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Hobby Lobby a great place to go if you're just starting out or getting back in the hobby.


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Wife enjoys sewing and knitting......so we visit Hobby Lobby about once a month (it's 1.5 hour away)

I got a Garlits FE rail kit for $15....not bad.....but was more happy with what I found in the scrapbook dept.  It was a nice corrugated paper that is chrome plated. It will work great in dioramas after it's dulled a little with clear flat of a rusty brown color.  At 99 cents for a 12 x 12 well worth it.  I buy much more 'craft' stuff than kits...... 

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Not all of us have a LHS Harry, so we have to use Hobby Lobby as a source. I haven't bought a kit at a LHS in over a year, but online and places like Hobby Lobby, Michaels, A.C. Moore and some closeouts at Ollie's have been my go to places. I don't see anyone opening a LHS here in Charlotte anytime soon, given that 2 HobbyTown USA's closed within the last year.

Charlotte is a hobby shop wasteland.......

I worked in a few different hobby shops in Charlotte during the time I lived there. 

At least with Hobby Lobby you do not have to mail/internet order glue or a bottle of paint. As I said it's 1.5 hour to Hobby Lobby and 2.5 to local hobby shop. So I'd love ANY store I could buy simple hobby supplies....Hobby Lobby or LHS.....At least in Charlotte you have something within 30 minute drive. 

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At least with Hobby Lobby you do not have to mail/internet order glue or a bottle of paint. As I said it's 1.5 hour to Hobby Lobby and 2.5 to local hobby shop. So I'd love ANY store I could buy simple hobby supplies....Hobby Lobby or LHS.....At least in Charlotte you have something within 30 minute drive. 

True. HL carries a good range of Testor/Model Master paints, which are my favorites. The next closest place to me that might have them is over an hour away.

If Michaels or AC Moore has the color I want, I buy it there, but I do get certain colors from HL if I need them.

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What would be better balsa or basswood, imo I like balsa better, but haven't tried basswood, btw its for a 1/8th scale deuce coupe project

MVC-004S

Theis 1/25 scale playhouse is made completely from basswood. It's harder and tighter grained than balsa.It stains better than balsa. It will hold it's shape while balsa will bow over time. It comes in the same dimensions as balsa and isn't all that much more expensive.

What's in the back? Model kits of course! AMT cases were made on copier, kit boxes were photo reduced.

Maybe you can see in this photo... the floor on this truck was done with balsa... notice how it's warped and gone wavy?

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What would be better balsa or basswood, imo I like balsa better, but haven't tried basswood, btw its for a 1/8th scale deuce coupe project

Balsa is easier to sand and shape, but basswood is a bit stronger. It compresses less and absorbs less moisture. When I still built balsa airplanes, I kept basswood around for the more structural pieces. In that application, it weighs a feather or two more, so it is best used sparingly.

Other than that, they are very similar. If I needed them in a car model, I might lean towards the basswood.

And Snake has the right of it with HL and why I don't frequent them. In the past when I did, I also figured they were losing money on me.

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When it comes to getting stuff locally in my area, Hobby Lobby is about the best place to go. There are a few hobby shops, but they're pretty much 90% RC stuff and carry less than HL in the way of modeling supplies and kits. 

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My wife is a crafter, so we go there fairly often when she has money to spend. I almost always end up getting a kit.

They have the 40% off coupons online, and with our smart phones we can both use them in the same visit, just have to make two purchases instead of one. And you can use these coupons repeatedly, not limited to one a week or whatever the old paper ones were. :D

And they (along with other craft type stores) have a ton of stuff we can use for modeling. I am always seeing stuff to buy. Problem is I never actually have gotten around to using most of it. I would have to actually build a model to do that. :rolleyes:

Russ

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HL is a good place to get started, they have just about everything you need, tools, paint, kits, and even air brushes. Other stuff like sand paper can be found at Walmart or auto parts stores. If someone starts out and decides to pursue the hobby seriously, then finding a Hobby store or internet retailer is helpful when you need more exotic paint, filler putty, or different glues.

