John , Loved the trip - Wish I could have been with you !!!! - PS - Graham told tod that he had spoken with you recently on skype. 👍 ⛵

Hi Steve, a bit of a drive, but I tend to stock up each time to make it worth the gas money.

JB

Hi Gary, did manage to invest in a small beech wood forest for the new model, so it was worth the drive. It's necessary to go there when lengths of balsa etc are required, unless you want to receive a parcel of matchwood via courier. Last year I ordered some 4mm silver steel for shafts, from an engineering supplies shop in a similar area a few kms further down the motorway, and sent by courier. Thought it was a bad idea at the time, and I was right ! Courier turned up and handed me a banana !. The package had FRAGILE, DO NOT BEND ! with stickers all over it, but it didn't help.

He offered to take it back, but I kept it and managed to roll most of the bend out and get a straight 4"shaft for the jet out of it. Only really any use for short shafts now.
Next time I'll be doing the drive again, (might be soon as I need some 5mm for a drive project I'll be attempting. It is indeed now a 4 monthly pilgrimage to buy local model stuff.

Nearly didn't have that shop, as one of the 2 owners of the shop decided life was a bit much, and took a final flight one day, out into the open sea and turned his small homebuilt biplane into a sub. The plane was dredged up by a trawler about 6 months later. Luckily the shop has survived, or that would have been pretty much it for modelling in Auckland, (especially building supplies like balsa, glue etc. We can get balsa from some art shops and the big local hardware super store, but not always in the quantities or sizes you need.

We are getting to the stage where other materials will have to be looked at. I did build the blue tug in my harbour from carved polystyrene foam and f/glass which worked well, so that's always an option.

JB

Wow, and well done you, greater love hath no man than this. I hope you for-warned the shop of your visit and received the Red Carpet treatment, failing that, I hope it was all worthwhile and you managed a carrier bag or two of goodies. Much the same as everywhere these days, the local model shops close and everything is done online, which is a crying shame as the only two shops which I very much enjoy, or used to enjoy are model and hardware shops. Considering all that effort and driving, you forgot to mention the outcome, a bit like a pilgrimage really? Regards, Gary.

That's quite a journey to go to a hobby shop JB.

Cheers,
Stephen.