I don't want to hijack the thread, but I had a first hobbyshop I truly loved.
In the late '60's, Slot and Wing Hobbies in Rantoul, Illinois was a small store near the north gate to Chanute Air Force Base, and was owned and run by Captain Thompson, USAF, Ret. It had almost any kind of plastic kit you could want, along with all sorts of wooden gas-powered planes, not to mention Estes and Centuri model rockets. The main feature of the shop, though, was a huge full-size slot-car track. You could rent a car or bring your own, and buy time to race other customers on it. Many was the time I dodged a flying slot-car as it slid off the high banked curve and flew across the store. I saw the Revell 1/96th scale Saturn V there in the window for the first time in 1969, and bought my first Monogram 1/144th scale Saturn V there in December of 1968. It was a magical place and I miss it terribly. Capt. Thompson moved to a larger store in Champaign, Illinois in the 70's, after I had moved away from Rantoul in 1971. He passed away shortly after, I'm told. I don't know if his store in Champaign is still there or not.
Larry
In the late '60's, Slot and Wing Hobbies in Rantoul, Illinois was a small store near the north gate to Chanute Air Force Base, and was owned and run by Captain Thompson, USAF, Ret. It had almost any kind of plastic kit you could want, along with all sorts of wooden gas-powered planes, not to mention Estes and Centuri model rockets. The main feature of the shop, though, was a huge full-size slot-car track. You could rent a car or bring your own, and buy time to race other customers on it. Many was the time I dodged a flying slot-car as it slid off the high banked curve and flew across the store. I saw the Revell 1/96th scale Saturn V there in the window for the first time in 1969, and bought my first Monogram 1/144th scale Saturn V there in December of 1968. It was a magical place and I miss it terribly. Capt. Thompson moved to a larger store in Champaign, Illinois in the 70's, after I had moved away from Rantoul in 1971. He passed away shortly after, I'm told. I don't know if his store in Champaign is still there or not.
Larry