Are you ordering your kits online of buying form local hobby shops?

[Unglued]

In the four years since I took up modeling again, I have not once bought a kit from an LHS. There is only one store in the town where I live, and they don't carry any kits I want. I buy online from Sprue Bros, Scale Hobbyist and other dealers, as well as from eBay and ARC members. That said, I do buy a lot of tools, plastic for scratch building, glue and paint from my LHS, and would hate to see them gone. (I think they're doing pretty well selling drones right now. They need to diversify to stay in business.)

[Jay Chladek]

I have been lucky to have a well stocked LHS in my town. It is a Hobbytown, but the management there made a conscious decision to try and get close to online pricing with at least US based mail order firms (Squadron and Tower). So the prices are good and it is very close by. Therefore, I purchase locally about 90% of the time. The times I purchase online are when it is for a product that I know I can't get locally, such as Bandai Star Wars kits, or stuff only available in Europe (or some kit brands which the distributors to my LHS do not offer). In some cases, there might be a product that just got released which I might want to get because it still could be a long wait for it to hit the LHS (only because it will be a wait for the distributors to get it), but in those cases I still usually wait as I already have plenty of stuff in the stash to work on in the meantime.

[phantom]

I would say the most is at the Hamilton Ont hobby show every February.

After that , trade on ARC.

After that the local (or within 100 km) store

Then on line. On line tends to be after market stuff that the local stores no longer carry.

[vh-bob]

G'Day All

I feel another sermon coming on so those of you who get bored easily should go on to the next post. First, I don't NEED any more models but like the rest of you I WANT any thing new. I am an impulse builder and to order from overseas takes planning, by the time a kit or decal sheet gets here I have moved onto some other idea , so after a quick inspection, into the stash it often go's. Price can be a factor but so can it's other side, postage. For example, a replacement Revell BV 222 to make up for the one I committed to the "shelf of doom" was available from Hannants at half the price it was at the LHS but the postage to Australia would have been more than the cost of the kit, so I was more than happy to buy one locally. Then there is availability. I am a fan of the Hobby Boss Easy Assembly range, they burst onto the shelves here but after the initial rush they mostly disappeared, never to be seen again. This time it was mail order to the rescue and this can be a problem in that the local shop likes to offer new releases so restocking already released kits takes a back seat. The elephant in the room in this country seems to be the agent / importer, for example take Airfix who have gone to great lengths to offer a better product in recent years but unlike the old days when their kits were released in a certain series with easily verified prices, each new product increases in price by a dollar or so with the Tiger Moth selling for over A$15.00, the Lightning almost A$60.00 and the Dakota pushing A$ 80.00. No one likes being ripped off so here I certainly buy online. Within a 80 Km radius of the city of Adelaide there are about half a dozen shops selling plastic model kits, some are just in it for what they can get and charge like wounded bulls while a couple are run by enthusiasts and these I support where I can as they give every impression of operating on a much fairer profit margin as well as being most helpful when it comes to finding that that elusive long out of stock model. So I suppose from my own point of view, I support my LHS when something is available and at a fair price where as online is useful when I don't wish to contribute to someone's next Jetsetting Holiday.

Trev

.

[Sgt Shultz II]

Local hobby shops dried up here so evilbay and online for kits. Sometimes from other board members too.

Seems odd to me since I live in San Jose, Ca. with a population of about a million people and yet every hobby shop has gone out of business.

[WymanV]

No choice here either. My LHS is some 120 miles away. I prefer buying at the LHS and I try to get to mine once a year but it's hard to justify if I don't have other reasons to go.

Ken

[Jessirelli]

There's only 3 hobby stores left here in San Francisco, plus about 4 more if you count gundam and figures only stores. One of them is a 50% craft store, 25% RC and 25% models. The other one is in Japantown but doesn't carry my scale (1/48), though they have paints and tools. The other is a train store I've never been to but hear has some airplanes. The rest are a combo cards/figures/comics place, a hero figure shop, and a gundam place in Chinatown which I'm not sure is there as of recently.

