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SHOPPING FANATIC
We love high culture--theatre, music, dance--but weekends are also made for shopping
One of the things that drives the owners of Pacific Hobbyist nuts is when people refer to plastic model kits as "toys." Everything for
the avid modeler"The average builder is a professional who's in his 30s," said co-owner Owen Stanley. "Model kits are now so detailed and well-engineered that they're miniatures of the real thing. They're not for playing with.
"Adults have hobbies; kids have fads. To build an accurate scale model requires not just artistic and crafting skills; the amount of research and interpretation involved is phenomenal. This 'hobby' requires the kind of research demanded of a graduate student."
Pacific Hobbyist, in the McCully Chop Suey building at the corner of McCully and King streets, is devoted to plastic model kits, books and supplies. This is unlike most hobby shops, which are also craft stores.
The store is owned and operated by Stanley, Kenny Guerrero and Brad Sekigawa, all avid modelers. Sekigawa, in fact, is considered by many to be the premier practitioner of the art in Hawaii, and has even competed in scale modeling contests on Japanese television.
"As far as the quality of model kits are concerned, it's like Nirvana these days for model builders," said Stanley. "It's beyond the imagination of anyone who built kits in the '60s or '70s.
"The reason is that the major model companies like Tamiya cut their molds using computers, so the kits are not only extremely accurate, they fit together like a charm."
Pacific Hobbyist is open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Information: 942-2851.
Shopping Fanatic is a Thursday feature dedicated to the pursuit of shopping finds beyond the big mall.
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