Deciding to go to a local meetup
To take a break from the kit based posts (and let me know if you love those or want more other stuff too):
I recently moved to a new city. None of the closest 3 gaming stores really carried gunpla, it was more the traditional "MTG and card and board games and a few tables and shelves of wargames". On a lark this weekend I searched for Gunpla near me on facebook and found there's a group that meets to do models (mostly gunpla but some other stuff) every Tuesday about 30 minutes away, maybe 35 with traffic. The notice said they meet from like 5-8.
That's not super far, but I was debating it at it would be a little over an hour travel time for the like 2 hours I could make this week. I mentioned my hemming and hawing while talking on a discord server, and when I was met with "dude, I would totally drive even further if there was any store that sold gunpla or a meetup near me just to check it out, at least once!". I realized that's true, I'd be a fool not to check it out at least once. So I packed up a toolkit and one of my backlog HGs into a messenger bag, and told myself I'd go.
The size of the two fit perfectly into any backpack or messenger back. Here's a little closer look at all the stuff I pack into that little toolkit (a spare range bag for pistols/mags). Scissors, glue (with an extra safety plastic bag), nippers, panel lining pen, hobby knife, cotton pads (useful for cleanup, especially glue/panel lining),masking tape, bag of various sandpapers, and a rollup of spudges, scribers, and tweezers.
So fast forward to the evening, heading down at like half past five past the city proper there was indeed traffic, a little stressful drive, but not too bad. And I got to the store just fine, and actually found parking right in the small lot. That actually made me think maybe there weren't a lot of people in the shop. Well - it turns out I was right, as I went to the front door right at 6:05 to find they CLOSED at 6. I didn't even see anyone behind the locked glass door, though the lights were on.
Needless to say, I was a bit miffed. I checked their website and google, which did say the store closes at 6. I looked back at the facebook event, which said the event was at that store from 5-8. I messaged the business on facebook and resigned myself to maybe the club wasnt really active and they just left up the weekly meeting (which would be weird because there were like posts a few times in the last week, just not in the event. I searched up a local fast food place and found once just slightly farther down the road, and decided to go there before I headed back.
HOLY COW WAS I GLAD I DID.
The store I was attempting to go to was [Store name] HOBBY. barely a block down the road, right before I got to the food, was a sign that looked exactly the same named [Store name] GAMING. I made a turn, parked down a side road, and decided to check it out. Immediately upon entering I saw tables of people with gunpla in front of them.
It turns out they needed some extra space so moved all their tabletop games and gaming tables and event space to a separate location and kept all the models and RC stuff and most of their basic hobby stock at the original. So its the same store, with two locations, but most searches will first direct you to the main, bigger HOBBY location unless you know to specifically look for the GAMING location.
Not pictured are the display cases filled with different super well done models for display, and a separate room with some miniature gaming supplies and units and whatnot for sale. Unfortunately my phone was low on power, I didn't bring my charger or spare battery, and I wanted it for the ride home. Plus I didn't wanna just show up and be the guy that took pictures of everything even if i explained what it was for, just wanted to hang out for the first time. I'll be sure to take more pictures next time.
But it was a lot of fun! I think over the course of it we had like 12 people, with like 10 working on Gunpla, mostly building but some panel lining and someone painting. People just joked around and had fun chatting about various topics, a few compared notes on preshading techniques and wow I like yours how did you do that, etc. Most of them obviously knew each other a long time, but they very warmly welcomed me and it was easy to join right in. Model building is great socially because you don't need to talk, and no one expects you to, you're focused on your thing, but someone always is talking and you can join right in when/if you eventually feel like you wanted to.
I've never been accused of being the fastest hobby person, whether painting or assembling or whatever. I like to get things as good as possible, even if it takes longer, and I use it as a way to relax, so I take even longer. And I was not gifted with an abundance of natural talent, so I go slow and easy and often redo/adjust things to make up for that. I think I barely got the full chest and waist cut out, shaved, sanded, and assembled in the about 1.5 hours I was working on stuff (with some breaks to check out the mini store area in this location and just to sit back and chat and to check out some other models people were working on or in the case).
But all in all, it was a ton of fun! I don't know if i'll make it every week, but it is on a night I have free most weeks, and I'll definitely be back. And later this month they have a special weekend full day event themed around building a red kit (I know the gunpla discord does similar themed group builds) with raffles and food and everything, so I'll have to check that out. I hope the lunamaria gunner I preordered (that has a SEXY red plastic shade) comes in time!
Till next time!
