Hope to see you at a monthly meeting in Louisville after or before your move. Try to organize a trip up to include second Sunday ipms meeting.
I think you will find anywhere near Sherman a much slower pace lifestyle. I have a cousin that lives in Katy.
This past Sunday’s IPMS NCT meeting at HobbyTown Lewisville was the last. It was announced that we have an agreement to hold out meetings going forward at the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field, Dallas. Same Bat Time, different Bat Channel - second Sunday at 1pm. Next meeting is February 8,
Frontiers of Flight is at 6911 Lemmon Ave, across the runways from Love Field terminal over in the Bizjet neighborhood. Ample parking. Museum membership not required, free admission to the meeting and wander around before/after the meeting
Too bad the other Museum is closed at Addison Airport.
We have to also pay admission to get in the front door?
Losing your meeting space is a peril waiting for most clubs; so many of us don’t own a location but have to make a deal with a host or landlord. Three clubs I belong to have had to deal with this over the past 4 years.
One club started out meeting at the local HobbyTown franchise, but the owner sold it. The new owner just liquidated the franchise over the course of a couple months, and we had to move. We found space at the local AC Moore franchise. Tiny room, but it was available. Then AC Moore went out of business. Fortunately one of our members is a fireman and got us in at a borough hall where the fire station is located.
Another club met for around 30 years in a hall at a local fraternal insurance group. That was fine till last year. Turns out, we were “subletting” from the group, who was a tenant. The landlord sold the property for development. Fortunately, we landed at a nearby church with a very nice meeting hall, better than our old home. Large hall, lots of room, a kitchen, and digital capability, too.
Then the figure club I belong to got the notice that our meeting space will go away this year, because Stevens International is going out of business. We’ve been meeting at their bricks-and-mortar store. Fortunately, we made a deal with the same church and so it’ll be more or less seamless to move.
But it’s always hanging over your club’s head.
Best regards,
Brad
Squadron is a LOT better these days now that Brandon Lowe has taken it all over.
Phil’s moved to the Florida area and opened up under another name. I can’t remember what the name was but I think even he’s shut down now.
Alot of those privately owned dealerships went the way of Big Business which is another discussion entirely. lol
Squadron 2.0 was owned by Franklin Mint. There were a few modelers on staff, but management didn’t know the market. Inventory and cash flow issues lead to the bankruptcy..
Jerry Campbell, the founder, was Squadron 1.0. Somewhat of a curmudgeon but he ran it well until retirement & sale to Mike McMahon (Squadron 1.5). He was good but didn’t have the deep pockets necessary. He got in bed with Franklin as the money people.
Chris Decker (Trident/Midship Models) bought the Squadron name out of bankruptcy. I consider him to be Squadron 3.0. His plan was to run Squadron as part of his online store. Chris sold Military Model Distributor (MMD), the titular owner of the Squadron brand, to Russ Lowe. MMD is the actual importer & wholesale distributor. Russ had been fronting model railroad wholesale around the SE. Russ & his sons Brandon and Jared ran Freetime Hobby in Blue Ridge, GA. Freetime Hobby had bought Pacific Front Hobby, a then major importer of Japanese ship kits, from Bill Gruner.
Russ learned that the whole Squadron name was available from Chris Decker. It didn’t fit into Chris’ business model. Brandon bought it from Decker and I consider him to be Squadron 4.0. Brandon is hobby-business minded. He has actively worked to reassemble pieces of the company broken in the bankruptcy. He has bought several manufacturers from their old owners (GMM, Scale Colors). Some products will not be back (True Details) and some much reduced due to shifting markets (InAction books). In the big scheme of things, Brandon works for his Dad.
My favorite online place to shop/buy/order was freetimeHobby.com. Went there back in December to look at and buy a few kits and to my dismay they are no longer and absorbed by current owners of sqaudron and my freetime hobby account no longer accessible.
I was just there for Thanksgiving and it’s definitely a change of pace from Corpus. Going from hustle and bustle to dang near dead stopped. lol.