Are model kits making a comeback? What gives?

[Ace-Garageguy]

Wow yea your right , the cars seem to handle well, and the people seem to be in better shape lol. I guess we weren't filled up with so many Gmos and synthetiic chemicals back then . I always had this mindset that muscle cars were these uncontrollable beasts due to games, movies, etc. I shouldn't generalize every car and call it a " muscle car" , it's a little harder not too, since I was not born in that era. You are correct, muscle cars were production cars made straight from the dealership to be used  strictly for racing . 

A little clarification is still needed here.

1)  Far as "muscle" and "pony" cars handling goes, they weren't stellar right off the showroom floor, and I'm sorry I gave you that impression. ALL the US cars of the day were set up to understeer initially, with nose-heavy configurations for the most part. They didn't really handle badly, but they weren't as crisp and tossable as European cars of the same period.

BUT...the suspension designs under the cars were actually pretty good, and with relatively minor adjustments to spring and shock stiffness, ride height, tires, and in some cases relocating the pivot-points of the front control arms, they could be made to handle very well, corner quite flat, respond predictably, and deliver good lateral-acceleration numbers...like the cars in the video clip.

2)  It's not at all accurate to blame GMOs and chemical additives for America's obesity problem (though blaming everything except the actual cause is very popular). I'm anywhere between 20 and 30 pounds overweight myself, and the simple truth is that I eat more calories than I burn off, period. If you eat more than you need, you get fat. It's very simple. Even though I have a job that's physically demanding, I don't burn enough calories to lose the extra blubber. Outside exercise is required, and I usually find an excuse to postpone it.

With more and more Americans making their livings sitting in front of computer screens, and the availability of cheap high-calorie snack foods to munch on at the desk, it's no wonder upwards of 70% of the population is overweight today, and 35% are actually clinically obese.

Which brings up an interesting point from my own experience:

When I'm on the computer surfing the web, watching movies, or even visiting this site, I'm inclined to have something to eat frequently. But when I'm at the bench and building a model (or working on a 1:1 vehicle), I get so engrossed in what I'm doing that I go for hours without a snack, and don't miss them, at all.

 

 

 

Edited September 27, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[ERIK88]

A little clarification is still needed here.

1)  Far as "muscle" and "pony" cars handling goes, they weren't stellar right off the showroom floor, and I'm sorry I gave you that impression. ALL the US cars of the day were set up to understeer initially, with nose-heavy configurations for the most part. They didn't really handle badly, but they weren't as crisp and tossable as European cars of the same period.

BUT...the suspension designs under the cars were actually pretty good, and with relatively minor adjustments to spring and shock stiffness, ride height, tires, and in some cases relocating the pivot-points of the front control arms, they could be made to handle very well, corner quite flat, respond predictably, and deliver good lateral-acceleration numbers...like the cars in the video clip.

2)  It's not at all accurate to blame GMOs and chemical additives for America's obesity problem (though blaming everything except the actual cause is very popular). I'm anywhere between 20 and 30 pounds overweight myself, and the simple truth is that I eat more calories than I burn off, period. If you eat more than you need, you get fat. It's very simple. Even though I have a job that's physically demanding, I don't burn enough calories to lose the extra blubber. Outside exercise is required, and I usually find an excuse to postpone it.

With more and more Americans making their livings sitting in front of computer screens, and the availability of cheap high-calorie snack foods to munch on at the desk, it's no wonder upwards of 70% of the population is overweight today, and 35% are actually clinically obese.

Which brings up an interesting point from my own experience:

When I'm on the computer surfing the web, watching movies, or even visiting this site, I'm inclined to have something to eat frequently. But when I'm at the bench and building a model (or working on a 1:1 vehicle), I get so engrossed in what I'm doing that I go for hours without a snack, and don't miss them, at all.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the good info on muscle and pony cars. The  gmos and chemical additives i mentioned earlier were just a tiny snippet of  what has cause obesity in the U.S. I do not feel as though I should explain what those variables are since this is a model car forum. If I was to really explain what causes obesity there will need to be extensive research done from multiple sources, data , interviews , etc. It's hard to make a statement these days without providing evidence to backup your statement. I get it, that's part of living in a highly advanced country, but geesh ! Sometimes I want to have a little fun and not care ! This is not work! 

