Model Boat Mayhem

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Author Topic: The sad decline of the model shop  (Read 79414 times)

mudway

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HSL Mouldings - Closed
« Reply #275 on: March 22, 2017, 06:22:32 am »

I went to order something today and got a shock. They are gone.


http://hslmouldings.co.uk/

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BFSMP

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ANOTHER shop closes
« Reply #276 on: March 26, 2017, 04:37:59 pm »


just had a phone call from my mate to tell me that the model shop at Lancaster on Skerton bridge has closed down permanently, after a 50% sale over the last few weeks.


does anyone know why, as it looked to be a thriving shop when ever I went along for the ride.


Jim.
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Colin Bishop

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Re: ANOTHER shop closes
« Reply #277 on: March 26, 2017, 06:14:29 pm »

Too much online competition apparently.

See posting here:
http://www.modelboats.co.uk/forums/postings.asp?th=126027&p=1

Colin
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mountfleet

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Re: HSL Mouldings
« Reply #278 on: March 26, 2017, 08:46:39 pm »

Hi
 HSL mouldings figures & fittings are now part of Mountfleet.
  They will be going on our web site soon.
 Contact us if you want to order.
Adam
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justboatonic

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Re: ANOTHER shop closes
« Reply #279 on: March 26, 2017, 11:25:10 pm »

Goodness, this wasnt just a boat shop as well. He did just about everything and like many owner stores on the High Street, just couldnt make enough money. I think Speedy Models is currently my nearest physical shop at Broughton!

Im not sure its just 'internet' shops that have done for him because he sells on ebay and has an internet presence himself. More likely, it is the crushing rent and rates, mountain of red tape from H&S and the council, insurance and just about everyone going in and wanting 10% discount.

I ran a High Street outlet for 4 years and couldn't make it pay. People coming in and saying they could get the same item on the other side of town for 95% less that you were selling for. You knew they were lying and eventually you tell them to go buy it there then! We had an old girl who was dodgy on both legs and walked with sticks fall over on a perfectly flat floor. Course we got sued and thankfully had insurance but even so, the worry while all that stuff is going on is unimaginable.

We had our shop window put in one Saturday night and the number of times we were greeted on opening in a morning with a half eaten kebab, pizza or piece of excrement shoved through the letter box was just utterly beyond comprehension. Never again.

Maybe we'll end up with a High Street we deserve, empty and boarded up. (Apologies for the rant!)
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mudway

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Re: HSL Mouldings
« Reply #280 on: March 27, 2017, 01:49:21 am »

Adam,


Thanks. No hurry, I'll wait until they are up on the website.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: ANOTHER shop closes
« Reply #281 on: March 27, 2017, 08:15:25 am »

just had a phone call from my mate to tell me that the model shop at Lancaster on Skerton bridge has closed down permanently, after a 50% sale over the last few weeks.


does anyone know why, as it looked to be a thriving shop when ever I went along for the ride.


Jim.
He's been doing it for 28 years, and has got to the feeling that enough is enough. 
I feel that the nearest model shop to me is going to be Skelmersdale, after reading the online reviews of the one near Preston.  But for bits n pieces that are not strictly boat, I noticed that the dolls house and craft shop on Waterloo Rd bridge has Humbrol and a balsa display.
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boat captain

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Re: ANOTHER shop closes
« Reply #282 on: March 27, 2017, 09:28:12 am »

Anyody going to Scale Hobbies (Skelmersdale) phone him to make sure he is open, as he only opens certain days of the week.
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malcolmfrary

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Re: ANOTHER shop closes
« Reply #283 on: April 05, 2017, 06:21:42 pm »

Quote
But for bits n pieces that are not strictly boat, I noticed that the dolls house and craft shop on Waterloo Rd bridge has Humbrol and a balsa display.
So I had a walk down there today and..  shop window all papered up and no signs saying if the business has relocated.  Yet another door closes.
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robbob

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Another model shop to close.
« Reply #284 on: November 29, 2017, 05:49:43 pm »


I saw in the London Evening Standard today that 308 Hobbies, probably the last remaining model shop in London is to close in the new year.
This article in the local paper gives more detail.
http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/holloway-road-insitution-308-hobbies-to-shut-forever-1-5294185
'Another one bites the dust' 😡
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Klunk

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #285 on: November 30, 2017, 04:19:43 am »

I used to frequent 308 when under the management of Richard then Jamie Nichols. I even helped at sandown show with them until elmbridge stopped running the show back in the 80's. Jamie then ran the shop as a computer store for a while. I did go in under the present owners, but at the time i was out of modelling due to work and family. A sad demise, if i had the  money i would run it,  but as the article says the internet is a game changer, but i feel there is still a niche for model shops. It's getting the balance right.
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roycv

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #286 on: November 30, 2017, 09:24:48 am »

Hi Klunk, I remember visiting when it was Henry J Nichols and the RC had valves in.  The trouble is that when you have the easy opportunity of buying things cheaper on-line what are you to do?

