Building models has been a part of Phil Conner's life for nearly 50 years.
As his dad worked on creating a model of a World War Two destroyer, Conner looked on with curious 5-year-old eyes, asking what he could do to help.
After letting him help, his father bought Conner his own kit of a Pointer dog to build.
"I slapped it together and plopped the paint on," Conner said. "It was really primitive but it got me started."
Nowadays, Conner works at Toys Forever Models and Hobbies, a shop dedicated to the craft, located on Walnut Street in Downtown Muncie.
From the beginning
Toys Forever opened the day after Thanksgiving in 2007, but owner Brandon Mundell had been envisioning it for years. As an entrepreneurship major at Ball State, he created the original business plan for a class in 2001.
Although he had built models growing up, his involvement in the business side of things happened by chance.
"I was kind of, sort of interested in it but I wouldn't call it avid by any means," Mundell said.
When he was looking for a job at 16 years old, he knew one thing – he didn't want to work in the food service industry. As he flipped through the phone book, he came across Gupta Hobby and Craft Center. He had stopped by a few times prior for modeling kits.
After working at Gupta's for eight years and another hobby shop for six, Mundell finally looked into opening a shop of his own.
"I like interacting with people," he said. "That's why I do retail for a living. I love people."
"Sometimes it's hard for me to balance that I need to sit back here on the computer and do some of the accounting work because I hear somebody up here talking about something and I want to be involved in it."
Mundell values customer service and hopes it will still translate well over the internet as he begins setting up an online retail system.
"It'll be a change out of the personal interaction thing but that's how some people shop these days," Mundell said.
Models and hobbies
Rows of boxed kits line the shelves of Toys Forever. As a full-line hobby shop, they sell everything from planes to trains to R/C cars to boats.
Their main customer base consists of males.
"It's definitely not a girl store," Mundell said with a chuckle. "We're not opposed to girls but when I look at the Facebook metrics we do, by far the likes are all guys."
Although the focus is on models and hobbies, the shop does contain some toys as their name proclaims. They sell a variety of colorful kites and Thinking Putty, which is comes in 34 different colors and effects.
Across the street on the corner of Walnut and Adams, Mundell and his family are preparing the three-story building to become the new home of Toys Forever.
And as they look toward expansion, more toys may be on the way, Mundell said.
Creating a pastime
The attraction to building models is different for all people, Mundell said.
"A lot of the guys that build model cars are kind of living vicariously a little bit," he said. "They may not be able to buy a hot rod or something like that but they can build an in-scale one."
Some customers focus on recreating a time in history, such as one who is building a model of the Monon railroad as it existed in August 1958.
Conner's favorite models fall in the science fiction, space and aviation categories. Growing up in the era of the first space exploration and Star Trek, the genre has always held his interest.
"It's just being able to recreate that which you enjoy," he said.
Remote control cars provide some of the same thrills as working with full size cars. They have the same oil, springs and gears but on a smaller scale.
"Maybe somebody cant afford to go race a real race car or it's dangerous to race a real car but you can do this and have some of the same excitement," he said.
One Toys Forever regular is 14-year-old Bart Redwine, who favors R/C cars.
He has come to the shop every day for the past two years, learning from Mundell how to fix up cars.
"This morning that car over there was all in one piece," Mundell said, pointing at a pile of RC car parts sitting on a work table by Redwine, "And by the end of this afternoon it'll probably be back in one piece but clean."
Redwine is also an avid R/C racer, citing the competition as his favorite aspect of it. He owns 12 R/C cars of his own.
As Mundell, works towards getting the new store ready to open in July, he spends more time at the shop than ever. Running the business and being involved in modeling is his lifestyle, he said.
"Everybody has a hobby. Everybody has their thing," he said. "This just happens to be what we do around here."
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