News



According to the Small Business Administration's Office of Advocacy, only 5 out of every 100 of businesses are still operating after 30 years.

Happy 35th Anniversary Hobby-Sports.com!

Hobby-Sports.com and its owner, Rex Simpson, were recognized for its 35th anniversary by the Southwest Michigan First Chamber. Simpson was recognized for his service to the Chamber as a Chamber Ambassador and Buy Local board member.

Hobby-Sports in Portage has been a Chamber member since 2016, and Rex has been a Chamber Ambassador since 2018. Rex is a staple at Chamber events, and he has built great relationships in our business community. Hobby-Sports provides access to a wide variety of RC vehicles, drones, and other collectibles. Rex is a perfect example of an entrepreneur recognizing a niche and building a great local business. Not only does Hobby-Sports thrive, but the community thrives because of businesses and people like Rex, the Chamber noted.

35 years is an incredible feat!
Join us in congratulating
Rex on 35 successful years!



AMA Secures Higher Altitudes For Events

The Academy of Model Aeronautics has signed a letter of agreement with the FAA to continue to provide higher altitudes for AMA-sanctioned events in uncontrolled (Class G) airspace for 2024.

The AMA event sanctioning process currently includes an
assessment for operations to be approved up to 700 or 1,200 feet above ground level.

AMA hopes that an event waiver will no longer be needed when Congress passes the 2024 FAI Reauthorization bill. AMA is also working with Congress to include a process to fly at higher altitudes in Class G airspace for day-to-day operations. In the meantime, this is just one of many steps in AMA’s strategy to continue securing higher altitudes for our safe operations. AMA has already secured higher altitudes for many of our club flying sites in controlled airspace, sometimes up to 2,000 feet.

White Rose Hobbies Acquires
Bethlehem Car Works

White Rose Hobbies, LLC of York, Pennsylvania, has announced the acquisition of Bethlehem Car Works, Inc of Telford, Penn. 

Bethlehem Car Works produces craftsman kits specializing in HO-scale Pullman passenger cars as well as the Sparrows Point Division and Kit Bits line of detail parts and accessories.

The asset purchase agreement includes the balance of the
inventory, research materials, molds, digital property, design plans and diagrams for all current and proposed products.

Ryan Thoman, White Rose Hobbies CEO, said “This purchase will allow us to enter into a different space of the hobby industry by offering our own product line. We are planning to add to the existing Bethlehem Car Works product line with new passenger and freight cars, new detail parts and accessories, as well as vehicles for the model railroading market using the latest in resin technologies for small batch production runs.”

White Rose Hobbies currently operates a full-line brick and mortar hobby shop selling model trains, remote control cars, plasticmodels and modeling tools and supplies.

Bandai Bringing Gundam Tech To Life

Human-sized mecha suits may be coming to a farm near you as
part of the Bandai Namco Group’s Gundam Universal Century
Development Action sustainability program.

Bandai has partnered with 13 technology and sustainability organizations to develop technology based on the animè franchise to address environmental issues. Four groups have formed: Team Space Life Project, Prototyping a New Maneuverable Robot for
Social Implementation of Mobile Suit, Green Space Colony Project, and Plasma Agriculture Project.

The Prototyping Project aims to develop a mobile suit to perform peaceful activities to enrich people’s lives. The Plasma team will focus on using plasma technology for agricultural purposes to promote plant health without chemicals. The other two teams are collaborating on creating a sustainable space colony and researching artificial gravity. Stay tuned for further developments.


Plateau RC & Hobby Opens Its Doors

Long-time RC racer Paul Pukis opened Plateau RC & Hobby in Lake Bonney, Washington, just before the holiday season. 

Pukis was an avid hobbyist and along with some friends,
decided to open the store to serve the community. The 1,000-sq.ft. space in a former tattoo parlor stocks the usual RC products, science kits and building block toys.

Railroad Shop Chugs Along For 52 Years

When Charles Ro’s father owned a hair salon in Malden, Massachusetts, Charles displayed a few Lionel trains at the front of the store to sell.

Around 1972, the train shop took over the salon, and today, the Charles Ro Supply Company bills itself as “America’s Largest Train Store.” It also claims to be the largest Lionel train dealer in the world.

The shop provides all the tools, art supplies and miniature
models a person might need to design and build a layout.

The ground floor of the sprawling facility includes a shipping department, a repair workshop and enough trains, tracks and
accessories to keep a whole model train club busy for a lifetime.

The real attraction is on the second floor, where the highlight is a train layout about the size of a pickleball court. The layout doesn’t represent any particular railroad or region. Instead, It reflects the imagination of the family and workers over the years, with mountains, waterfalls, deep gorges spanned by bridges and more tracks and trains than you can count, almost. While model railroad technology has changed over the years, the hobbyists are still the same.

“They have a real dedication to the hobby, and they’re passionate about what they get. It has to be perfect or just right. That’s why we’re number one: We tend to deliver a good product,” Ro told GBH.com.

Atlas Acquires Custom Signals

Atlas Model Railroad Co. Inc. has announced the acquisition of Custom Signals of Poughkeepsie, NY. Custom Signals specialized in O-scale signal products and building signal systems for layouts.

The asset purchase agreement includes, in part, the balance of inventory, the Track/Signal Configuration Library and all Custom Signals tools comprising molds, dies, designs, plans and diagrams for all current and proposed products.

“This purchase will allow the expansion of our signal line from a basic Automatic Block Signaling system (ABS) to a full Absolute Permissive Block Signaling system (APB),” Paul Graf, Atlas CEO, said. “It will grow our N and HO signal products and offer all customers valuable assistance in building track layouts using the Atlas All Scales Signal System.”

Model Rocket Market Set To Grow

The Global Model Rocket Market is estimated to register 14.8% growth over the forecast period from 2023 to 2030.

The market estimate from USD Analytics Market includes ASP Rocketry, Madcow Rocketry, Custom Rocket Company, Estes Rockets, SierraFox Hobbies, FlisKits Inc. and MPC Rockets.

The report cited major trends in the market, including
technological advancements, such as 3D printing and eco-friendly designs, while challenges involve regulatory compliance and supply chain constraints. The future outlook anticipates increased integration with technology, including augmented and virtual reality, as well
as potential for global collaboration within the model rocket
community. HM



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