The online Magazine of the International Plastic Modellers Society ,Queensland
(incorporated in Western Australia)
June/July 2002
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The online Magazine of the International Plastic Modellers Society ,Queensland |
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(incorporated in Western Australia) |
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| Issue No. 29 |
June/July 2002 |
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Inside This edition |
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Committee Members 2002 |
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IPMS Queensland’s Website
Firstly as seen in the last edition of Model East we have a new website for the club. The address that I listed was incorrect. The correct address for it is http://people.smartchat.net.au/~ipmsqld/ . Sorry for the confusion about that the site has been updated with the club constitution and model links since the last edition of Model East. This month we see an article from Trevor Ware on hobby shopping in Hong Kong as well competition results from the last two club competitions. This months What the is courtesy of Brenden Southall an aerial shot of the “Boneyard” thanks for the photo Brenden. You will find the usual round up of new releases from the internet.
Until next time Happy Modelling! Tony Tanzer Editor |
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Dates to Remember |
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Hobbyrama sponsors of our monthly raffle prize |
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Shopping in Hong Kong |
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A Quick Guide to Hobby Shopping in Hong Kong By Trevor Ware
I like to visit Hobby shops while I am travelling. I suppose it makes up for not doing any modelling, whilst away from home. It can be an opportunity to pick up rare and unique items, but with the World Wide Web, and mail order houses that are supported by it, most things are available universally now. It is also an opportunity to compare prices, and observe the different subject biases that these shops have. Be prepared to be disappointed. You can travel a long way to a shop you would not give the time of day at home, but then again some of the shops are so great that they make the misses worth it. Some shops have hidden surprises, so look carefully. There are two tools that make finding Hobby shops whilst away from home, either overseas or domestically. Most hobby magazines have vendor advertisements, an easy way to find shops that might interest you, and the local Yellow Pages (under Hobbies Model, which seems to be universal listing heading in English speaking countries). A map is a good idea, as it’s very easy to be misled by an advertisement by how close it is to where you are staying. Once in San Francisco, I decided to visit a hobby shop in a copy of Fine Scale Modeler. It looked close by, but in reality was a one and a half hour drive. It was worth the journey though, but I don’t think my family appreciated it. In some places the Yellow pages have maps, but this seems to be less common now. A couple of hints, English is the second language of most natives of Hong Kong, and they struggle with our accents. Where possible get the hotel staff to write down shop names and addresses in Chinese, and you will find it a lot easier to get to where your going. In simplistic terms, Hong Kong can be divided up into three districts, Hong Kong Island, Kowloon and the new Territories. I personally felt that Kowloon was the happening place to shop. Another tip, the shops don’t really get going till midday, and in the case of Hobby shops, some don’t open till 2pm in the afternoon, but they don’t close till 9-10pm so there’s plenty of time. This was my first trip to Hong Kong so the only information I had on the location of any Hobby Shops was from a Japanese language magazine “Armour Modeling” and from a link on a web site to a shop on Hong Kong Island. Both provided their own maps, so they were easy to find Mr. Chong Fungs Toy House was to be one of those great hobby shops that one hopes to find. They advertise in Amour Modeling, which is how I found them. They had just moved, and renamed themselves Tristar Model International. It was located at 33 Yin Chong Street, Mongkok, Kowloon, Hong Kong, about an hours walk from our hotel in Tsim Shui Tsui. The street that they were located on, for most of it, was an outside vegetable market. Quite unique for a Model shop. An almost exclusively Armour and Military Model shop, it was so good that I needed to return for a second time, to make sure I bought all that I wanted. I had not and I still feel the need to check it out again. On the negative side, as they had recently moved, a lot of the stock was still to be put out. I asked if I could have a look, but they declined my offer to root around in their boxes of stock. It was a shame to as what I could see, was of great interest to me. I would find out a few days later that there was more to this location than I thought. The range in the shop was very comprehensive, with most brands of models and after market products. A lot of these products, I had never seen on shop shelves before. Falcon Hobbies is a small Shop on Hong Island, ten minutes drive from the CBD, on the first floor of an office block. It would have been impossible to find with out the map I printed off the Internet. Fortunately the map had the address in Chinese, so the Cab driver was able to take us straight there. It was a great shop for after market stuff. I spent the best part of an hour making my selections. This was as long as my wife could endure. I was not satisfied that I had seen all that there was to be seen, I referred to Yellow Pages, to find over 60 model shops listed in the local area. I noticed that about a dozen shops were listed as being in the Yan On building. I attempted to find out off the concierge for the hotel, the location of the Yan on Building. He informed me that there was three Yan On buildings in Kowloon, and which one did I want the address for. I worked out the following day that the Yan on building in question, was located in Mongkok. Again, don’t expect people to understand you, I rang a couple of the shop’s only to have the person answering the phone having no idea of what I was saying.
