I spent the past week in Austin, Texas at a software engineering conference. I had known about a local model shop there for a while but had never had the time to stop by on the rare occasions that I was actually in that city (Texas Aggies have no love for the school that there that seems to think the sun rises on it daily). But I did tell the wife that we would be going one evening when my conference activities were done for the day.
What I didn't tell her, because I didn't even know this at the time, was that we would be making a second stop there on our way out of town yesterday. And surprisingly, she had no wife-y comments to make about either stop. Then again, she is entirely supportive of this hobby for me because it keeps me out of places that would cost a lot more than this.
First stop, I came out of King's Hobbies with these 4 kits:
But later that night, when we were done with sightseeing and a stroll down some road near the hotel to one of those great old-time style hamburger stands for some ice cream (much needed given how hot it has been throughout Texas in recent days), I told the wife that I thought I'd left a few kits at the shop that really needed to come home with me. She didn't even blink an eye. At the time, I was thinking of a couple of ancient Testors kits I spied on the shelves that I had never built - a Me323 Gigant and a Heinkel He111 Zwilling (the glider tug comprised of two Heinkels, much like a Twin Mustang).
When we got back to the shop Friday afternoon, I took a look at those kits. Did not like the pricing on the Gigant, and the Zwilling box looked beat to hell. Opted to leave them there. But I spent the next hour going over the shelves as with a fine-toothed comb. Almost brought home a Monogram P-40B in the 70s-era white boxing, but decided against it as I already have several of those built/unbuilt in various other boxings. Considered a couple of Tamiya kits (P-51B and a Seiran) but thought I could get them cheaper elsewhere. Really wanted to get the original issue Monogram B-36, but didn't want to part with nearly $200 and don't have a space for another huge one like that. There was a newer boxing of a Revell Hurricane in 1/32, but I couldn't recall that kit and didn't know if that would have been a reboxing of an older Revell release. It was still in the shrink wrap, so I probably should have grabbed it, price was good but I just couldn't pull that trigger.
What I ended up with was 3 more, all of which I either have already built or have in my stash.
I have a soft spot for those old Monogram blue boxes. I couldn't leave those behind. The B-26 is an original release from 1978. I seem to recall a Shep Paine diorama sheet with the B-26, but this box had clearly been re-shrink-wrapped and there was no sheet in there.
I know that I'll need to replace the rubber tires included with the Tigercat. I almost bought the F7F-3N, but then recalled that is the variant that I built about 15 years ago. Wanted to get a different version, and as luck would have it, they had both on their shelves.
The Harrier was still shrink wrapped and did include the Operation Iraqi Freedom booked as indicated on the box art.
The Tiger was a bit of a surprise. Upon opening the box, I discovered there were two full kits in there. When I looked back at the price label, the fact that there were two kits included was on the tag. I just missed that. And all for $20.
The Mustang was a bit of a what-the-hell add-on to the stash. I've read that it's a good kit.
Kings Hobbies is a small shop located off 183 going through Austin right near North Lamar. Easy to get to. I got the sense that the kits they have on their shelves all came from collections they bought. I didn't see much of anything new in there, i.e., no Tamiya Phantom or Lightning, for instance. What was new(ish), like the Airfix Mustang, was from someone's collection. They did have pretty much every line of paint that I've heard of. Lots of supplies. They had some bins full of random after-market parts, mostly resin, but that was going to be far too overwhelming to go through as those were just dumped into the bins. Same for the decal bin. Kits were mostly aircraft, but they also had a scattering of ships, armor, and science fiction. Don't recall seeing any cars. They had HO trains as well.
All of that was sandwiched around a couple of other purchases. Before my trip to Austin, I picked up this Revell P-51D Mustang in 1/32:
And when we got home last night, there was a massive box on the front porch with my name on it, fresh from Japan. Tamiy'a 1/32 F-15E Strike Eagle:
