Planes, trains and automobiles.

• Author: LUSKY, HEATHER
• Position: Brief Article

BUSINESS PEOPLE'S HOBBIES VARY ALL 'ROUND THE TRACK

Looking for a pastime that falls somewhere between couch potato and weekend warrior? Try taking some cliche advice and go fly a kite, or a radio-controlled airplane, or take up doll making, painting or model train collecting.

According to Georgia Thompson, proprietor of Thompson's Hobbies & Crafts in Denver, her store's clientele covers the span of "doctors, lawyers and Indian chiefs. We have 2,300 plastic models, paint, clay, radio-controlled models, beads and doll-making supplies."

Management consultant, trainer and educator Don Simasko, of Littleton-based Omega Management Education Group Inc., is a card-carrying member of the AMA (American Model Association, not the medicine guys). Simasko, who began building model planes at the age of eight, has since graduated to building scale model radio-controlled airplanes.

"You have to concentrate so keenly, it's possible to erase everything else from your mind. It's like working out -- it gives your other set of muscles a chance to rest and heal up. ...

"The hobby's gone through quite an evolution from the days of sticks, tissue paper and rubber bands. Now we have computerized, radio-controlled, exact-scale models of actual, full-sized planes," Simasko said.

Denver-based Caboose Hobbies Manager...