Model kit shop in Staunton is largest in Virginia

STAUNTON, Va. (WHSV) - A new face and name have taken over the model plane shop in downtown Staunton.

Along West Beverly Street you can find “Frontline Model Kits and Hobbies” and inside you’ll find the store walls and shelves lined with model kits.

Christian Vames has been coming to the model kit shop since he was 10, and when the former owner offered to sell him the business he couldn’t pass it up.

Vames has grown the business through social media and creating an online storefront.

“Getting off eBay was one thing I just really wanted to do just because their fees and stuff were higher,” Christain Vames, owner of Frontline Model Kits and Hobbies said. “So having a website you have a credit card fee, there’s no item limits, and it’s all linked together through my inventory system so it’s really nice.”

One trip to Frontline Model Kits and Hobbies may not be enough to see the entire selection. There are over 20,000 models in the store.

”Biggest selection in Virginia and pretty much on the east coast as well, so we have three floors- a main floor, we have an upstairs and a basement and so most everything we’ve got a lot of aircraft, tanks, artillery figures,” Vames said.

Vames said he has the biggest selection of Gundam in the Valley which is popular among the kids.

The shop also has puzzles, automotives, ships, and rocket kits to satisfy every hobbyist’s needs.

“The regular people they come in just from around the area as well from Waynesboro to Harrisonburg and I do have some that some all the way from Richmond or Florida ... come drive all the way up because they know I’m the biggest selection here,” Vames said.

To view some of the inventory, go to the online store or to see it for yourself in person, Frontline Model Kits and Hobbies is open daily.