As it turns out there is a model district in Mongkok (there maybe others in Hong Kong). This seems to be the way that they like to do business, with lots of specialist shops crammed in, upon one another. It certainly benefits the shopper, there is a bigger selection and the prices are more competitive. There turned out to over 25 hobby shops in a radius of 250 metres. Some of them turned out to be Military replica stores, with very convincing 1:1 likeness of weapons and military uniform shops. Not something the airlines would appreciate you bringing home. Some of the shops specialize in one field (e.g. Armour, Autos, Heavy Machinery, R/C, etc.), but most of the shops were general model shops, with stock across the spectrum. I made the mistake of getting there at 12 am, about 2 hours before most of the shops opened. Some shops were still closed at 3pm when I left, so it’s probably worthwhile waiting till late in the afternoon, before coming down. I suppose the big question is, are the prices good. I would have to say yes. I used two models as a reference point. The Tamiya 1/16 static display Tiger 1 model is supposed to be about $599 in Australia. I saw one of these for sale, for the equivalent of $317 Australian Dollars. Another small Tamiya kit that retails between $24 and $29 worked out to be about the equivalent of $15 Australian Dollars. Eastern European Kits probably are available at similar prices in Australia, but not generally from retail stores. Some of the local “garage industry” kits, seemed to be as expensive as they are anywhere. I am sure that you will find something to spend your money on, if you ever happen to go there.
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Did you know that the? · Battle of the Coral Sea was the first modern naval engagement (first carrier battle) in which surface ships did not exchange a signal shot or sight each other visually( May 7-8 1942). · U.S.S. “Kearsarge” was the only U.S. battleship not named after a state. The screw sloop “Kearsarge” sank the Confederate raider “Alabama” in 1864. When that “Kearsarge” was lost in the West Indies in 1894, the name was given, because of popular demand, to one of the new battleships. Did you know that ? · 15 medals were awarded to Audie Murphy making him the most decorated soldier in WW2. (Neville Brand the actor was the fourth most decorated ). · The captured German battleship “Ostfriesland” was the first battleship sunk by aircraft in an experiment by General William “Billy” Mitchell on July 21 1921. The heavily armoured warship sank in 21½ minutes. · U.S.S. Pueblo a electronics surveillance ship commanded by Commander Lloyd Bucher was captured by North Korea on 23rd January 1963. · Shangri-la the hidden Tibetan valley paradise in James Hilton’s Lost Horizon. Was the name under which Franklin D. Roosevelt hid the identity of the U.S. aircraft carrier :Hornet,” from which Lt. Col. James Doolittle led 16 Army B25 bombers in his raid against Japan (Tokyo, Yokosuka, Yokohama and Nagoya) on April 18, 1942.
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| April 2002 Competition Results |
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| June2002 Competition Results |
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What The? |
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Possumdale Homestay |
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Holiday Accommodation. Maleny. Bed & Breakfast style accommodation or fully self-contained, large, luxurious guest suite. Suite contains: Queen-sized bed, single bed (extra beds available on request). Lounge and television. Fully equipped kitchen and dining. Toilet and bathroom facilities. Enjoy beautiful country setting, tropical pool area, spectacular views, as well as being centrally located to zoos, parks, bush walks, crafts & markets and local wineries.
Picnic baskets, barbeques and gourmet meals are available on request. These are prepared by our own chef. Bookings are essential. $50 deposit is required.
Single Night Per Couple $100 Extra Persons $20 Specials Available for two nights or more.
Gourmet Country Breakfast $10 per head. Continental Breakfast $5 per head.
10% discount to all Bona-fide Model Club Members.
Bookings Dale & Patsy Slight 203 Kenilworth Road Maleny Qld 4552 Phone: 07 54944990 Email: dpslight@austarnet.com.au
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News from the "Net" |
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