These brick and mortar places are great to go to once in a while, particularly for general purpose needs. A true hobby shop is supposedly in San Jose about an hour away, too far to bother, though I might go just once in my lifetime to satisfy my curiosity. I go to Amazon and eBay for kits, paints, tools, decals. Also Twobobs, hobbywave for mr color paints, and various online stores I can't remember for 1/6 weapons for figures. There's ironically a Blick art supply store near the train store I mentioned, which is great for picking up certain things if I can't wait. If you count art supply stores as hobby stores, there are still enough of them around that you don't need to go online.

[habu2]

I get virtually all my kits, decals and accessories online.

I'll visit either the local Hobbytown or Hobby Lobby for paint, glue etc.

[Ryan Hothersall]

G'Day All

I feel another sermon coming on so those of you who get bored easily should go on to the next post. First, I don't NEED any more models but like the rest of you I WANT any thing new. I am an impulse builder and to order from overseas takes planning, by the time a kit or decal sheet gets here I have moved onto some other idea , so after a quick inspection, into the stash it often go's. Price can be a factor but so can it's other side, postage. For example, a replacement Revell BV 222 to make up for the one I committed to the "shelf of doom" was available from Hannants at half the price it was at the LHS but the postage to Australia would have been more than the cost of the kit, so I was more than happy to buy one locally. Then there is availability. I am a fan of the Hobby Boss Easy Assembly range, they burst onto the shelves here but after the initial rush they mostly disappeared, never to be seen again. This time it was mail order to the rescue and this can be a problem in that the local shop likes to offer new releases so restocking already released kits takes a back seat. The elephant in the room in this country seems to be the agent / importer, for example take Airfix who have gone to great lengths to offer a better product in recent years but unlike the old days when their kits were released in a certain series with easily verified prices, each new product increases in price by a dollar or so with the Tiger Moth selling for over A$15.00, the Lightning almost A$60.00 and the Dakota pushing A$ 80.00. No one likes being ripped off so here I certainly buy online. Within a 80 Km radius of the city of Adelaide there are about half a dozen shops selling plastic model kits, some are just in it for what they can get and charge like wounded bulls while a couple are run by enthusiasts and these I support where I can as they give every impression of operating on a much fairer profit margin as well as being most helpful when it comes to finding that that elusive long out of stock model. So I suppose from my own point of view, I support my LHS when something is available and at a fair price where as online is useful when I don't wish to contribute to someone's next Jetsetting Holiday.

Trev

.

Living not far from Trev, so we frequent the same shops.

I will happily support the couple of enthusiast run shops, I have the opinion the shops that are out to make as much as possible, I won't be too upset if they close.

As someone said earlier about being followed around the shop, if that happened to me, that would be the last time I would visit that shop.

[Falcon053]

Well, I usually get my stuff online just because there is nothing close enough for me living near Hill AFB. Well, that all changed, I discovered a model shop right in the BX on base!

His selection is okay, more 1/72 but talking with him he is willing to order some stuff from his contacts in Japan. He is retired Navy and so already gets a paycheck and from what he says the store is actually doing good so far.

Duane

[Darren Roberts]

Not to brag, but I live in the same city as Sprue Brothers. It's like going to the biggest LHS in the world! :D

[82Whitey51]

Online (mostly eBay...?), since I don't have a hobby shop within a 2 hour drive of me.

I hate you Darren...

[mingwin]

90% of my modeling budget goes online.

i'm lucky with my LHS i guess, as i live 5 minutes away, and it's rather large.

but prices are way too expensive for me. still every time i got there, i end up buying a ModelMaster enamel paint, to support them

(since canadian dollar collapse i tend to buy more "local" ...my LHS hasn't yet change any of its pricing, so he's now more competitive)

[habu2]

Well, I usually get my stuff online just because there is nothing close enough for me living near Hill AFB.

