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Western Pennslyvannia


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Western Pennslyvannia, I'll add what I know of, including where I work

Whirlwind Toys and Hobbies -- The store I work in, Located in Indiana PA *Jimmy Stuart's hometown* about 45-60 mins North of Pittsburgh. Take the Philadelphia St exit for any way you come in and look for the Big Lots, we're 2 doors down from it. Yes the plaza has a name but it escapes me at this moment. We have Tamiya, Model Master, and Pollyscale paints, large selection of planes, armor and cars, plus some Sci-Fi, diecasts, 1/18 planes and THE largest Godzilla collection I've ever seen. Open 11-6 M-F 11-5 Sat. 12-3 Sun.

J C Hobbies -- 2 shops, one in the new Pittsburgh Mills Mall and another about 15 mins away in Penn Hills. Both cater more to R/C and railroading than to plastic. the Penn Hills store has Model Master series 1 and the Mall location just has the lil 1/4 bottles. Not bad shops, though you can typcially find a deal if your lookin for something new, last time I was in them they had Has. P-40Es for $23 for example. The Mills is off Rt 28 exit 12A I think, and the Penn Hills store is along Rodi Road just follow that to the Dollar General, JC is behind it, you can't miss it they have a school bus out front all painted up.

S&W Randalls-- The only thing close to a hobby shop in downtown Pittsburgh unless something has changed in the 8 months since I was done in school. Right along Smithfield street, across from Barne and Nobels carries a limited line of plastics and a few paints, more of a specialty toy store than a hobby shop, models are on the 2nd floor on your left. Mixed bag of revell/monogram, hobby craft, and a few hasagawa kits. This was my emergency paint and glue shop when I was living in downtown.

Hobby Town USA -- at Robinson Town Centre, off of 22/30 near the Airport. Can't rember the exact street, but its across from IKEA and Toys R Us and Steak N Shake. Not sure if its your typical Hobby Town or not, only one I was ever in. Huge store with tamiya and model master paints, tools etc. Airsoft guns, R/C, Rail roading, Rockets, and lots of models. Some are decently priced others are a lil steep I think.

Anyone else in the area who knows of more chime in and if you know what happened to AB Charles and Sons let me know, I used to go there a lot while I was in school and they weren't there a few weeks ago when I was in that neck of the woods, I know they were going through some land issues but left the city and didn't hear anything further.

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  • 6 months later...

A day late and a dollar short, but:

Hobby Depot- Cranberry PA....has a good selection of Armor and 32nd A/C scale kits. They also have a few 48th scale kits from Hasegawa, but not a lot

Hobby Express- Cranberry PA- very good selection of Aircraft kits and armor kits in all scales. Usually have a 10% off sale going on so buying a single kit is similiar to ordering from GM including shipping. Decent paint selection as well, but very few after market items.

Oh, yeah....HobbyTown USA in Robinson is moving a few doors down near Golf Galaxy, which is part of the strip mall there. Also, I heard there was another Hobbytown open in Monroeville, but I have not yet visited it

Edited by jwest21
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  • 4 weeks later...
Hobby Town USA -- at Robinson Town Centre, off of 22/30 near the Airport. Can't rember the exact street, but its across from IKEA and Toys R Us and Steak N Shake. Not sure if its your typical Hobby Town or not, only one I was ever in. Huge store with tamiya and model master paints, tools etc. Airsoft guns, R/C, Rail roading, Rockets, and lots of models. Some are decently priced others are a lil steep I think.

I've been in quite a few Hobby Town's over the years, and this was the largest and nicest one I'd ever seen, I'd say they had at least twice the space a normal HT has. Every HT I've been in has nearly the same stock as the other stores, this one has enough space to carry lots of everything, the plastic kit selection is at least double, probably triple what most stores have.

Prices were standard HT pricing, MSRP or a buck or 2 off at most, clearance section was hit or miss in terms of selection.

Hate to hear they're moving from their current location, but it's probably a cost saving move, and I don't blame them, that location has to be expensive.

Ken

Edited by kenlilly106
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Anyone else in the area who knows of more chime in and if you know what happened to AB Charles and Sons let me know, I used to go there a lot while I was in school and they weren't there a few weeks ago when I was in that neck of the woods, I know they were going through some land issues but left the city and didn't hear anything further.

AB Charles moved about 10 months or so ago. The new location is easy to find, but I don't recall the road name it's on. Head outbound on the Parkway west, toward the airport. When you get out of the Fort Pitt tunnels, take the first exit and bear left so you're heading up the road more or less parallel to the parkway after you go under it. They've moved into a big, red, barn-like building on the right a couple miles up that road, not too far past the Dormont Pool. The plastics are all downstairs, the upstairs has supplies, die-casts, Thomas train stuff and scrapbook stuff too. They've got a web site, too, something like AB-Charles.com.

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  • 1 month later...

Hmm I'll have to go check out the new site sometime soon. Sounds like its not too far off from their old place either.

Not sure which place I was in Cranberry it was near the Target? The other one I didnt know about.

There is a HobbyTown in Monroeville, its on 22 on the Blairsville side of town, in the strip mall where Hills used to be. I havent been in there yet but I saw the sign.

Also out in Apollo for R/C folks is TailSpin Hobbies, it used to be in the Crabtree area but moved down next to rt 380.

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Hmm I'll have to go check out the new site sometime soon. Sounds like its not too far off from their old place either.

Not sure which place I was in Cranberry it was near the Target? The other one I didnt know about.

There is a HobbyTown in Monroeville, its on 22 on the Blairsville side of town, in the strip mall where Hills used to be. I havent been in there yet but I saw the sign.

Also out in Apollo for R/C folks is TailSpin Hobbies, it used to be in the Crabtree area but moved down next to rt 380.

The one near Target is Hobby Express. Hobby Depot is up rt 19 from Freedom road about 1-2 miles on the left. If planes is your thing, Hobby Depot does not stock much. They have a great armor selection though

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Ohhh ok next time I get a day off and can hang out over there maybe I'll check out Hobby Depot just to see what its like. I never knew there was much else up Freedom Road after the lil shopping district.

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Ohhh ok next time I get a day off and can hang out over there maybe I'll check out Hobby Depot just to see what its like. I never knew there was much else up Freedom Road after the lil shopping district.

There are shopping malls springing up everywhere. Pretty much solid all the way out Rt 228 now! I still need to get over to Indiana and visit that store.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 year later...

Any heard new things about the shop that looks like it replaced Hobby Depot out in Cranberry? There was a new sign there Sunday I was driving through the area.

Plus to add to the new shop list:

There is a shop in Sarver PA now, I haven't been able to get to it but it looks to be mainly R/C from the window display.

I got to AB Charles new site the other day and it is HUGE! Easily the biggest purely hobby shot I've seen.

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That is "Playthings Ect." and is worth seeing. No models, as of last time I went, but the building is shaped like a giant chrome silver spaceship. You absolutely cannot miss it. They sell a lot of "science experiment" type things- erupting volcanos, ant farms, etc and some weird things like space age pogo sticks and some die cast items, but unless they started carrying plastic recently, nothing styrene.

edit: http://www.playthings-etc.com/

Edited by jwest21
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Probably still dont, it was an R/C person I heard it from. Theres nothing out your way in Butler anymore is there? I remember a store down Rt 8 near the turnpike but nothing in Butler proper since the lil hippy store at Clearview sold a few Hasegawa and Revell Kits...

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I'll be flying into Indiana airport on Saturday the 13th. Not sure the timeline just yet, but we're doing a convoy escort mission up to the airport during the day if anyone wants to come out and take some pics! :bandhead2:

I'll have to swing by the hobby shop when I can....

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Haha well better than Walmart now lol.

I got to check out Grand Central Hobby, seemed like it was most of the stuff left over from the clearence of the last store paint wise. Nice guy though running the place spent about 45 mins in there just BSing. The one in Sarver was closed on my way back through, but it wasnt Buffalo plaza, its in the middle of Buffalo and the Cinema.

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