Haha lol

 

Edited September 27, 2015 by ERIK88

[ERIK88]

I can almost guarantee it someone else could probably say the same for your statement of remaining active vs not. Some other individual would express another variable that is most important to him/ her. Human behavior , it never fails to amaze me . One question for you is, so are you stating people were not eating more than they need in the 60s 70s? If so , why not? It would be interesting to see if it was because of less automation maybe in the manual labor fields ? Maybe more factory, general labor, semi skilled and skilled trades which requires a person to stay active as opposed to this digital age/ service industry we are currently in now which requires hardly any manual labor ? Where more people working out outside of work in the 60s 70s? If so, is there concrete data that proves this? 

Edited September 27, 2015 by ERIK88

[Tom Geiger]

Which brings up an interesting point from my own experience:

When I'm on the computer surfing the web, watching movies, or even visiting this site, I'm inclined to have something to eat frequently. But when I'm at the bench and building a model (or working on a 1:1 vehicle), I get so engrossed in what I'm doing that I go for hours without a snack, and don't miss them, at all.

I have to agree here.  If I bring a beer up to the model room,  an hour later I have an untouched warm beer sitting there!  The difference is the deep concentration of working on a model.  And that's the part of it that makes the experience worthwhile and refreshing.

The other thing that gets us is portion size.  Americans especially tend to judge value by the size of the meal.  For instance my Aussie friends were touring the USA and noticed the abundance of fat Americans, attributing this to our need to "Super Size" and the "Big Gulp",  noting that the standard size of a soft drink in Australia was a seven ounce can.  Something to that for sure!

Edited September 27, 2015 by Tom Geiger

[SfanGoch]

Society, on the whole, has become more sedentary. There are almost no jobs which require physical labor. Real blue collar jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate due to technology. More than half of the total workforce is comprised of professionals, assistants, clerical, artists (If that could be considered work. There isn't much of a market for macaroni glued on a piece of velvet.), salespersons and service workers. The majority of people work in *ss parks, filled with cubicles where the only physical exertion required is tapping keypads. Most kids spend their free time in front of a screen exercising their thumbs instead of going outside to do, well, kid stuff like running around and burning off all those junk food-generated calories. I don't see kids playing punchball, stickball, touch football on the block anymore. Go to any of the ten parks and playgrounds in my area and they're virtually empty. With the exception of helicopter parents climbing all over the liability-proof playground equipment following their four and five year olds, no kids.

Where more people working out outside of work in the 60s 70s? 

If I understand your question correctly, then yes. Everybody was more physically active. Kids, especially, engaged in more outdoor activities. People also didn't eat as much as we do today. Restaurants today pile on the eats on your plate in much larger portions than in previous decades. More bang for the buck, I guess. Since there are more families in which both parents work, nutritious, home cooked meals are rarer. They've been replaced by fast food dinners which contribute to the Heap O'Calorie syndrome afflicting us. Ever check out old photos, films and such? People of all ages in the '50s-late '70s, for example, were pretty fit compared to today. That was without the benefit of gyms and fitness clubs. Most people, especially kids and young adults, engaged in some sort of physical activity. Sure, there are gym rats who literally live at their local gyms and others who take their health seriously; but, they constitute a very small percentage of the total population. Let's face it, we are turning into human veals.

[PeeBee]

What I find interesting is the amount of young people today (50 and under) who don't know how to do "things," like using tools (for carpentry and mechanics), performing simple maintenance on their cars, etc.  I see it in my own family.  I have 5 kids (3 boys, 2 girls, now young adults) and my oldest son is the only offspring to have developed a quantitative level of skills to perform mechanical tasks.  It's a good thing he possesses these skills because he is a professional contractor.  I'd have to say the one running the closest second to my son is my younger daughter.  She even knows how to weld, although I don't believe she'd be able to change the oil or replace the timing belt in her car, demo and install a new bathroom and kitchen, etc., without some guidance.  Oh, well.  They all have their own, other talents and interests. 

Joe Z., you mentioned Polk's Hobbies earlier in this thread.  That brought back a lot of memories from my "yute."  It's hard to imagine a hobby shop occupying five floors on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, at any point in time.  That's where you could find the Heller kits, all of the large scale stuff, Tamiya, etc.  That was a great store.

PB.

