I just checked up the latest posts on Scalemodelsmalaysia forum and received a shocking news. Miniature Hobbies, one of my regular scale model suppliers is going out of business by the ned of this month. Earlier this month, when I was in Kl, I found out they were only open on weekends and now two weeks later, they are going to close for good.
As the title suggests, it does feel like a death of a friend. I started buying my models at Miniature Hobbies (shortened to 'MH') in mid-90s, when they were located at 1-Utama (my regular weekend haunt when I was working in KL). Then they moved to Mid Valley in the early noughties, the to Section 14 PJ and finally at Jalan Merlimau, off Jalan Hang Tuah. What makes me like these dedicated military model shops is that the staff are knowledgeable (as compared to, say, Daisheng). Jeff, previously working at MH until a couple of months ago usually helps me with the selection of kits; the one I remember most is when he suggested that I buy the Bronco Hotchkiss H39 instead of the less detailed Trumpeter version. For some other guys, they went to MH because of Mandy, the lovely shop assistant (haha!). Anyway, all of us buy our kits there because of their good selection of kits and manufacturers. That is not to say that Mr Low's Hobby HQ is not good; in fact Hobby HQ and MH compelement each other. What I can't find in HHQ was usually available in MH and vice versa. MH is my 'local' source of Academy and Trumpeter kits and also a goodly portion of Dragon ones.
The closure of MH means one less local hobby shop, from a small pool to begin with. In the mid-1980s when I started this hobby, model kits were available even in supermarkets. A local supermarket in Batu Pahat even stocked Tamiya paints then!
