How CHC Started

The idea of running our own hobby store started as a random thought bubble during the COVID-19 lockdown. We noticed a gap in the market for low-to-medium budget tools, as well as Gunpla in Canberra… and it’s always been a struggle for us to find niche Gunpla tools such as Gunprimer and Hobby Mio in Australia. 

So we thought “Fine, let’s do it ourselves!”

We did a market test/ soft launch during the Illawarra Scale Model Show in May 2021, and were blown away by the reception of the show participants. CHC’s online store then officially opened in July 2021.

(NSW Scale Model Show, 2021)

Contrary to popular belief, we are mainly a single-person operation, and not a big store! All store operations are run from our apartment’s living room in Canberra. Space was, and still is, a premium, and we sometimes were forced to store stock in our bathrooms, or sleep with them!


(A typical day at CHC HQ...)

CHC’s undergone a lot of changes since its’ inception - from using satchels to send orders (how did we even survive that..) to using proper boxes, from MS paint graphics to proper Photoshop graphics, from postcard 1.0 to our current 2.0…and we expect more changes will come as time goes by!


(Our first lot of orders!)

We are committed to support the Canberran scale model scene by sponsoring the ACTSMS - Canberra’s scale model society, as well as publishing free tutorials each month for our social media followers. We also sponsor other scale model shows around Australia, so keep an eye out for our logo that may make an appearance on a scale model show near you!

Most importantly, we are even more grateful to have you with us as we embark on our next adventures. Thanks for supporting us!

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