eBay, the Internet, and the Local Hobby Shop

Once upon a time in a land called the Dallas Metroplex there was a store called Phil’s Hobbies. This was a shop that sold trains and plastic scale models. In fact the store was divided in half with the train stuff on the right and massive amounts of plastic on the right. Oh my children, it was a wondrous time. I would stop there every Friday on my way home and spend a couple of hours walking among the 5 double-sided shelves of models; soaking in the sights, smells, and sounds of styrene kits and plastic enthusiasts. I’d chat with Terry (who worked there) and Phil. I’d chat with other regular customers. I’d make purchases of kits, decal sheets, photo-etch sets, paints, tools, and reference books (I spent about fifty bucks a week there). Alas, Phil’s is no more.

I don’t know about you but now I buy a lot of my model kits and accessories (e.g. photo-etch parts and resin conversions) on eBay and on the Internet. I’d prefer a hobby shop but the Dallas area seems to have run out of them.

Now I’m not discounting the HobbyTown USAs in the area. They’re fine for getting some paint and a few things but it’s really not the same. For one the plastic scale models have to compete for shelf space with war-gamer stuff, RCer stuff, puzzles, science project kits, and trains. In fact RC and war-games get more space than plastic models in general. That and the fact that HobbyTown dictates to their franchisees what and how much they can carry limit the selection for me. But then I’ll bet RC and war game stuff are more profitable (or at least have greater turn over of stock) is why. That makes the atmosphere different. Where at Phil’s there were also plenty of fellow model builders to talk to at HobbyTown the store has many customers wandering about who are not interested this hobby. Let’s admit it. Building plastic scale models is a graying hobby. It doesn’t seem to appeal to the video game generation.

But back to the Internet… I started out buying online things I could not readily find locally at Phil’s. Then I discovered eBay but only bought out of production, hard to obtain items. Now I make most of my purchases on eBay or through online stores such as Roll Models. I even buy via email from Bobe’s Hobby House in Pensacola (or is that Pepsi-Cola?), Florida.

Ah eBay! Now that is a different culture. I don’t know much about the eBay world outside of the area in Toys and Hobbies where model stuff is auctioned but bidding on models can get interesting. My way of doing things is to look at what is up for action in models. For this I have an eBay search set up that takes me to Toys & Hobbies:Models, Kits:Military. From there I narrow my browsing down by individually putting in a search in that category for 1/72, 1/76, 1/87, 1/48, and then book. As I peruse through the listings of items and come upon an item I want I then decided what is the maximum I want to spend (with shipping cost) for that item. That’s what I bid.

Sometimes I wonder what is going on. I have seen items that I didn’t get around to bidding on get put a second time up for auction. I’ll bid and then it seems like soon I’ll be outbid. A friend of mine thinks that is because some people don’t think an item is worth anything until someone bids on it. Then we have people who must have a great deal of money to spend. I watch items that are available from Squadron Mail Order or currently carried at HobbyTown go for more than the retail price. I guess they don’t know about or like Squadron.

The most overused word on eBay is “rare”. It seems that any out of production kit is “rare” especially if it is from a manufacturer that is no longer in business. Rare is often applied to Esci armor kits. They’re so rare that it seems there’s always a million (yes, I exaggerate) up for auction. Plus Italeri is re-popping these kits.

Did eBay kill Phil’s? After all video killed the radio star.