1951: Marsh's Sewing Center and Hobby Shop

Marsh's: Something for the boys, something for the girls. Stores like this were literal magnets for those of us who caught the model building fever back in my young years. We had McEwen's Deli as a dealer for those ten cent (yes, 10 cent!) "Comet" model airplanes. But when we wanted to move up to the big leagues, it was off to Marsh's for those Guillow's models and other "upscale" balsa wood "stick" models as we called them. Here is a closeup view of that late, great model airplane shop where we bought "Testor's" or "Le Page's" glue and we also purchased our share of "dope;" and I don't mean drugs.Ask any veteran model builder what we were "using" as they say in this year of 2014!

1948: TO THOSE OF US WHO WERE MODEL BUILDERS

What wonderfully nostalgic memories the above graphic brings to an 80 year old looking back 70 or even 65 years at one of the inexpensive joys we shared as model airplane builders! Only those of us who recognize "LePage's" and "Testors" will relate to this ad from one of the few "AIR TRAILS" magazines in my collection. My best friend Don Slabicki and I spent hours in the Glover Hartley Avenue basement pinning the plans of a model we were to build. My older brother Bud and his two buddies Bill and Elmer Peters inspired us with the beautiful models they were building on the other end of the bench. We pinned them to a board of soft "Homasote" wall board, and began laying those 1/16" inch "stringers to the upper and lower levels of the fuselage on the plane we were building. You can safely call yourself a balsa wood, rubber band propelled model builder if you recall the kit names like "Comet" and "Guillows."