Does anyone else remember the tales of model kits with incorrect price tags? Before they came to My area, apparantly they had a better selection of kits, and had things like Tamiya 1/32 aircraft kits ($100+).  On aircraft forums, people used to post stories of finding kits that retail everywhere else for over $100 with price tags of $40 or less, and they had the 40% coupon... 

 

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H.L. is a CHRISTIAN  owned  company  so  don`t  knock em 

Okay, I'll bite....so? That doesn't automatically make a company any better or worse than any other company, or immune to complaints and from wrong-doings.

Example: There's a barber shop less than a mile from my house. I've been there once and will never go again. His Facebook page and shop are both littered with Bible verses, "pray for this person's", crosses hanging on the wall etc, but the guy is a total jerk to his customers. The one time I was there I witnessed him literally scream at two customers in a 15 minute window...one was because her kid got a handful of candy from one of those quarter, turn-the-knob machines and he dropped some of it on the floor (I can see how that's annoying, but yelling is not the way to handle it, and the mother was cleaning it up as he started yelling at her anyway), the other was because somebody came in like 20 minutes before closing and he told him "we're closed" and he said, "I thought you didn't close until 6:30, can I not still get a haircut?" He [the owner] then proceeded to berate the customer about how "only an a-hole would come into a business that close to closing time and expect service." There's also a review on his Facebook page that turned into a hateful argument between him and another customer for pretty much the exact same thing when another employee was working. If he doesn't want to cut hair past 6:30, that's fine...but maybe he should "close" at 5 or 5:30 so he can be done by 6:30 instead of screaming like an idiot when someone dares to come in during business hours. As I was paying I told him I wouldn't be coming back because of the way he disrespectfully treats his customers...he said "like I give a 'expletive', we don't want customers like you anyway." The guy may be a Christian, and he may have just been having a bad day, but that's not an excuse. From what I've seen, Christian or not, he's simply not a decent person, and he sure doesn't seem to be embracing the Christian lifestyle. 

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The vast majority of car models that I've purchased in the last year or so (not really all that many, maybe twenty or so), have been purchased at HL. This Saturday I'll be snatching yet another, assuming they have anything I'm really interested in.

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Okay, I'll bite....so? That doesn't automatically make a company any better or worse than any other company, or immune to complaints and from wrong-doings..

Description of Solomon Young, grandfather of President Harry S Truman: "Skeptical of preachers or anyone who made too much show of religion, he liked to say that whenever he heard a man praying loudly, his first instinct was to go home and lock the smokehouse."  (From "Truman" by David McCullough)

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Description of Solomon Young, grandfather of President Harry S Truman: "Skeptical of preachers or anyone who made too much show of religion, he liked to say that whenever he heard a man praying loudly, his first instinct was to go home and lock the smokehouse."  (From "Truman" by David McCullough)

I like the man already.

I can see where Harry got his general temperament from. 

Sounds like a good book- most of McCullough's are.

Charlie Larkin

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  • 1 month later...

Description of Solomon Young, grandfather of President Harry S Truman: "Skeptical of preachers or anyone who made too much show of religion, he liked to say that whenever he heard a man praying loudly, his first instinct was to go home and lock the smokehouse."  (From "Truman" by David McCullough)

Amen to that

 

 

 

 

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There is absolutely no "show of religion" at HL.

The employees don't wear crucifixes. They don't play religious music on the sound system. Nobody says "Bless you." There is no "Jesus aisle." In fact, they don't sell any religious items at all! It's like any other store, and if you didn't happen to know that the ownership is Christian, you could never tell by what you see in the store.

HL carries all sorts of cool stuff, and anyone who refuses to shop there based on some sort of personal "litmus test" is doing themselves a huge disservice. You go to HL to buy the products they carry... not to convert to the religious beliefs of their ownership! And nobody there will try to convert you. :rolleyes:

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They don't play religious music on the sound system.

That is entirely incorrect. HL plays nothing but religious music, mostly contemporary Christian. It is all instrumental music though, so if you aren't aware of the source, you'd never know it.

I find it interesting that this comes up again on Independence Day.

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