Is Douglas Models still in SLC? I used to go there all the time but it was a long time ago....

[Darren Roberts]

Is Douglas Models still in SLC? I used to go there all the time but it was a long time ago....

If you mean Douglas Models the distributor, they were sold to Sprue Brothers.

[Geoff M]

i do most of purchases for models on line. We have local Hobby Town USA and I will pick up paints and modeling supplies there. They do have a ton of models but they tend to be the stuff I already have. It takes a while for new stuff to show up. I do pick the odd kit that catches my eye when I browse there occasionally. 90% of the store has been taken over by drones now.

[mlicari]

i do most of purchases for models on line. We have local Hobby Town USA and I will pick up paints and modeling supplies there. They do have a ton of models but they tend to be the stuff I already have. It takes a while for new stuff to show up. I do pick the odd kit that catches my eye when I browse there occasionally. 90% of the store has been taken over by drones now.

I buy practically all of my kits from online sources. For the most part, that's shifted from Sprue Brothers to Scale Hobbyist on account of price. I'll buy "vintage", out-of-production from E-Bay and Rare Plane Detective. Hard-to-get kits (like some of the releases from Fly, AZ Models, and Attack Squadron) I'll buy from from E-Bay vendors like Rebelalpha/Scott's Model Workshop.

[Ryan Hothersall]

I buy practically all of my kits from online sources. For the most part, that's shifted from Sprue Brothers to Scale Hobbyist on account of price. I'll buy "vintage", out-of-production from E-Bay and Rare Plane Detective. Hard-to-get kits (like some of the releases from Fly, AZ Models, and Attack Squadron) I'll buy from from E-Bay vendors like Rebelalpha/Scott's Model Workshop.

When I buy off Ebay, I have my favoured sellers like Rebelalpha, who has a great selection of decals and Trinitymews2 who has a good stock of Soviet/Russian 1:72 scale kits.

[rob.w]

We are still fortunate in my province to have a couple of very good hobby shops, not bad for a province with a population of a little more over a million. With a restrictive postal system regarding paints and other chemicals our LHS are a necessity and its on the kits that they make their money so I consider my kit purchases my contribution to keeping the doors open. Besides based on how long it takes for me to finish a kit the little extra that I'm having to spend to buy local is a drop in my overall monthly budget.

[AndrewPerren]

Online - 95%

[Winnie]

Living in Canada in close proximity to the US, I shop 90% online, with cheap or free delivery to to a US mailbox, or even home now, with new postage prices offered by SprueBrothers.

I am also lucky in that we have 3 hobby shops in town that can supply me with paints and tools etc, and 2 hours driving has me at a Hobby Lobby where I can get the rest of my needed supplies.

I will shop locally, but it is hard to compete with the US prices.

Cheers

H.

[silver1]

I'm very lucky to have a world class hobby shop less than 10 minutes away from me in this small town. He lets the club use his back room for meetings and gives club members a 15% discount. I go there and BS with fellow modelers, look at 100s or more boxes of kits, some aftermarket, decals, paint, tools etc... His prices are close to online but paying just a tiny bit more is well worth the price to keep the doors open. The late, great Dan Jayne was a member of our club and I got to see much of his work in person, not just on the cover of Fine Scale Modeller. Our club president, JR Buggren, has had a cover and article in some car model magazine. Bah, car models, but he is quite talented.

House of Hobbies by Dug. Muskegon, MI.

[RKic]

I'm lucky enough to have a few okay shops around the DC area, so I visit them when the impulse to buy strikes. And when it comes to the hobby I'm totally an impulse shopper, so I don't like to wait around for purchases.

I do go online more and more these days though. Maybe 30% of my kits come from the web.

[Sebastijan]

living in a small country with hardly any models available in stores, I am mostly shopping online.

[Matt_S]

Mostly online - the local Hobbytown USAs & craft shops that sell models either don't have a good selection of aircraft models or have kits that I already own.

Matt :blink: