We are pretty excited to announce that we are now working with RLT industries and will be carrying their full line of catapults and model kits.  We received our first shipment from this week with our first three products from this company and we were very impressed.  I put one together with my nephew today and we had a blast.

RLT Industries is based in San Antonio Texas.  They are a family owned and operated business and all their products are Made in the USA out of natural products.  All of the kits are made up of wood, twine and leather, no plastic or metal.

They make a variety of wooden model kits that allow you to make your own catapults, trebuchets, ballista, bridges, engineering marvels and even recreations of some of Da Vinci’s inventions.

The pieces for the kits are cut by a computer controlled machine to ensure precision and accuracy.  The more precise you are when putting your kit together, the better your catapult will perform.

This is one of the first lines we have carried that is more appropriate for school age children rather than infants and toddlers but there will be plenty more to follow for that age range.  You can check out what we have in-stock at this time on our Wooden Catapult Kits category page

I just watched The Rescuers for the first time with my two boys and they liked it but it’s tough to tell if they loved it or not.  I usually get a rather subdued reaction the first time around, the truth will be told over the next couple of days if they ask to watch it again.  It’s a shame because I often think the quality of the new style animation that they are exposed to makes it harder for them to understand and enjoy the beauty of hand-drawn animation.  They loved Cars and Bolt and ask to watch it all the time but it’s rare that they ask to watch one of the Disney Classics we introduce them to.

I love watching the old movies I grew up with but they always make me a little sad knowing that hand drawn animation like that is becoming a lost and dying art.  I love the new stuff too, I love technology and the new stuff looks great but I wish it wasn’t one or the other It’s a huge market, you would think there was enough room in that market for both styles.

What do you think?  Do you ever think there will be a time for hand drawn animation to make the big time again?