We finally have an empty hangar again. While not necessarily a great thing--no airplanes in the hangar means no work, which means no income for the time being--it does give us some time to catch our collective breath and reset the place for the next job. In the meantime...
One of the hobby shops I used to frequent--although not to the extent that other modelers I knew did--was Orange Blossom Hobbies in Miami. Just getting there could be an adventure, as the shop was located in a not-so-great neighborhood on NW 36th Street. Let's just say that when there is a Security guard and a walled-in parking lot with a gate, you need to be heads-up at all times. Carrying a firearm--legally, of course--didn't exactly hurt. Once you made your way through the 'hood and parked in the semi-secure lot, though, you were in for a treat.
OB was located in an old bowling alley. Right next door was their wholesale operation, Pan American Distributors. As you walked in to the place, you immediately noticed the layout. The ceiling had staggered tiles, the floor was skinny strips of harwood complete with the lane diamonds. No matter, though--the place was usually packed with merchandise. The first thing you noticed at the entrance was the RC counter directly ahead of you--it was usually three deep with people looking to buy that latest RC truck, car, or airplane. It was the center anchor of the store, so to speak, since it really did occupy the center of the store (as well as one wall). Off to the left, though, was plastic treasure...
From the first visit I made to the store to the last, one thing remained constant--the guy behind the counter. Pat Parnther was always there, always working, and always had some story or joke to tell. His favorite quips were, "That's life in the tropics!" and "Happiness is a winning lottery ticket!" I don't think I ever went in there when Pat wasn't selling the latest stuff to come out of the hobby industry. You'd spend a few minutes with Pat, then check out the shelves. The shelves...well, they were packed. If you couldn't find it on the shelf at Orange Blossom, they either just sold what you wanted or it hasn't been made. You could (and I'm speaking from experience, here) spend a day just hunting among the boxes on the shelves. But wait, there's Pat, telling another joke...
Another fun feature of the shop was the row of cabinets behind the counter. After a visit or two, you'd get to know Pat--and then, he'd say, "Go back there and look--I don't even know what's there." And he was usually as surprised as you were when you pulled some oddity from one of the drawers. He had decals--stacks of decals--from anyone and everyone who ever made decals. When airliner models had their heyday in the mid- to late-1990's, Pat would have multiples of not only kits, but the decals that went with them. Aeromaster was pretty much the house brand, too, so there were plenty of Gaston and Company's latest and greatest. If it was made in the form of a decal, resin update, white metal update, conversion, or limited run kit, it was there. I'll never forget the day we found a stash of ATP's 1/144 scale Metroliners in one of the drawers...
Along with the accessories, there were resin kits. At one point, Pat had several of the Blue Water Navy kits in multiples. If you were even remotely interested, Pat would go get one and let you fondle it. After a while, he's sweeten the deal a bit. And, before I knew it, I had quite the collection of them. But that's the way the store worked--you'd take your stack of soon-to-be attic insulation and plop it on the counter. Pat would pull out a calculator and total it all up, then say, "Ahhh, give me ____ bucks." With that, you handed over the coin of the realm and concluded the deal. But there was more to see...
Up front, on the side of the store that butted up to NW 36th Street, was where the entrance to the old bowling alley was. The restrooms were up there, as were the display cases. After spending hours searching the shelves, you could spend even more time looking at the models in the case. Some of it was done using the Aeromaster products as sort of a sales aid, but most of it was from the local club guys and the regular customers--much the same, dare I say, as many hobby shop display cases the world over. I still remember some of those models, and I still remember talking with the guys who built them. One time, there was a model in the nicest bare metal finish I had ever seen--and was then told that the finish was Aerogloss Silver dope. I never did get around to trying that on one of my models, but it certainly looked the part. Gaston was one of the proponents of using dope--it went on smooth and dried hard. Trouble was, you had to be careful in your prep or the dope could craze the plastic. I was still using Floquil's silvers at the time and figured they worked well enough for what I wanted.
My last visit to Orange Blossom was about ten years ago--I was about a month away from moving out of South Florida, and I wanted to hang out with the gang one last time, since I didn't know when I'd be back. Stories had begun to circulate, too, that they were in financial trouble and may be closing. I went by, picked up some stuff I had noticed during one of the foraging sessions in the cabinets, and spent a while talking with Pat. He was not happy, since it was becoming more and more apparent that he'd soon be out of a job...
The end came sometime that October or November. The next trip we made to South Florida was in December of 2001, and during that trip we stopped at another haunt, Pearl Art and Craft. There, on a table out front, was a pile of model kits. There was no mistaking where they came from, for prominently printed on the original price tage were the words "ORANGE BLOSSOM HOBBIES" and under that, "Miami, Florida." The kits were being sold at closeout prices. We had been informed of Ornage Blossom's demise some week earlier, but here was visual confirmation of the same.
My wife and I often think about the treasure trove of out of print decals and other goofy things in that row of cabinets. We often wonder what became of them. And when we do, we look back to the day when you could go into the store, spend a few hours uncovering some long-forgotten kit, or decal sheet, and then hear those magic words: "Ahhh, give me fifty bucks..."
Those were the days, when hobby shops were made of bricks and mortar and run by hobbyists. That's becoming a rarity these days. And that's a shame. It is one reason that I will visit the local hobby shops, no matter where my travels take me. There's something about finding one of those shops where they have stashes of oddities, stacks of old kits, and a guy behind the counter who knows models. When you find one, you don't forget--and you want to go back to that shop as often as you can.
Thanks for reading. Be good to one another, and I bid you Peace.
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