my fellow modellers, i just discovered the ultimate hobby shop in my area. well, its actually 75 miles from my front door step. Foster7155 knows exactly where i am talking about…John’s models in Cantoment, FL everybody that i have talked to in the p’cola area said that i needed to visit this hobby shop, that it was worth it. well, yesturday, i found it and i certainly am amazed at the collection of kits and modelling materials that this cat has on display!! he has nearly every brand of paint under the sun, kits from several years back that have been opened and at dirt cheap prices to boot!! i found several little nuggets in that mountain of A/C kits he had on the shelves. for the first time in my life, i laid eyes on a display rack of Gunze Sanyo paints!! and Humbrol tinlets!!! i guess what i’m trying to say is, this is a really cool little store!!! later.
Chris,
Just be careful. With all of those good buys at Hobby Lobby combined with this new store the wife may be buiding a doghouse for you real soon. [:D][;)]
Mike
Yep, John’s Models is the bomb!!!
Some of his prices are great, some are middle of the road, and some are a bit high, but the SELECTION! Last March, when they did inventory for taxation, I think he said he had over 14,000 plastic model kits alone. I usually show up for our modeling club meetings there at least an hour early just to browse.
Oh, by the way, did you notice the fridge …sodas for .25 cents!!!
Enjoy your modeling…
robert, i had tunnel vision my friend!!! i was so astonished by the selection of paints and styrene, i about fainted!!! and the basset hound!!!LOL. John wasn’t there and is out at the Nationals setting up, so i didn’t get to meet him. i’m thinkin’ real hard about joining IPMS through the Modeleers though. i just don’t know if i can participate in the local things that you guys do from time to time. later.
Mike, LOL, you’re probably right, but i slide her a little cash under the table to shop with and drop her off at the mall, then i wreak imortal havoc on the local styrene populace!! LOL. i have her paid off!![;)] she is a very sweet, kind, and understanding women. later.
It sounds just like a place near me. It’s called Udisco, and it is massive. Prices are great, and the selection is overwhelming. It takes me almost an hour just to go through the armour section. Another place just around the corner from me stocks a full load of Gunzo and Polly Scale paints.
Always nice to find a great hobby shop … even better when it is fairly close to home … [swg]
Thanks for sharing … and good hunting out there … [^]
…more envy
sounds like Phil’s was in Dallas…
Does he have Model Master Acryl ?..too ?
hey…you P’cola guys…check out Bobe’s Hobbies in P’cola…
tell Mike…i said hi…[:D]
rik, i frequent Bobe’s Hobby House all the time friend. all though i don’t know mike personally, i have paid his light bill a time or 2 buy my purchases!!!LOL. and yes, John’s does carry mm acryl. its only 20 minutes north of Bobe’s! later.
I have a place called Brookhurst Hobbies like 10 minutes form me. Best selection I ever seen. You want it its there… or he will order it for you, no questions asked. He carries figurines too… soon to get some figurines from italy thanks to me because one of the links I got on this site leads to the vendor page or whatever its called, at a price cheaper then any he was able to get before. Funny how this all works out huh. He has all the paints… mm acrylic Full Vallejo range except the plane colors, coming soon [^] but no gunze because he cant get an order into them.
All the rows are neatly (sorta) lined by maker and scale top to bottom with 4 isles of planes!!! Like Santas North Pole in there for me… I go nuts.
All the role playing stuff you could want and more.
Big selection of Verlinden, Eduard and blackbox and more…
Awesome place to go, plus he has friday night game night there and I am going to talk to him about letting me make a model club in there.
- Allen Quatermain’s Nephew Jeff
Very lucky indeed. Anymore I have to order more and more online, because the old LHS just doesn’t have the selection it once had. They branched out into gaming and die-cast cars. Whoopie! Just not my cup of tea.
Chris,
How does that hobby shop compare to this one near me?
http://www.sahobby.com/sa_inside.htm
Mike
mike, the one i speak of is a small building similar to a garage thats been converted into a small hobby shop. the guys house is attached to it!! yesturday was the first time i’ve visited the HS and the first impression was excellent!! he finds collections of past modellers who may have passed away or lost interest in the hobby and buys out the fellows whole stash, then sells it to the public. he has tons of new kits too!! along with this, he has tons of reference material, paints, and related supplies. i just think its neat because of some of the antique looking boxes of kits there. there are so many excellently molded kits there for under $15 in 1/48 scale that are really old. bobe’s down the road is an excellent shop too, but i just think John’s is neat…and closer!! later.
In my 17 years of transporting dead chickens all over the lower 48, I was never close enough with any time to spare to make it to San Antonio Hobby’s. I always wanted to go.
I did find numerous little shops in other citys that were a lot of fun, though.
Randie [C):-)]
…a verse from some '60’s song…“ya don’t know what ya got 'til it’s gone…”
Chris…Mike B. and i worked together @ Phil’s, Dallas, not so long ago…
you and Foster are indeed blessed…
Mike V…yeow…u r indeed fortunate…
…support your local LHSs’…or one day…
perish the thought…
Always good to hear happy news about a great hobby shop!
I grew up in rural Southeast Georgia, with Woolworth being the only “hobby shop” in town…and now, years later, I’m surrounded by what have to be the best hobby shops in the world here in Osaka.
Unfortunately, none of them have a Basset hound…can’t have everything, I guess!
That’s a hobby shop I’ve wanted to go to for years but the few times I’d get to northern California, I was never in that area. Maybe someday. In the meantime, here in the Phoenix area, I go to Hobby Depot in Tempe, and a brand new hobby shop just opened in Glendale–Andy’s Hobby Headquarters. (Some of you San Diego modelers might recognize that name; he has a store in El Cajon.) That one in Glendale’s convenient to stop by on my way to mother’s house.
my LHS caries only those and testors/MM. also a couple colors in Tamiya
Actually guys I never go to San Antonio Hobbies as I don’t really have a need to.
They charge retail price for their kits anyhow, at least on the internet they do, so I can get better buys elsewhere. With the internet now it is so much easier to just click and buy and have it sent to me for about the same price or even less so that makes driving across a bridge, paying $3 bridge toll and using a few dollars in gas not really worth it. [(-D]
There are three other hobby shops in the area that have what I need if I need it now though.
Yes Rik I do believe in supporting a good local hobby shop but it bothers me when they charge retail prices, but I know that some have to charge that much to make any money especially with the prices here in the Silicon Valley area.
For an example my sister is selling her 4 bedroom, 2 bath house which is at least 30 years old and she has it on the market for $575,000 and it will sell I guarantee it. [:0]
The prices are nuts these days. [V]
Mike
i’ve always wanted to go there, but i’ve never gone to san antonio.
My LHS stocks Humbrol, Gunze ,Tamiya ,Tamiya enamals ,MM acryl, MM car, Boyd, mm metalics, and a few more. the kit selection is great, and the prices are rock bottom
It’s not in San Antonio. [%-)]
It’s in Mountain View, CA.
Randie [C):-)]