Hub Hobby

Hub Hobby is a hobby shop at 3829 Airline Dr in Metairie, Louisiana, built around plastic model kits, model railroading and the paints and tools that go with them. It is not a trading card store: the shelves hold no card games, and the weekly schedule has no events or organized play. It suits model builders, rocketeers and railroaders, along with anyone shopping for materials to make a diorama or a school project.

What's on the shelves

Plastic kits take up the most room. In 1/35 the store carries Tamiya, Dragon, AFV Club and Trumpeter armor and figures. Aircraft come in 1/72 from Revell Monogram, Hasegawa, Airfix, Eduard and Academy, and in 1/48 from Tamiya, Revell Monogram, Trumpeter, Hasegawa, Eduard and Academy. Car kits in 1/24 and 1/25 come from Revell Monogram, AMT and MPC, with some Aoshima. Ship kits include Revell Germany and Revell Monogram, and some 1/700 waterline models from Tamiya. Gundam kits, Bandai snap-together Star Wars models and Atlantis reissues of classic kits round out the plastic.

Trains are a second pillar. The store stocks HO scale track, flex track, buildings and wiring accessories, along with Kadee couplers and trucks, Walthers building kits and rolling stock, and Model Rectifier power packs. Woodland Scenics supplies cover grass mats, ballast, foliage, trees, HO people and plaster wrap, plus a plug-in lighting system.

For the workbench, the store carries:

• Paints: Tamiya acrylics and lacquers, Humbrol, Vallejo acrylics, Revell acrylics and enamels, and AK Interactive acrylic lacquer, plus Alclad metallic finishes and AK Interactive weathering pigments.
• Glues: Tamiya and Testors plastic cements, Plastiweld, Tacky Glue, Sobo, Z-poxy, superglues and epoxies.
• Tools: Excel knife sets and blades, Olfa knives, Xuron sprue cutters and rail cutters, Optivisors, Zona razor saws, Mascot tweezers and pliers, and God Hand sanding sticks.
• Raw materials: Evergreen styrene strips and sheets, Plastruct ABS plastic, balsa and basswood, plywood from 1/32 to 1/4 inch, K&S metal shapes, matt board, museum board, and acrylic sheet in about a dozen colors.

Rockets from Estes, Quest and Custom are on hand, as are pine car accessories, tungsten weights and a wide run of decals.

Shipments arrive weekly. A recent delivery included Revell ship kits from a 1/1200 Titanic to a 1/426 USS Arizona, Vallejo paint sets for figures, armor and aircraft, and AK Interactive wargame terrain paints.

Hours and getting there

The store sits on Airline Dr between N. Turnbull and Cleary, about a block east of Sam's Club on the opposite side of the street.

History

The owners bought the business in 1951, when it was a radio-repair shop selling small appliances. Hobby supplies were added, soon outgrew the repair work, and the store dropped it. The original location was on South Broad Avenue in New Orleans, in the Broadmoor neighborhood, and the name comes from that spot near the middle of the city's proverbial saucer. That building has since been demolished, and customers who grew up hanging around it still trade memories of the place. Radio-controlled airplanes were once a specialty, but the store no longer carries them.

The local scene

Metairie has several other hobby and collectibles stores within a few miles. Showgoat Cards & Collectibles is about 1.5 miles away. Go 4 Games, Heroes Corner Comics and More, and PokéNOLA Collectibles are each about 2 miles out, and BSI Comics is about 2.2 miles away.