Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Hong Kong RC trip - Buy Buy Buy

Hong Kong is truly a shopping paradise and the great thing is you can get everything in the one area. You only need to go to one place and thats Mong Kok, there are sports goods, electronic goods, fashion and even RC stuff all within a few blocks. Since so many variety of goods congregate at one area, the bad part is of course the huge amount of people traffic there. Every where are people and more people.

There are many RC shops in hongkong, the ones i visited mainly focus on heli and aircraft stuff. Tons of others that deals with cars and boats as well. The prices for most branded stuff are generally cheaper and most shop staffs are friendly to answer any questions. Lets get started.

Most of the shop's details were obtained from one of my flying friend's blog over here and searching various online forums. Can goto www.centamap.com for street directory of hongkong to search for address. I merged them together into one map for simplicity. Shops are highlighted in blue below.



First stop take the MTR to Yau Ma Te station. Here they are

1) Flying – Hobby (www.flying-hobby.com)
Room 5, 5/F ,Cheung Hing Building,
46 Pitt Street,Yau Ma Tei, KLN ,HK (MTR Yau Ma Tei A2 Exit)


Its the building near to the A2 exit. Sells mostly online, not much of a shop front. Online prices are standard prices , not that cheap.

2)Waigo hobby (www.waigohobby.com)
1/F., No.7-8 Tung Fong Street
Yaumatei, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Mon - Sat: 10:30 - 20:00
Closed on Sunday

Stock : Heli, planes, electronics, blades, cars.
Good buys: Blades, Futaba servos.


Then, take a short walk along Nathan road over to Mongkong area where the big circle is.This is where there are a lot of Hobby shops that are not just RC. There are also static models, Guns, Cars.

One of the many shops selling model guns. They looked exactly like the real thing.

3) Modern Model Company. Its in a alley with lots of hobby shops before kwong wa street. This shop is like a all in one, RC, models, guns , everything.

Good buys : Servos, Align stuff, Spectrum. I think i saw a 2.4 DSX9 set is only going for 4000ish HK dollars. Cheap.


Some of the helis on display
Walk through the alley make a right turn , you will find Kwong Wa street. Again many many shops.


4) Good-Tech
Carries heli, aircraft stuff. Supposed to be Spartan dealer but no stock when i was there. Nothing particularly cheap here.

5) Skytech RC
12 Kwong Wa Street

Carries : Good range of hyperion planes, Align stuff, Scorpion motors.
Good buys: Hyperion planes on sale.

After that there is one more shop that is worth a visit, its located along the main shopping area in Mongkok.

6)Top Tech Trading Co. (http://www.top-tech.com.hk)
Rm 1407, Good Hope Building
No.5 Sai Yeung Choi Street South,
Mongkok, Kowloon

Carries a big range of heli products and electronics.
Good buys : Electronics , Align.

7) Jethobby http://www.jethobby.com
Shop F, G/F, 13 Liberty Avenue, Kowloon, Hong Kong
One more thats nearby but there is not much air stuff, mostly cars, boats.

These shops carries most of the branded RC stuff at competitive prices, a little asking around before buying can save a few dollars here and there. If there is still time in hongkong, can take a 30 mins train ride from mongkok to visit RadarRC (http://www.radarrc.com). Huge range but prices there are not cheap. Good for the world model planes, hirobo, windrider products.

Conclusion

- Bring lots of cash.
- Try not to go in july, its dam hot.
- Buy Buy Buy.

Friday, August 01, 2008

Hong Kong Trip Goodies

Came back from a short holiday in Hong Kong with boxes of RC goodies. Ho Ho Ho. Detailed trip report including shops visited, route taken, recommendations in next post. Now here's the stuff.

3 boxes. All marked Fragile and checked-in. Boxes came out slightly crumpled but all in all was ok. Thumbs up for HK n SG airport.

Trex600 Nitro Super Pro. Yes its the 2nd trex i bought, sold the first one that i got in TW few months ago. The price of this one is simply irresistible, i had to get it. lol.

Some spares.

Servos aplenty. Got one of the newest Futaba brushless servos intended for heli application - BLS 253. Very similar to BLS451, Full specs here

More A123s

Hyperion Yak 55sp-25e. Was on sale this one. I think it still is at aircraft-world. Hmm, yellow black seems to be the in colours.

The new bee from windrider - BeEvolution. All ready for next slope season.