I am driving up to Detriot MI from Dayton Ohio for a wedding in about two weeks from now. Is there any worth while Hobby shops up that way that I could stock up while away from the misses? I found one called the whistle stop hobby and toy on the net but I am willing to hear any suggestions on were to go In Detriot for good modeling selections Thanks!!!

Howdy,

Depending on the area, there's Imperial Hobbies in Garden City on Ford Rd, then there's Nankin Hardware and Hobby just down the road. There's a couple on the east side of town as well, that are worth a look.

Have fun

In Detroit, not that I know of. Outside of Detroit, yes, quite a few good ones. In fact, IMO, hobby shops in Detroit Metro are some of the best ones I've ever been to.

None of them are strong in sci-fi kits although "Old Guard" and "Great Lakes" do carry some. Each one of them has something the others don't.

This info is current as of 2005.

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There's "Old Guard Hobby" on Van Dyke in Sterling Heights, which is one of the main roads north out of Detroit. It's on about 14 Mile Road as the cross-street. This place sells armor, plane, sea, and resin figures. It has PE, books, paints, wargaming, etc. You really should check it out as one of the most-stocked hobby shops I know of. No R/C or railroad.
http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3716047522

Old Guard is strong in planes, ships, and tanks of all eras and scales.

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There's "Michigan Toy Soldier" in Livonia. This place sells metal soldiers, resin figures, and action figure dolls. They're online too.

As the name suggests, they're strong in all figures, foilage, display cases, figure painting books and magazines, but don't have kits.

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There's "Great Lakes Train and Hobby" also on Van Dyke and around 22 Mile Road as the cross-street. This place has R/C and RR, but no PE, wargaming, or resin. This place has toys, so if you have kids, it's a good place to take them while you look at kits. It's toted as one of the largest hobby shops in the Midwest and I believe it. They are online too. Go here if you want foilage, Plastruct, and a huge selection of plane, armor, and ship kits. This place often carries the newest releases too.

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For trains and R/C, there's P&D Hobby Shop in Fraiser, also north of Detroit.
http://www.pdhobbyshop.com

Their selection of kits is mainly American-made like Revell and AMT...not many foreign brands like DML, Tamiya, or Hasewaga. This one probably has the most AMT Trek and Star Wars sci-fi kits around.

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All of these hobby shops are in good areas, with good service, and parking. You can even hit like 4-5 of them in one day.

Detroit Metro is basically a grid pattern and you can tell how far a place is by the "Mile Roads" running east and west. So 22 Mile Road is 22 miles from downtown Detroit. Honestly, it's not that far since everything is all city streets and traffic on weekends isn't heavy at all on city streets.

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Here's some more info.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?3,1221773

Peter has indicated the main ones. Old Gaurd and Great Lakes are on the same road and are about 6 miles apart. It won't take long to get from one to the other as Van Dyke is a for the most part a 6 lane road with a speed limit of 45 mph (it does slow down up near Great lakes.)

Great Lakes is a good place to go if you are looking for good prices on kits. Their prices usually come close to what you can get them for on line(armor at least), only if you are there you don't have to pay shippping and Michigan tax is only 6%, I believe. If you are looking for more after market stuff though, great lakes isn't real strong in this area. For aftermarket, Old Gaurd is the place to go. I would avoid the kits there as I think they are on the high side, though they sometimes have harder to find kits.

Also, if you are going to be there on Sat Feb 10, a local club is having its meeting at Old Gaurd at noon. they are a good bunch of guys, and are welcoming of people. I will be in town that weekend and plan on attending the club meeting so stop by and say hi if you have the chance.

Sean

I almost forgot, each of these two are on the east side of the road on Vandyke. If you are going north on Van Dyke, Old Gaurd is in a strip mall on a small side street. It doesn't jump out right at you. If going north on Van Dyke and you get to 15 mile road (there is a Meijer at 15) you have gone a bit too far and need to turn back around. The strip mall is about 1/2 way between 14 and 15 mile, near the Target. Definately map quest it.

Thanks you guys!! I am excited to hit up a few shops up there. Here in dayton we have like three shops with limited selection in armor. So I will be on the west side around the Wayne and Westland area. I am not really worried about the distanse to the shops. Old guard sound great and Sean I might just stop by depending on the time of the wedding on saturday!!! You guys have been great thanks again!!!

If you're in the Wayne Westland area, then for sure check out Imperial Hobbies (Garden City on Ford Road, north side, east of Merriman) and Nankin Hobbies, (Westland, also on Ford Road, south side, east of Wayne Road). Very nice selections in both shops!

Tom

Thanks Tom. I will check them out.