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Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Jeremy and Janet Hartmann stand next to a burned glider that survived the June 2014 fire at The Model Box.
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Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Jeremy Hartmann spent 11 months building this glider, including shaping the wood by hand. It was destroyed in a fire in June 2014.
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Photo by Sydney Cromwell.
Jeremy Hartmann stands with one of the model planes currently being built in The Model Box 2.0, which is opening at the end of May.
Jeremy Hartmann spent 11 months building a glider plane entirely from scratch. The finished product had a 26-foot wingspan and two miniature pilots designed to look like him and his son, down to the Alabama logo on Ben’s hat. In a single night, that plane was reduced to charred wood and melted glue when Hartmann’s store, The Model Box, caught fire.
“It was a great month before [the fire] last year. I won best in show with a car, I won best in show with a plane, and then we had the fire and everything stopped,” Hartmann said.
The Model Box originally opened in 1988 and has been in its current location, 1921 Hoover Court, since 2008. On June 8, 2014, a TV short-circuited and caught fire in the store. Hartmann’s glider was scorched, but lucky to survive. Several models, including a plane that had just been finished that day, were ruined.
“It had just had its first flight and I mean, nothing left. It was total ashes,” Hartmann said.
The Hartmanns had started the hobby shop a year after their marriage and raised their children there. Between the damage from heat, smoke and fire department hoses, they were faced with starting over from scratch.
Originally, the Hartmanns expected to reopen The Model Box in four to six weeks. The restoration process ended up lasting a year. To make up for lost customers, Jeremy travelled to model shows around the country and did occasional projects, and Janet ran weekend sidewalk sales to get rid of damaged but usable kits. Finally, the Hartmanns are putting stock on the shelves to reopen the store, renamed The Model Box 2.0, by the end of May.
“That brings us right to the 12-month period. But it’s got to be done right. I’m not going to open if it’s halfway,” Jeremy said.
The store will have the same variety of models from $2 gliders to $1,500 kits. The products will include simple snap-together models and more complex kits, remote-controlled cars and boats, “quadcopters,” kites and rockets. Janet said their store sees customers from four years old to 80 years old.
“We have people that came as kids there [at the first store] that will bring their kids in here,” Janet said. “It’s just so good to see that they’re trying to get their kids into it as well.”
Janet said she’s looking forward to being in the shop again on the weekends and in the evenings. Jeremy flies planes with customers on Sundays and frequently stays after hours to continue working on his models.
“I miss getting to come see the customers and being in the shop,” Janet said.
Jeremy typically works on one major project like the glider every year. The store will have a counter and barstools near the back for customers to watch him at work. The first project will be restoring the wings from the burned glider and building a new fuselage for them.
The rest of the burned glider will be hung in the store as a reminder of the fire.
For more information, visit The Model Box 2.0 on Facebook.