I recently moved to a new city. None of the closest 3 gaming stores really carried gunpla, it was more the traditional "MTG and card and board games and a few tables and shelves of wargames". On a lark this weekend I searched for Gunpla near me on facebook and found there's a group that meets to do models (mostly gunpla but some other stuff) every Tuesday about 30 minutes away, maybe 35 with traffic. The notice said they meet from like 5-8.
That's not super far, but I was debating it at it would be a little over an hour travel time for the like 2 hours I could make this week. I mentioned my hemming and hawing while talking on a discord server, and when I was met with "dude, I would totally drive even further if there was any store that sold gunpla or a meetup near me just to check it out, at least once!". I realized that's true, I'd be a fool not to check it out at least once. So I packed up a toolkit and one of my backlog HGs into a messenger bag, and told myself I'd go.
The size of the two fit perfectly into any backpack or messenger back. Here's a little closer look at all the stuff I pack into that little toolkit (a spare range bag for pistols/mags). Scissors, glue (with an extra safety plastic bag), nippers, panel lining pen, hobby knife, cotton pads (useful for cleanup, especially glue/panel lining),masking tape, bag of various sandpapers, and a rollup of spudges, scribers, and tweezers.
So fast forward to the evening, heading down at like half past five past the city proper there was indeed traffic, a little stressful drive, but not too bad. And I got to the store just fine, and actually found parking right in the small lot. That actually made me think maybe there weren't a lot of people in the shop. Well - it turns out I was right, as I went to the front door right at 6:05 to find they CLOSED at 6. I didn't even see anyone behind the locked glass door, though the lights were on.
Needless to say, I was a bit miffed. I checked their website and google, which did say the store closes at 6. I looked back at the facebook event, which said the event was at that store from 5-8. I messaged the business on facebook and resigned myself to maybe the club wasnt really active and they just left up the weekly meeting (which would be weird because there were like posts a few times in the last week, just not in the event. I searched up a local fast food place and found once just slightly farther down the road, and decided to go there before I headed back.
HOLY COW WAS I GLAD I DID.
The store I was attempting to go to was [Store name] HOBBY. barely a block down the road, right before I got to the food, was a sign that looked exactly the same named [Store name] GAMING. I made a turn, parked down a side road, and decided to check it out. Immediately upon entering I saw tables of people with gunpla in front of them.
(And there were even a few people not in the picture. Also, don't worry I didn't just walk in taking pictures like a creep, this was later and had everyone's permission)
It turns out they needed some extra space so moved all their tabletop games and gaming tables and event space to a separate location and kept all the models and RC stuff and most of their basic hobby stock at the original. So its the same store, with two locations, but most searches will first direct you to the main, bigger HOBBY location unless you know to specifically look for the GAMING location.
Not pictured are the display cases filled with different super well done models for display, and a separate room with some miniature gaming supplies and units and whatnot for sale. Unfortunately my phone was low on power, I didn't bring my charger or spare battery, and I wanted it for the ride home. Plus I didn't wanna just show up and be the guy that took pictures of everything even if i explained what it was for, just wanted to hang out for the first time. I'll be sure to take more pictures next time.
But it was a lot of fun! I think over the course of it we had like 12 people, with like 10 working on Gunpla, mostly building but some panel lining and someone painting. People just joked around and had fun chatting about various topics, a few compared notes on preshading techniques and wow I like yours how did you do that, etc. Most of them obviously knew each other a long time, but they very warmly welcomed me and it was easy to join right in. Model building is great socially because you don't need to talk, and no one expects you to, you're focused on your thing, but someone always is talking and you can join right in when/if you eventually feel like you wanted to.
I've never been accused of being the fastest hobby person, whether painting or assembling or whatever. I like to get things as good as possible, even if it takes longer, and I use it as a way to relax, so I take even longer. And I was not gifted with an abundance of natural talent, so I go slow and easy and often redo/adjust things to make up for that. I think I barely got the full chest and waist cut out, shaved, sanded, and assembled in the about 1.5 hours I was working on stuff (with some breaks to check out the mini store area in this location and just to sit back and chat and to check out some other models people were working on or in the case).
(picture taken after I got home)
But all in all, it was a ton of fun! I don't know if i'll make it every week, but it is on a night I have free most weeks, and I'll definitely be back. And later this month they have a special weekend full day event themed around building a red kit (I know the gunpla discord does similar themed group builds) with raffles and food and everything, so I'll have to check that out. I hope the lunamaria gunner I preordered (that has a SEXY red plastic shade) comes in time!
Till next time!
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