Hi there everybody,
I’ll be going down to Manhattan on Wednesday.I hear there is a good hobby shop in Queens but I don’t have the address or know how to get there.
I have been to the one in Lexington Ave but would like to check out the Queens also.Can someone direct me to it?
Thanks.[:)]
Actually, the one you want is Rudy’s Confectionery & Hobbies (how’s that for a combination?) at 35-16 30th Ave in Astoria, Queens. Take the Uptown N train to the next to last stop in Queens and walk about five blocks. The place isn’t real big, but he has a fine selection of kits (I wish he wouldn’t keep flashing that Trumpeter Thud in my face. I can’t afford it and I want it SO BAD) and an excellent selection of paints and lots of modeling magazines from all over, but no books, and no AM stuff. Don’t know about the candy selection. Never noticed it. And for all my complaining about how we don’t have a decent LHS in New York City (and we really don’t), this one comes close and the owner is nice and helpful in that gruff NY way (which I finally, after years of living here, learned not to take personally after being raised a Southerner and to be polite to everyone). And if you can stand being treated like something smelly on the bottom of the owner’s shoe, go back to (gzzpwhitenose) Hobby Shop on Lexington. Most of us scale modelers here in the Big Rotten Fruit don’t, but you can. I mean, the fact is, he does have an amazing bunch of kits all crammed back there in no particular order, fifty percent (at least) over suggested retail price, but many are long out of production. Though, for some reason, that has nothing to do with the pricing. New ones are as outrageously expensive as the old, out of production ones[#welcome].
Hope all this verbiage helps. And welcome to town.
Obiwan,
Welcome (in advance) to NYC. Yeah Rudy’s is cool, and he also has some crazy out of production stuff (it’s the 1/32 Matchbox Venom that I’m constantly drawn to for no reason I can name). There’s also an interesting Hobby/Hardware store in Ridgewood (Queens, nowhere near Astoria) called (if I remember right) Nagenast Hardware. I’ll look it up for you, in any case it’s not convenient to get to using public transportation, and it’s not worth taking a cab. Sadly, Sharkskin is right, I don’t think there is a really good hobby shop in the city (Hint to HobbyLobby, everyone else is opening superstores in the city, why not you?). I usually wind up going out to Willis Hobby in Mineola (Nassau county, Long Island), or even to Internet Hobbies up in Tuckahoe (Westchester county).
If it’s airbrush stuff you’re after, try Pearl Paint in Chinatown, but beware, it can be a madhouse.
Now, instead of chasing the impossible dream of a great hobby shop in this town, what you should do, in my opinion, is treat yourself to a visit to the Intrepid, moored on the West Side, not far from the Javitz Center. (Wow, is that an SR-71 on the flight deck? NO it’s not an SR-71, it’s actually a YA-12!) Or, if you have a lot of free time visit the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Nassau county, or have lunch at 56 Fighter Squadron (also on Long Island, not sure if it’s in Nassau or Suffolk, but it’s an aviation theme restauraunt, food’s okay, but cool ambience) then head down the road and check out the American Airpower Museum out at Republic Field (sadly, you would need a car to visit any of the Long Island locations, you COULD take the Long Island Railroad, but you would have to catch a cab at the other end). Enjoy your trip. Unfortunately, I’ll be working 12 hr days next week (and the next, and no days off) on account of the RNC. Oh, well, maybe I’ll get myself something nice with some of the overtime money.
Al
There is a hobby shop on 30th St. between 8th and 9th Ave - I forget the name right at the momement, has alot of train stuff and RC stuff as well. The kit selection is standard fare
but his saving grace is brass/aluminum tubing shapes and plastic shapes (Pearl Paint
has a similar selection in thier drafting supply, 5th floor along w/ balsa, bass wd and so on)
Alrighttt! Thanks guys ,for the welcome to New York
and for the excellent directions(my friend did say it was next to a bakery).
I’ll be ariving NYC on friday morning and will be totaly jet lagggedd as the
time difference between Malaysia and NYC is 12hrs so at 12noon
my body will think its 12midnight.
I’ll be sure to check out Rudy’s even though I’ll be walking around like a zombie.
And yes ,I did notice the kit prices in the shop on Lex are quite expensive.
The Intrepid is excellent but I didnt bring my camera the last time I went
so it looks like I am going again.There is so much to do in New York and
I only have 1 and half days there…Well I just gotta make the most of it.
(all those museums mentioned above)
Just gotta round up all the hobby shops…
Thanks gang I knew you wouldn’t let me down.
Hey Obiwan… Next time you come to So. Cal. I have the place for you.
Thanks Jeff ,I 'll keep that in mind.However it does seem unlikely
that I’ll be heading that way anytime in the near future.
Obiwan,
I looked up Nagengast Hardware (correct spelling, unlike first post). It’s on 6802 Fresh Pond Road, but like I said, not worth a trip if you have to go by cab. With only a day and a half in town, and with your internal clock as off as can be, you’ll probably not want to wander too far, but, if you wanted to try the museums on Long Island, you would take the Long Island Rail Road from Penn Station to Garden City (for the Cradle of Aviation) or to Farmingdale (American Airpower) then get a taxi from the train station. If you were coming on Labor Day weekend, I’d say definitely go to American Airpower, because in addition to the planes in their collection, they have a B-17 and B-24 flying in (which I’ll also miss because of work).
Al.
Thanks again alenam ,American Airpower is now a piority.
Wow what a lot of things to look out for.