Hobby Shops in Strange Places VII

A Visit to Guangzhou, China

By Valentin "Beware of the Motorcycle Taxis" Bueno

Where the heck is Guangzhou? Have you ever heard of the Chinese city of Canton? That’s the old British name for Guangzhou (pronounced Gwong-zoo). It is the famous old port town on the Pearl River about 50 miles (100 kilometers) north of Hong Kong. It’s an easy 2-hour train ride on the new Kowloon Canton Railway (KCR) line. My girlfriend’s Godmother’s nephew, Simon, guided me to these hobby shops. He’s not a builder himself, but I had asked him if there were any such shops in town. Interestingly, all three shops were within 20 meters of each other in the same strip mall. Let’s look at each shop individually.

Hobby Shop #1: Tamiya Shop


The display case and armor section.		The low beam is visible to the right and this is a wall of armor kits.

The after market display case. All the prices are comparable to prices at home, thus I didn’t pick up anything here.		Can you count the number of AFV club kits? Interestingly enough, no Trumpeter armor or aircraft kits in stock.
The oversize kit section at the head of the stairs.		Speaking of the stairs….

I saw this shop from half a klick away, thanks to the large Tamiya logo (thank you Tamiya-sama) on the storefront. It’s a two-story shop with RC and electronic toys on the first floor and a massive amount of kits on the second floor. The stairwell was packed with Trumpeter ship models hanging from the walls. The second floor was divided be a low beam and display case into two areas, armor on one side and aircraft on the other. Ships and larger kits were at the landing of the stairs and in the stairwell. If you need a kit, this place might have it.

Hobby Shop #2: RC Club/NAFU

Larger scale RC car kits, a Trumpeter ship kit and lots of train kits. RC accessories and paints are in the wall rack and in the glass case in the front.

< The store front right next to a middle school entrance. Maybe that’s why there are three stores here.

Look at all the train kits.

The two stores are within spitting distance of each other.

This place was 20 meters from the Tamiya place in the same strip mall complex. It was mostly RC and some larger kits. You can see the 1/32 scale Tamiya F-4E kit and a lot of larger scale train kits. I wish I had picked up a train kit, but the luggage limitation was looming and I still had Hong Kong and Japanese Hobby Shops to visit.

Hobby Shop #3: Racing RC Model Co, Ltd.


The storefront. This is right next to the entrance to park.


Car and Gundam kits galore.	Car, aircraft, and a few armor kits on the bottom.
Some of the finished RC cars and Dangun racers in the display case.	Here’s Jenny, she speaks English very well. If you visit this store, look to her for help. There were two other gentlemen there, but I didn’t have an opportunity to speak with them.

The third shop is right next to the entrance to Liuhua Lake Park. This is a two story shop with a lot of RC and kits. I didn’t have time to visit the second story, but it sounded like there was some slot car action going on up there. On the ground floor, as you can see in the pictures are kits and accessories galore. Lots of cars, Gundam, and a few airplanes. I did end up purchasing a 1/700 submarine from an old Japanese TV show.

Jenny speaks English, so if you have any questions, she’s the one to ask. I didn’t have an opportunity to speak (or try to speak) to the other two employees there, but that’s OK.

All three stores are within 20 meters (about 23 yards) of each other.

Where in Guangzhou?

The best landmark I can give is the entrance to the Liuhua Lake Park entrance on Renmin Bei Road. You have to pay to get into this park. The entrance is opposite the Parkview Place, a large western looking style building. The map below should give you an idea where in Guangzhou it is.