[SfanGoch]

What I find interesting is the amount of young people today (50 and under) who don't know how to do "things," like using tools (for carpentry and mechanics), performing simple maintenance on their cars, etc.  I see it in my own family.  I have 5 kids (3 boys, 2 girls, now young adults) and my oldest son is the only offspring to have developed a quantitative level of skills to perform mechanical tasks.  It's a good thing he possesses these skills because he is a professional contractor.  I'd have to say the one running the closest second to my son is my younger daughter.  She even knows how to weld, although I don't believe she'd be able to change the oil or replace the timing belt in her car, demo and install a new bathroom and kitchen, etc., without some guidance.  Oh, well.  They all have their own, other talents and interests. 

Joe Z., you mentioned Polk's Hobbies earlier in this thread.  That brought back a lot of memories from my "yute."  It's hard to imagine a hobby shop occupying five floors on 5th Avenue in Manhattan, at any point in time.  That's where you could find the Heller kits, all of the large scale stuff, Tamiya, etc.  That was a great store.

PB.

Paul, walking into Polk's was the equivalent of dying and discovering that Heaven is a giant hobby shop. Back in 1976, Polk's was selling the first primitive home computer. It was the size of a large microwave oven and went for around 5 Grand. A close second was America's Hobby Center on W. 22nd St. Mostly train-related; still, it was a place like you won't find anymore. 

Your comments about young people's lack of manual dexterity skills is true. Remember when every high school offered shop classes? My old high school, Brooklyn Technical H.S.( the largest high school for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics in the United States, btw. ) offered drafting, wood shop, where you made full size patterns of what you drew in drafting class, foundry class where you used the patterns to make sand molds and cast them in metal and, of course, machine shop where we learned to use drill presses and industrial grade multi-speed engine lathes. The architectural engineering students used to build a two story wood frame house in the AE lab as their senior project. My aero engineering class had the availability of a static thrust test stand to fire up an old low thrust jet engine. Foundry was a compliment to the required Industrial Processes course. All of this was cut in the 1990s by the principal at the time. From what I heard from the Alumni Association, there are plans to reintroduce these classes in the future.

Edited September 28, 2015 by SfanGoch

[Harry P.]

And to Harry's comment that the self propelled steam carriage model from 1784 wasn't from a kit,...

Um... what?

I never said any such thing.

[GaryR]

"From what I heard from the Alumni Association, there are plans to reintroduce these classes in the future."

  Good idea! But, it would seem that the classes would consist more of learning to use software as almost ALL of what you describe is computerized now.

STILL, vocational training has been neglected for decades on the theory everyone should go to college.

No college is a money pit and certainly doesn't guarantee employment!

[Ace-Garageguy]

"From what I heard from the Alumni Association, there are plans to reintroduce these classes in the future."

  Good idea! But, it would seem that the classes would consist more of learning to use software as almost ALL of what you describe is computerized now.

Engineers NEED to learn basic machining operations MANUALLY, to get a feel for what the machining processes do, and exactly WHAT can be machined, and what CAN'T. The computer program CAN NOT compensate for a mechanically-ignorant operator.

I constantly see production parts that are stupidly designed, and obviously designed by people who have NEVER had any hands-on or field experience with anything. It's pathetic.

When I was an ME major at Georgia Tech, we had to learn basic machining operations as part of the curriculum....so we would know how to design parts that could actually be made, and wouldn't fail prematurely from things like inside radii being too sharp.

30 years later, when I hired engineering interns from the same school, they no longer had the hands-on requirement...and it showed in a widespread inability to grasp simple mechanical operations. A couple of them learned a lot working for me, and thanked me for the opportunity. A couple others left, practically in tears.

[charlie8575]

Engineers NEED to learn basic machining operations MANUALLY, to get a feel for what the machining processes do, and exactly WHAT can be machined, and what CAN'T. The computer program CAN NOT compensate for a mechanically-ignorant operator.

I constantly see production parts that are stupidly designed, and obviously designed by people who have NEVER had any hands-on or field experience with anything. It's pathetic.

When I was an ME major at Georgia Tech, we had to learn basic machining operations as part of the curriculum....so we would know how to design parts that could actually be made, and wouldn't fail prematurely from things like inside radii being too sharp.

30 years later, when I hired engineering interns from the same school, they no longer had the hands-on requirement...and it showed in a widespread inability to grasp simple mechanical operations. A couple of them learned a lot working for me, and thanked me for the opportunity. A couple others left, practically in tears.

It's very disturbing.

