1952

Arrivals For the Week Ending December 13,  2025 –

December 14, 2025

“I MISS Hub Hobby Shop.”

by Nick Sloop

I can’t remember my childhood before visiting Hub Hobby every weekend, being introduced to “Mr. Jerry” and “Mr. Roy” and, within a few years, “Mr. Jeff.” Living only about a half-dozen blocks away, I went more often once allowed to venture such distances by myself. And Mom always noted when we happened to see any of them at Mass at St. Matthias.

Eventually I moved to Houston, where Mom and Dad joined me and settled, in 2005, after Hurricane Katrina. In their new two-bedroom apartment Dad eventually built a new 2” x 4” N-scale layout in the second bedroom, centered around his childhood in St. Louis in the ’40s.

Nick Sloop with the purchases he made on his 2015 visit to Hub Hobby

No doubt, between my dad’s late-90’s retirement and 2005, he was no stranger to the Hub. Indeed, after settling in Houston, Dad made every effort to visit Hub Hobby when making trips back to New Orleans to visit my sister.

The last time I visited Hub Hobby was about 2015. As we entered the store, Jeff greeted Larry (my dad) and I (Nick) by name.

I’ll give Jeff credit for an “educated guess,” that the 50-year-old, red-headed “kid” with Larry was his youngest son, once inseparable, but last seen in 1987. Recognizing me as “Larry’s kid” was one thing. But remembering my name!

Dad passed in 2016. I boxed up most everything from the layout and took it to Papa Ben’s Train Store. While we no longer had a brick-and-mortar full-service hobby shop in our neighborhood, thankfully, Papa Ben’s Train Store remained Dad’s local hobby shop.

As I put the box containing my dad’s trains on the counter, I barely got out the explanation of who I was. I managed to say, “…but you know my dad,” and asked them to consign this stuff to good use, before I ran out of the store in tears.

Larry Sloop – Nick’s dad – built a model of his (Larry) childhood home in St Louis

He had also scratch-built a model of his childhood home that is safely in my China cabinet.

I still go back to New Orleans every couple of years; my Houston-native girlfriend loves New Orleans. While I have been showing her the “haunts of my youth,” one day I hope to show her my childhood fantasyland – Hub Hobby Shop!

December 7, 2025

Soviet Motor Torpedo Boat

 by Gil Gonsoulin

The G5 Soviet  Motor Torpedo Boat was designed by Andrei Tupolev. It looked like a large float that would be used on a float plane.

The boat was constructed of duralumin which made the boat light. However, duralumin is highly susceptible to galvanic corrosion when used in salt water.

During the summer the boat could only be kept in the water for 5-7 days. In the winter it could be increased to 10-15 days. After that they would have to be removed  from the water and the hull would need to be treated with anti-corrosion measures.

The boats were fast with a top speed of 52 MPH. But the minimum speed of 21 mph created a problem when mooring. They carried two torpedoes and a variety of machine guns and/or rocket launchers.

The kit is from Merit. It is well molded with good details. No interior is supplied , which leaves some very large gaping holes looking all the way through to the bottom of the boat.

I could not find any pictures of the interior. So you have to use your imagination and make the interior from your parts box. Since no figures are provided, it’s another trip back to the parts box.

The model was painted with Tamiya and Floquil paints and weathered with Model Master and Ak paints. Water effects were done using various Liquitex products.

Rosebud

Hub Hobby’s original building on Broad St in New Orleans has been demolished. Word of it being torn down spread like wildfire.

One of our customers, Jim Letten, was emailed by his friend Martin about the demolition of their childhood hang-out.

The subject line was: ROSEBUD

“Rosebud” was the dying word spoken by Orson Welles in the movie Citizen Kane: a reference to his childhood sled – the symbol of memories of youthful innocence.

Read it here