That is what I liked about J&J Hobbies Scott, they were knowledgeable in models even tho they specialized in R/C. I came upon their store roughly 6 yrs. ago while insearch of the elusive RA-5C Vigilante in 1/72. They went on-line to see if they were even available at the time. They were always willing to talk shop & thrived on customer service. If they didn’t have an item in-stock, they were more than happy to order it. Infact, they didn’t carry but a few MM paints at the time & they ordered the whole line when I asked for a certain color that they didn’t have! As a result, they were a hot item & sold alot of them.
I think we all think about opening up the “dream shop” from time to time. After I got laid off, I seriously began to think about it. My fiance was all for it, but several people told me there were others in my area that tried it, and they never had any success. I would like to open the shop that has everything, the PE, the AM decals, the detail goodies for cars, all that fun stuff, but I doubt those would sell fast enough to make much profit. I have seen, and this wasn’t around here, but its still a good idea, a guy rented the back of a hardware store and had his hobbyshop set up in there. Pretty good idea if you ask me, you just leach off of the stores already existing customer base, and hopefully the guys will bring they kids in with them[:D]
Bear with me guys… I seemed to have missed a lot that I’d like to reply too. [D)]
Yes eizzle I have seen them, thank you. I have my hobby room all planned out for when our house is built or when we remodel one that we buy. Just waiting impatiently for… well… remember my head injury? I’m not supposed to talk about it. I wasn’t always “just” a mechanic, I designed and built homes too. [;)]
I miss all the shopping possibilities I had growing up in CT. When I moved 5+ years ago to rural NH, I didn’t realize exactly what or how much I was giving up. We don’t have any arts & crafts stores (at least none that we have found) other than a Jo-Ann Fabric which stinks. The LHS, Kenney Drug Store and WalMart are the “only” places I can find within a respectful days drive that carries “anything” pertaing to modeling. When I ask any of the store managers if they can order something, all they tell me is “We get what is shipped to us and that’s decided by headquarters”. Yeah right! WalMart usually has a decent selection of car models, sometimes the stock gets low, but they just restocked and so did I (and they weren’t on my want list LOL)… [:D]
At our LHS the guy is “somewhat” ok to talk too. But I get the impression that he doesn’t want to be there. When I was first looking into AB’s he was trying to sell me an Aztek kit with all kinds of nozzles for around $200. and a little compressor without the regulator for $399. I told him I will be spraying real auto’s by summer, he informed me that the Aztek could do everything. He used to sell Badgers but likes Aztek’s better. That’s where I met the gentleman that cutomizes auto’s and let me try his Iwata’s at his shop.
My wife is pushing the idea of me opening a small Mom & Pop Hobby Shop. Even if it’s only open in the evenings and weekends. We’re hoping to have a small business on our property when we finally buy. I don’t know a real lot about the modeling hobby, so the idea scares me. But my wife is already looking for wholesalers and where to buy things in bulk, and not having much success I might add. [:O]
I can remember the hobby shop from my childhood. If it wasn’t busy, the owner would sit there and expain to me how he got that special effect, or how he painted that. He was always willing to teach someone that was willing to learn or seemed interested. I can remember him even giving me a sample of things to try on my new kit. What a ploy, next time I came in for a kit I just had to buy the whole package of the special treatment. You know what I mean, I always bought more than I planned too. But it was a fun place to visit. I would do my chores all week so my Dad would take me there every Saturday morning.
Where do you find that feeling these days?
Now that I actually have money to spend, I still get that feeling everytime I walk out of the store. (I think the hobby store has finally beaten out Best Buy in terms of where my spending money goes LOL). My wife loves seeing my work, and asks me how I did this or that, as do my kids. It’s fun now playing the role that my father played with my brother and me. Everything has gone full circle.
I think once I retire, I would love to “work” part time at a hobby store. Talk about doing something that you love for a living! LOL
Espins1, this is way off topic, but is that your car in you advatar?
Jim most business men have a good woman behind them
so take your good woman’s advice try it and maybe add mail order too
Yes it is, 2004 Nissan 350Z, I bought it for my wife for our first wedding anniversary. Needless to say, I have had carte blanche freedom to buy at the hobby store ever since. >;)~
Those things are so sweet! I had an SRT-4 for about two years, but I would have rather had the Z with the Nissan S-Tune… oh well. Nice car ya got there anyway!
Thanks eizzle. It’s a blast to drive, 287 hp, 6 speed, performance model with 18" ultra low profile tires. I’ve had it up to 130mpg… rock solid.
I wanted to build her a model of it to keep on her desk at work, I picked up the Tamiya kit, only real downside is the kit is a right hand drive model, but close enough.
Man, its fun at that speed[:D] I had my SRT-4 up to 145 and that was about all I had left, pretty darn fast, to fast for me! Yeah, I wish somebody would model an SRT-4, but it doesn’t seem like its ever going to happen, since they are out of production now[:(]
145 eh? That’s fast. The Z will do 156, but I have yet to find a stretch of road where I can even attempt that, unless my wife and I do a road trip to Vegas, lots of smooth, straight road and you can see for miles.
Yeah, its pretty fast! I have one spot I have found to do it in, its a nice long strech of interstate that is about 5 or 6 miles long, straight, and plenty of room to see. Its a blast, but once I started thinking about what would happen if I hit a dear it was pretty much back down to 70 from there[:D]
gaaaah… you hit a deer at those speeds and game over man, game over. LOL
Yeah, pretty much, heck, hit a bug and it might crack your windshield! Not exactly the death I had planned, so I backed her off. Fun, but man its fast!!!
Thanks Joe, I’ll let her run with the idea - her arts & crafts, my hobby’s (of course online too [;)] ) and see how far she can get us. By then at least I’ll always have my garage to play around in LOL.
That would be nice wouldn’t it Scott…? Sitting there building a model waiting for someone to stroll through the door. [:D]
145 huh? Did that on my ‘74 Harley[:)] back before the bucket laws were thought up! Best place I ever found for openin’ up the throttle was out in Nevada. had a '57 Nomad set up with nitrus O and had that thing up to 205!! I tell ya, what a rush that was & should a deer or, jack rabbit run out in front[xx(]
The car was my buddy’s. It was give to him for his 16th B-day from his dad & we completely tore it down & rebuilt her from the ground up[:P]
Oh man, I would sooooo be in heaven! And getting to BS about the hobby all day is icing on the cake! 
205!!! [:O] How much nitrious did you have flowing through that motor??? I mean, jeez, talk about being a greasy spot on the highway! My theory is for every ten mph over 100 you, is in direct relation with how much of a spot you leave on the tarmac[;)]
eizzle, I’d have been all over the road & they’d have been pickin’ me up with a shovel!![:-,] I do not recall what the flow rate was on the N2O as that wasn’t my area. We did however run a 350c.i. engine that was “pumped” up to the max[:D], posi rear end (4:11s I believe) Man was it a great ride[^]
That sounds like a nice car! Probably pass everything on the road but a gas station right?