I have a younger friend who's a civil engineer, and even in describing basic construction to him, even though he's out there in the field a good 60-75% of the time, I have to re-explain it, and I'm not even a professional in construction; I have experience in real estate and I took a construction course in college. 

I've talked with younger mechanical and electrical engineers who seem to think that the real world is like one of those crazy Japanese cartoons, and then are mightily disappointed it isn't. They seem to possess great theoretical knowledge and, as you noted, have the practical skills of a turnip. 

When I finished my M.Ed. in 2012-13, I re-designed junior/senior high school as a theoretical school, and part of my school included about three years' of mandatory hands-on (or at least observed if a hands-on  course can't be made acceptably safe enough,) industrial arts, including drafting, basic home repair and maintenance and a survey IA class in 7th grade that would include woods and metals as well. 

The drafting class *GASP* would be REAL pencils and papers, using drafting arms! CAD can come later, but first, as you noted, the student must have a feel for what can and cannot be done, visualize spaces and sizes easily, and more actively engage their imaginations and thoughts so they can actually design stuff and perhaps see problems before they start. 

Someday, we might learn how to teach again. 

Hopefully, before it's too late.

Charlie Larkin

[Ace-Garageguy]

We're seeing the results of the wholesale rejection of a fact-based, hardware-based, physical-object-based reality; all we have to do is wake up, look around, and connect some cause-and-effect dots.

One for instance in the current news:

On one hand, we have legislatures that pass bills for increasingly stringent emission-control standards, thinking in their la-la-land way that just passing a law will make something magically happen, all the while having absolutely no clue (because in their clean-hands world, technical knowledge has no value) as to how difficult and costly to achieve or unreasonable the standards may be.

On the other hand, we have a major vehicle manufacturer (a manufacturer that has been known since its inception for well-above-average engineering and product quality) who, unable to meet the arbitrary standards set forth (Who knows why? Maybe the computer simulations of emissions-compliance development just aren't good enough?) chooses instead to LIE about it on a massive scale, apparently thinking somehow they magically wouldn't get caught.

Both sides pretending, failing to see, understand and act on actual facts, with not much more basis in physical reality than a video game.

Edited September 30, 2015 by Ace-Garageguy

[Rob Hall]

Society, on the whole, has become more sedentary. There are almost no jobs which require physical labor. Real blue collar jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate due to technology. More than half of the total workforce is comprised of professionals, assistants, clerical, artists (If that could be considered work. There isn't much of a market for macaroni glued on a piece of velvet.), salespersons and service workers. The majority of people work in *ss parks, filled with cubicles where the only physical exertion required is tapping keypads.

That sounds like my world.  I'm a software engineer, so I'm in an office in a cubicle with a computer all day...I usually walk to a nearby restaurant or drive somewhere for lunch...  

[Jeff Johnston]

I have to agree here.  If I bring a beer up to the model room,  an hour later I have an untouched warm beer sitting there!  The difference is the deep concentration of working on a model.  And that's the part of it that makes the experience worthwhile and refreshing.

The other thing that gets us is portion size.  Americans especially tend to judge value by the size of the meal.  For instance my Aussie friends were touring the USA and noticed the abundance of fat Americans, attributing this to our need to "Super Size" and the "Big Gulp",  noting that the standard size of a soft drink in Australia was a seven ounce can.  Something to that for sure!

I usually get through half my beer at least Tom HAHA

And you sere right.. I remember when I could buy an 8 ounce bottle of coke.  Then it was 12 ounces.  Not you can't buy a bottle of coke that's less that 20 ounces. 

[FordRodnKustom]

I usually get through half my beer at least Tom HAHA

And you sere right.. I remember when I could buy an 8 ounce bottle of coke.  Then it was 12 ounces.  Not you can't buy a bottle of coke that's less that 20 ounces. 

And loaded with high fructose corn syrup as a sweetener.

[Daddyfink]

This thread has officially jumped the shark

 

[Richard Bartrop]

You may have seen TV ads for the Gundam model kits.   Now, just the fact they they can justify a TV campaign suggests they're doing a fair amount of business, but I wanted to see if I could find any actual sales figures, and I ran across this:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/100121-Bandai-Sells-400-Million-Tiny-Plastic-Gundam-Models

Between 1980 and 2010, Bandai managed to sell 400 million mode robotl kits. That averages to a little over 13 million a year, so the heyday of the model kit boom of the 60s for 30 straight years.  Clearly the kids are still buying models, it just doesn't happen to be model cars

[peteski]

I usually get through half my beer at least Tom HAHA

And you sere right.. I remember when I could buy an 8 ounce bottle of coke.  Then it was 12 ounces.  Not you can't buy a bottle of coke that's less that 20 ounces. 

