T&A Hobby Lobby's Month-Long Farewell!

The morning hours were as exciting for the crowd as they were for Tony, who was working the shop alone on Saturday and whose attention was constantly in demand, both by well-wishers and those who came in seeking items they could find no where else.

Wall to Wall people in a Hobby Shop filled with Wall to Wall models isn't a rare thing in the San Fernando Valley, which is home to a number of Hobby Shops, including the famous Smith Brothers Hobbies in Reseda, whom Tony will be helping out two days a week in the near future. What is rare is Wall to Wall people all day long!

The nooks and crannies of T&A Hobby Lobby kept the crowd's attention during their searches. Decals found their place between RC Model wings on the West Wall of the Hobby Shop, as room had to be made in the front for some of the kits inbound for the Saturday-Sunday event.

This P-47 Thunderbolt kit was not only a Classic from the 1980s, it contained two identical kits save for one missing canopy. The package was priced at $5.00 but left Sunday for less!

A rare kit featuring a desk display model, ala Wooster, of a DeHavilland DHC-8. Standing next to it, a 1:48th Scale Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a new build by Testors based on a kit released in recent years, and behind it, dozens of Diecast and Plastic Assembled models ready for display, featuring high details in their presentation.

Kits along the west wall were of a diverse nature, ranging from World War I Gotha bombers, Curtiss and Felixstone Flying Boats, Heinkel 111C airliners, Heinkel 111E military transports, Lockheed P-3C Orions, Revell Europe models ranging from a Blohm and Voss seatplane to a Cessna Citation I, Canadair F-86s, A-10 Thunderbolt IIs and helicopters. All distcounted...

We go close up on some of those kits and find aircraft like the Dornier commuter, Gloster Gladiator and Sea Gladiator, the Dassault-Bregeut Mirage F.1C, weapons systems, a 1/144 F-104 Starfighter, the Heller Ariane rocket, the Antonov 14, the Sukoi SU-6 and a new-make Airfix Boeing 737-200 in Air France markings, among others.

The most beautiful aircraft on display at T&A had to be this Fokker DVII which was indeed for sale, at $1100.00 U.S. All this aircraft needed was essentially, dusted off!

The Curtiss Goshawk was on display (right) along with a Hasegawa MMD-300 Defender of the Israeli Defense Force, a Blackburn Shark Mk.II and a number of Eastern European kits featuring the Yak-7B, the Spitfire and the I-16.

These are among the models that will be museum bound to locations at Flabob Airport in Riverside, the Planes of Fame in Chino, the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C., and the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The P-3C Orion in the foreground is a hand-carved original made by a Japanese model maker from wood.

The Delta DC-8 Super 71 sold yesterday for less than the $25.00 it had been previously marked down to. As of this afternoon, the Blohm & Voss BV-138 in 1/72 scale had not sold despite a considerable mark down and a further discount that awaits its buyer. The Roden AN-12BK transport, the Soviet equivalent of the C-130, was also still available.

A rare Supermarine Spitfire in Italian markings awaits a buyer at T&A Hobby Lobby. T&A has always been a source of hard to get aircraft models, including Eastern European designs.

An unfinished fuselage awaits a buyer in a cubby hole at T&A Hobby Lobby.

The Hobby Lobby is divided into two sections along the front counter, with the northern section dedicated to gasoline engines, the southern counter dedicated to electric engines, with RC Models and supplies surrounding and/or sitting across from the motor displays.