1952
Arrivals For the Week Ending November 30, 2024 –
December 2, 2024
Carol Rice’s Christmas Village
It’s that time of year where we re-run the Christmas Village story
Carol Rice sits contemplatively, surveying the landscape of the tiny Victorian town and reflected on the growth of her “Dickens Christmas Village”. In a hamlet where miniature Scrooges and Marleys are almost as abundant as the horse-drawn sleighs, this village comes to life once a year. Its housing stock consists of porcelain buildings and figures by Department 56, which pay homage to characters and places inspired by the novels of Charles Dickens.
“My husband, Richard, unpacked his childhood trains and his Plasticville buildings from the 50s back in 1998. We had them under the tree in the family room the first year. I mentioned to his sister, Jean, that Plasticville wouldn’t go too well with my elegant glass and lace ornaments on the living room tree. The following Christmas, she gave us our first Department 56 porcelain building – for the living room. Plasticville had taken up too much space in the family room, so we had moved it to the living room. That first porcelain building looked terribly out of place in the middle of that modern, clunky, toy town. Poor Plasticville was relegated to the layout upstairs after that'” says Rice.
November 18, 2024
Flying Flapjack Program
One of the more unusual models we used to sell was the Monogram (way before Revell acquired them) Flying Flapjack. What was more unusual was that Monogram sent us a working factory-built display model of it. You’d install a battery, flip a switch, and the wings would flap. It looked very much like a stork trying to take off. For years, I thought it was some sort of ‘joke’ model conceived by some insanely creative minds.
I’d forgotten all about that model until Shane Trosclair brought in one model he recently finished: the Flying Pancake manufactured by Sword Models. Shane’s version came with a resin cockpit and he painted it Chrome and Yellow.
This was part of the Navy’s Flying Flapjack program. The Vought XF5U “Flying Flapjack” wasn’t too successful. The Vought V-173 “Flying Pancake, which was a lighter version flew from 1942 to 1947. Charles Lindberg was one of the test pilots.
It also caused quite uproar as the folks who saw it flying thought it was a saucer from Outer Space. It’s on display at an air museum in Dallas.
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
“”Quarter Light” is copyrighted by William Wolfe and is used with his permission
New Orleans, Louisiana