Would I be right in thinking that our young generation do not have the wide spread of hobbies that I remember back in the '50s and 60s? 
One of the by-products of having a hobby or several is that it can guide you into a congenial working life.  You find out early without having to re-invent yourself every time you have a work interview to fit the job criteria.

Did not mean to hi-jack the thread, so another one bites the dust.
regards Roy
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Klunk

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #287 on: November 30, 2017, 09:29:38 am »

I think you're right on both counts..
..although i buy via the internet i prefer going to model shops. I like to discover things on dusty shelves! And ask a kid today what's their hobby, and you will probably get the answer 'what's a hobby?'
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roycv

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #288 on: November 30, 2017, 09:41:27 am »

Hi Klunk, I agree in my younger days you had a sort of relationship with the model shop, my one was Rip Max in Camden Town.  You could buy a kit and take it in to show them when you had finished. 
I do seem to recall that Model boat clubs were different then, everything was i/c engines and speed no radio so watch out.  I remember one guy used my small electric boat as a target and virtually destroyed it, that was on the Whitestone Pond.  He was quite pleased with himself. 
I also seem to remember going up behind him and pushing him in the water and then making a dash for it, well I was only 11 or 12 at the time.
So I never joined any clubs ontil the 1980s when there were more of my type of boats around.
regards Roy
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robbob

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #289 on: November 30, 2017, 12:31:23 pm »

I was a very infrequent visitor to HJ Nichols back in the day, a bit of a long bus ride from Finchley, and I only went there because they stocked some items that Blunts in Mill Hill didn't have.
Blunts, and in later years Michaels Models in North Finchley, were far more local to me and both took a lot of my hard earned 'paper round' money from me as I recall!
Sadly both of those establishments closed many years ago while HJ Nichols carried on even after a change of ownership. I did go there a few times in the 80's, when I worked in Archway, to buy Keil Kraft kits for my young son but never since.
I now source all my requirement from web sellers and at model shows because the days of the high street model shop are now long gone.
It's true that a few remain but they specialise in certain things, for example Hannants in Colindale, very close to me, only do plastic model kits and accessories so those shops survive because of their niche market presence.
I do agree with Klunk that browsing a dusty model shop with the prospect of finding a little bargain item used to have a special appeal, and the heady mixture of aromas of balsa wood, dope and thinners, glow plug fuel and
pipe tobacco made a visit to the local model shop a very pleasant experience.
So the closure of 308 models is sad but inevitable and I wish Richard Harris a long and pleasant second retirement.
Robbob.


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Martin (Admin)

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #290 on: November 30, 2017, 01:00:36 pm »


Yep, I remember visiting the shop when it was Henry J Nichols, Holloway Road, North London,

Other great model shops from the past;

Wally Kilminster, The Triangle, Wembley.
H A Blunt & son,  Mill Hill roundabout Apex corner (?)
The model shop on Parkway, Camden Town, London - what was it called before it was Ripmax, Hobbystores, Al's Hobbies?
Michaels Models, Finchley
Pardon Mill Model shop, Harlow,
... another model shop in Harlow, in the Stow shopping centre,
Midway Models, Leicester,
Maritime models, Greenwich,
Orton Models, Peterborough....

What Model shops have you been too in Rose Tinted pass...?


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imsinking

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #291 on: November 30, 2017, 01:23:32 pm »

Anyone from the dim & distant past in Liverpool/Lancashire - Wirral  :P  would remember Stan Catchpoles in Renshaw (Bold Street ? never could remember which) , and slightly further afield Alpha Models in Ellesmere Port , Model Engineers were well catered for by a shop at the bottom of Sir Thomas Street Liverpool ( :embarrassed:  name escapes me ) where any sort of brass / copper tube , sheet preform section,  was available also the local supplier's of CASCAMITE / AEROLITE 301  {-)  how many will know what they are . . . .
Bill
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robbob

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #292 on: November 30, 2017, 02:05:54 pm »


FYI peeps.