If you look harder, there are 8oz glass Coke/Pepsi bottles available, and almost every larger soft drink brand is also available in 8-packs of 7.5oz mini-cans.  The mini-cans are especially widely accepted. All the supermarkets I shop at carry them. Whenever I need to fulfill my guilty pleasure of drinking a Coke on Mountain Dew, I go for one of those. Those sizes are all I have in my fridge.

Edited September 30, 2015 by peteski

[scummy]

So no one knew why kits were so expensive down there?   Is that a "new" problem?  

Sorry for getting back here so late , but if you ask about the price you get the answer of having to jack up the price to cover wages , rent and up keep of the shop in general .

 The average take home pay here is between 500-600 dollars a week so hobbys of all sorts get second preference .

[Maindrian Pace]

I saw an article a few months ago about Millennials - born between the early 80s and the early 2000s - and hobbies/crafts/skills. It seems that many of them are in a state of electronic overload, because social media, smart phone apps, and being constantly connected to one network or another is tiring and ultimately unfulfilling. So a lot of them are seeking creative things to do with their hands and minds, and are taking courses in pottery, metal working, casting, jewelry, restoration of antiques, and all kinds of other specialist trades and skills. They do this as much for careers as for a creative outlet. It's very encouraging. You see it all around you, young people doing neat things with old-school techniques that many feared were going the way of the dinosaurs. The 18 year old kid down the street from me bought a '63 Falcon and has been working tirelessly for the last year restoring it. In pretty much all of the automotive hot rod and restoration reality cable shows, generation Y is doing most of the work on the cars. An interest in building models fits right in.

[kentak]

Late to this thread but wanted to put my 2 cents worth. We are in the golden age of modeling.  Many old classic kits are still or newly available, new kits, done to superb levels of details have been coming out, and after-market parts are available in abundance. Here in the Denver-area we have the best hobby shops I've ever seen (and I've traveled to many areas looking at their shops). The internet has allowed us to communicate with fellow modelers, look at pictures of each others' builds, share ideas, buy from shops all over the world, and access reference materials on all sorts of modeling subjects. I can't imagine it getting better than this. The hobby may die off if only older people are interested or participate, but I do see some younger (than me) people getting involved and I see kids in the hobby shops so there may be long term hope. I'm just happy to get to build kits I couldn't get or afford as a kid, with tools and techniques that I couldn't afford or that didn't exist. I'm living out my young model-building dreams!

[martinfan5]

Model kits would have had to gone away in-order for them to be making a comeback, I would think.

I personally feel with a few exceptions, this is a great time for the hobby and feel its going to keep getting better.

Edited October 15, 2015 by martinfan5

[tim boyd]

Late to this thread but wanted to put my 2 cents worth. We are in the golden age of modeling.  Many old classic kits are still or newly available, new kits, done to superb levels of details have been coming out, and after-market parts are available in abundance. Here in the Denver-area we have the best hobby shops I've ever seen (and I've traveled to many areas looking at their shops). The internet has allowed us to communicate with fellow modelers, look at pictures of each others' builds, share ideas, buy from shops all over the world, and access reference materials on all sorts of modeling subjects. I can't imagine it getting better than this. The hobby may die off if only older people are interested or participate, but I do see some younger (than me) people getting involved and I see kids in the hobby shops so there may be long term hope. I'm just happy to get to build kits I couldn't get or afford as a kid, with tools and techniques that I couldn't afford or that didn't exist. I'm living out my young model-building dreams!

Ken..really well stated.  I think this sums up my view very nicely as well.  TIM 

[martinfan5]

The hobby may die off if only older people are interested or participate,

This is the one part that I dont agree with, and bugs me to no end( this isnt aimed at you), but so many people talk about the hobby here in the US, and some how, its going to effect the hobby as a whole world wide.   Its my opinion that I dont see that happening,  the hobby can die here, but that doesnt mean its going to kill the hobby off for the rest of the world.  

And you have to keep in mind that there is an entire generation behind the baby boomers building models (me), so thats gonna keep it going for a long while now.

