across the country, but in recent years, particularly the last five, we’ve seen the face of the hobby change dramatically. There was a time when you could walk into any Five & Dime, hardware or drug store and find model kits, glue, paint and other hobby related items. For the more sophisticated projects there were at least a couple of well-stocked full line hobby shops in just about every small town, and pages of possibilities in the phone book in the bigger cities were numerous. In the day, the hobby shop was a great place to hang out and spend some quality time with friends and do some serious idea swapping and hangar flying. We still have a small shop here, but more often than not, when I need something—even the most basic hobby related items—the standard answer has be- come; “sorry, discontinued, unavailable, or terminal back-order”, and the day of idea swapping and hangar flying with friends has gone the way of many of those once read- ily available bits and pieces as well.
by pat tritle You can reach Pat Tritle at 10313 Snowheights NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112 or via e-mail at
patscustommodels@aol.com
PHOTO: PHILLIP AGNOLETTO
Phillip Agnoletto did a beautiful job finishing his Ryan Navion enlarged to 40-inch span from Earl Stahl freeflight plans and came up with a beautiful, and great flying model of one of private aviation’s more neglected subjects.
These days, the hobby shop where the ceiling once graced dozens of large R/C mod- els, show cases filled with plastic models, shelves covered with R/C boats, all built by customers, and the show case that displayed dozens of antique engines, radios and model kits actually looks more like a toy store with shelves full of large brightly colored boxes containing finished ready to fly models re- quiring none of that dreaded, “some assem- bly required”.
But while the industry offers a plethora of
ARF and RTF models, the modeler is finding it far more difficult to find kits, or even the basic modeling items that 10 years ago seemed so plentiful. In the late ’50s until the early ’70s, money was tight, so when I need- ed something I’d either scrounge up some- thing that worked, or make it. At the time it seemed a little unfair, but looking back, I now see it as perfect training for these mod- ern times.
The great irony in all of this is that as modeling appears to be fading into obscuri- PHOTO: TOM BINKLEY
PHOTO: BILL BOSCO
PHOTO: CHRIS HUXLEY
Chris Huxley has mastered the art of the action photo with this shot (above) of the DC-6 fire bomber and the Piper Aerostarbeing serviced for the next mission. A little creativity mixed with a bit of modeling skill is all it takes, and you can do just about anything you want to do. Tom Binkley did a terrific job keeping his Citabria (above, at right) clean and simple with the semi-profile fuselage of foam and balsa to create a great flying model of another of civil aviation’s finest. Bill Bosco took a nostalgia trip back in time with his scaled up AJ- 404 Interceptor (at right), but this time, 3-channel R/C control eliminates the need for chasing this classic model. Using the original color scheme from Callie Graphics, the model looks just like its original counterpart.
52 MAY 2013
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