H A Blunt & Sons of 133 The Broadway, Mill Hill can be seen in this 'photo taken the year of my birth %)


https://www.francisfrith.com/mill-hill/mill-hill-the-circus-c1955_m357004


The shop has a black frontage and is two doors down to the right of the dairy. It's currently an estate agents :(( .
Happy Days :-)
Robbob
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Netleyned

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #293 on: November 30, 2017, 02:40:51 pm »

/ AEROLITE 301  {-)  how many will know what they are . . . .
Bill
Back in the 50's we used that in school to build the
frames for our PBK's.
Screwed and glued with brass countersunk
screws and Aerolite glue.
Anyone built a PBK?


Ned
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Liverbudgie2

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #294 on: November 30, 2017, 02:47:31 pm »

Anyone from the dim & distant past in Liverpool/Lancashire - Wirral  :P  would remember Stan Catchpoles in Renshaw (Bold Street ? never could remember which) , and slightly further afield Alpha Models in Ellesmere Port , Model Engineers were well catered for by a shop at the bottom of Sir Thomas Street Liverpool ( :embarrassed:  name escapes me ) where any sort of brass / copper tube , sheet preform section,  was available also the local supplier's of CASCAMITE / AEROLITE 301  {-)  how many will know what they are . . . .
Bill

Catchpoles moved to Bold St., in the late sixties/early seventies after being in Whitechapel for many years. Lost count of the times I had my eyes glued to their big window. There was Hobbies as well, off Church St., where my Dinky cars and HO railway came from (Christmas 1959) and Revel kits @15/6; Woolies of course sold the first Airfix kits @ 2/-. All gone now of course

I can't recall who the metal stockholders were but I was often sent to a place in Duke St,. the name of which escapes me now. For non-ferrous stuff now I go to Mersey Metals in Birkenhead.

LB
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Liverbudgie2

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #295 on: November 30, 2017, 02:57:21 pm »

Back in the 50's we used that in school to build the
frames for our PBK's.
Screwed and glued with brass countersunk
screws and Aerolite glue.
Anyone built a PBK?
Ned

Ned,
Can you please enlighten me as to what was/is a "PBK"

The only things I built at school were a tea tray, which I still have, and steam turbine made from a treacle tin and a shoe polish tin.
LB

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Netleyned

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #296 on: November 30, 2017, 03:06:42 pm »

PBK
Percy Blandford Kayak
Ply Frames, Softwood Stringers
and a canvas covering painted to
waterproof.
Thousands were made and used by SeaScouts
Scouts and Youth Clubs.
Percy Blandford was the Vic Smeed of the
Small boat for kids to get afloat.
Ned
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Buccaneer

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #297 on: November 30, 2017, 05:49:40 pm »

I, like Liverbudgie it would seem, cut my teeth on the 2/- Airfix Kits from Woolworth. I started off with a Spitfire and Gloster Gladiator in the late 1950's.
After leaving the Royal Navy and settling down in Ringwood I frequented Westbourne Models for about 30 years, but we all know that saga!
John
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Peter Fitness

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #298 on: November 30, 2017, 09:57:27 pm »

The same situation applies over here. We do have some excellent model shops in the major cities, and we are fortunate to have one near us, in Lismore NSW, but many have closed. Unfortunately, not much stock for marine modellers is carried, particularly in the more specialised categories such as fittings. Most shops that I have seen do carry stocks of materials such as wood, but for things such as fittings and ESCs we have to resort to the internet. Float-a-Boat in Melbourne are an excellent source of model marine supplies, they offer a prompt mail order service and are well regarded by the marine modelling fraternity here.


Peter.
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BrianB6

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Re: Another model shop to close.
« Reply #299 on: December 01, 2017, 07:31:40 am »

I spent many enjoyable lunchtimes during the early 60's when I did my architectural training at the then Northern Poly. just down Holloway Road.  We bought our balsa wood and glue for our building models.   The highlight of visits was when a Merco 60 was tested in a tiny open area at the back of the shop.  I don't know what the neighbours thought.
I also visited Ripmax many times and bought E.D, radios and diesel engines there.
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