Which does bring up a interesting point,  I would like to see what age groups around the world make up the , to keep it simple, building automotive related kits.

Edited October 15, 2015 by martinfan5

[69NovaYenko]

I don't see how sitting at home in a comfy chair and pressing a few keys on your keyboard is a "pain in the butt."

Seems easier to me than going out to the car, driving to the hobby shop, buying the paint or whatever, and driving back home. Especially if the weather is bad, snow on the road, traffic, etc., etc.

Yeah, by going to the store and buying something, I get it right away vs. ordering online. But if you keep track of what you have and what you need as far as basic supplies go, and plan your orders, not only will you never run out of paint or foil or whatever, but by combining several small ticky-tacky orders into one large order every 3-6 months or whatever your building schedule/activity dictates, you'll only pay once for S/H. You don't wait until your last bottle of flat black is empty... you order when you're down to your last bottle or two. That way you never run out of anything. It does take a bit of planning ahead, but it's not exactly hard to do.

 

 

Yes, I get it …you can make your hobby purchases on-line.

However, I love going to my LHS. There are about two are so sole proprietor hobby shops left in town.

One is a “everything hobby & craft” kind of shop. They carry trains, RC plane/armor/cars, candle making- knitting-sewing- jewelry-paper making etc. paraphernalia  with a VERY small smidgen of  select styrene models.

The other is a full-blown old school “models only” hobby shop. In fact it`s styrene heaven. They carry it all. They have aisles and aisles and aisles and aisles of models. Under one roof there are cars, motorcycles, ships, planes, tanks, armor, artillery, assorted military vehicles, diorama figures/scenery, trucks, big rigs, TV. Movie science fiction-super hero’s-monster figures. Additionally, they carry multiple manufactures supportive hobby supplies. You can order airbrushes and compressors as well. And, if they don`t have it on hand they will order it.  

This LHS also carries military reference books as well as Model Car Magazine (that’s how I found out about you guys) as well as several other styrene hobbies monthly publications dedicated to specific genres of the modeling hobby. They take in vintage kits on consignment.  They purchase collections so they have a number of vintage kits on their shelves. If you`re looking for a vintage kit they will take your contact info and contact you when they run across it. I told them what I was looking for and got a call 18 months later because they stumbled upon it in mint, unopened condition…of course I purchased it. For long time regulars they will even do lay-away  around X-Mas holidays. You can also per-order new releases. They will contact you that your pre-order is in and hold the kits until you can drop by the shop. I got multiple Revell `70 Cuda kits that way.

To top this off no one and I mean no one just runs in grabs XYZ and runs out. When you go be ready to spend at least an hour or so browsing the store seeing what new stuff has come in; it may new releases, consignment kits or something from one of the collections the shop recently purchased. They know all their customers on first name bases and know what your interests are so it always a relaxing heaven for me, almost like visiting a long time friend. On Saturdays fellow modelers (guys & gals) randomly gather at the shop and chat about the hobby and chow down on free coffee and donuts (but you got to get there early for the donuts).

Some even bring pictures on their phones of their under construction projects to share with fellow enthusiasts. While others will drop by with actual projects they just finished. The shop owner (he`s been modeling since the age of 7) as well as  customer shared knowledge base is incredible. If you’re not sure how to resolve a problem your having or not sure how to execute a technique there is an endless plethora of friendly helpful advice from fellow modelers. They will also tell you what kits are good and which one are marginal based on their experiences. They will share after-market vendor contact info if to help improve your project as well as critique the product and service. It`s like being on the MCM forum except it`s live and in person with real-time feedback/suggestions from fellow enthusiast.

They do have on-line presences and do have some international customers. So they are not stuck in the stone ages. I look forward…in fact I cherish visiting my local hobby shop. Not only do I enjoy myself but I walk out with a bunch of goodies in my hand and the feeling of immediate gratification. I`m not implying that shopping on line is a pain in the butt, but the above is a customer/ hobby  experience that I cannot get shopping on-line. True I may be able to get XYZ for a few penny's less on-line (and I do mean ONLY a few pennies  by the time they add shipping) but heck they are one of the last sole proprietor hobby shops still flourishing; so I will do my darnedest to support this great small business owner and preserve a piece of  the "true" hobby experience. I love my LHS.

But to each his own, so that`s my 2 cents on the subject. I will get off my soap box now.

Peace,

I`m out.

 

Edited October 16, 2015 by 69NovaYenko