1952

Arrivals For the Week Ending December 27,  2025 –

January 4, 2026

Russian Armored Car

by John Daniel

I repainted this model of a Russian armored car so many times as it was my exercise in color modulation. I used a combination of Vallejo and Life Color

The jerry can bracket was built out of brass wire and solder and the bed rolls were from Tamiya’s 1/48 Gaz truck.

The vehicle was then weathered using Mig Pigments European Dust and Russian Earth. The Corduroy road was scratch-built from 1/8 in dowels. To create the bark effect, I dragged a razor saw over the dowels.

Tamiya decals were used for the signs. They were applied to plastic card stock, then glued to wooden back

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!

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