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About Airplanes & Rockets |
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BSEE - KB3UON My Engineering Web: RF Cafe Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day!) Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ... |
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Airplanes And Rockets Copyright 1996 - 2026 |
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All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the Airplanes and Rockets website are hereby acknowledged. |
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My Main Modeling Websites |
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Academy of Model Aeronautics
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Hobby Shops & Flying Fields in and Near Erie, Pennsylvania |
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The Thermal-G R/C Club held
its annual summer fly-in on August 15, 2010, at the Erie Tech Center. The day was sunny,
a little too warm for me, and quite windy. Here are a few pictures I took of the flight
line. Also present were member of the Bean Hill Flyers control line club.
If you had done a Google or Bing search on hobby shops or flying fields in and near the Erie, PA, area a few years ago, you wouldn't have found much. If you were lucky, you'd have found a reference to the Thermal-G radio control club, but that's about it. Now if you do the same search, you have a good chance of finding this page. Melanie and I moved here in May of 2008, and since then I have made an attempt to identify where the hobby shops are located, and where the various model flying groups meet. It has not been easy. It's almost as if nobody wants you to know where they hide out, but that's not the case - it's just that no one has bothered to promote the venues on the Internet. So, this web page is an effort to fix that. BTW, I posted an article from 1962 about Erie's newspaper running a piece on the Keystone Klippers' need for a flying site. 5014 Station Road Erie, PA 16510 (814) 899-1821 Maxwell's Hobby Shop is owned and run by Joe Maxwell (a very nice guy). The 600 sq. ft. shop is stuffed to the gills with kits and equipment for all types of aeromodelling, including free flight, control line, and radio control. There are some supplies for boats and cars as well. See my write-up on Maxwell's Hobby Shop, complete with lots of photos. You can also see the Jeep that Joe Maxwell is restoring. Directions to Hobby Shop: Take exit 32 off of I-90 heading north on the Bayfront Connector (Rt. 430). Keep in the right-hand lane while going about 0.6 mile. Make a right onto Station Road, at the traffic light in front of the Penn State Erie (Behrend) complex. Go about 500 feet, and on the right, just past Colt Road, you will see a mailbox with "Maxwell" on it. The hobby shop is in the building just beyond the house. Click here for a Google Map to Maxwell's Hobby Shop.
9001 Hamot Road Waterford, PA 16441 (this is just outside of Erie) Gehrlein's Hobby Shop is owned and run by the Gehrlein family. The shop, situated in a room above the workshop where they repair and modify full-scale sailplanes, is full of modern kits and equipment for all types of aeromodeling, including free flight, control line, and radio control. There are some supplies for boats and cars as well. Directions to Hobby Shop: If you know how to get to the Thermal-G flying field, then you know how to get to Gehrlein. If you don't know how to get there, follow the instructions below for the Thermal-G field. Then, instead of turning left at the gate (assuming you're heading south), go about another 300-400 feet and you'll see a big building on the left. That's it. The door is on the back relative to the road. If you are lucky when you visit, there will be a full-size sailplane in the shop being worked on. Click here for a Google Map to Gehrlein's Hobby Shop. Contact: Cliff Bendig (President)
Field Location: Gehrlein Gliderport Hamot Road Waterford (Erie), PA 3-D, Control Line, Electric, Fixed Wing, Free Flight, Fuel/Gas, Helicopters, Park Flyers, Pattern, Pylon Racing, Radio Control Directions to Flying Field: From I-90, take exit 24 south onto Peach Street (Rt. 19), then go a few hundred feet and take the first right onto Oliver Road. At about a mile, you will see the Five Points intersection, with Erie Tech Center complex ahead on the right. Turn left (south) onto Hamot Road. Continue past the couple housing complexes and then after a mile, keep watch to the left, where you'll see a sign next to a cleverly hidden gravel road. If you get to the driveway for the glider port hangars, you've gone too far. Turn around, go back 200 feet and make a right onto the dirt road. The parking lot for the field is separated from the flying area by about 500 feet. Note: There are now gates across the access road, so if they are closed, that means nobody is flying. Note also that the good people at Gehrlein Products who allow the club to fly there also run a hobby shop on the site. Click here for a Google Map to the Thermal-G R/C Club flying field. Erie Model Aircraft Association (disbanded) Free Flight AMA Chartered Club #545 McDowell Flyers (photos & video) Indoor Micro R/C Contact: John Schardt 814-868-1580 Directions to McDowell Intermediate High School Gymnasium: From I-90, take the 26th Street (Rt. 20) exit heading west. Go about 1 mile and turn right onto Caughey Road. McDowell Middle School is on the right after about a half mile. Turn in and go to the gymnasium entrance. Click here for a Google Map to the McDowell Flyers flying gymnasium.
Bean Hill Flyers (photos & video) Control Line Rt. 6N, just east of Albion, PA Contact: Joe Daniels Phone: 814-881-1895 Click here for a Google Map to the Bean Hill Flyers flying field. Jamestown, NY 14701 (716) 484-1780 Note: This article was written when CW Action Hobbies was located at 509 West 3rd Street. I will try to update the photos within the next couple months. Toll Free (800) 737-1180 Hours: Mon-Thur 9:30 - 6 pm Friday 9:30 - 8 pm Saturday 9:30 - 4 pm Sunday Closed
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Gehrlein's Hobby
Shop
