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1/36th scale prize winning models, but who was he?


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I know, old age, lousy memory. Something on the tip of my tongue keeps saying Tony Woolett, but I can't find a damned thing on him.  He used to be a regular in Scale Models Magazine. He always exhibited at the M.E.Exhibition and always won awards for his gorgeous 1/36th scale models of civil aircraft.  Entirely scratchbuilt, of course, in such a scale.  He was something of an inspiration to me.  I'd love to find some more references to him and his beautiful models.  Can anyone confirm the name?

 

Cheers,

Martin

 

 

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Could it have been Alan Clark? I seem to remember seeing his beautiful large scale scratch built models at the nationals, probably pre-Telford so must be 15 or more years ago. A quick google turned up a discussion at LSP here and a photo of one of his models here. Maybe someone out there will know where to find more.

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The name you are looking for is Tony Woollett. I still have buried in one of my backups photos of most of his models. I wish I could find them.

 

One of the Greats, sadly not with us any more.

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Ah, thankyou gentlemen.  I understand his models were mainly to 1/36th scale, although he ended up doing WW1 to 1/28th scale, heaven knows why.

 

Now we need to find pictures of his stuff, to liven up the civil aircraft section.

 

Martin

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I had the great fortune to meet Tony Woolett several times in the early seventies at the IPMS meetings held in Reading. His models were a delight and he is the only modeller I know whose model collection was auctioned by Christies - I doubt any of us will achieve that honour. Like so many expert modellers, he was a true gentleman.

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Tony Woollett was a long term modeller as was his older brother (whose name slips my mind for the moment).I always enjoyed meeting up with the Woolletts. Somewhere I have a wartime Aeromodeller which features a large scale detailed Hawker Typhoon his brother made.

 

I also have an original painting on my stairs of a Puss Moth which was commissioned for me, by my late wife Angela from Tony, who was an accomplished aviation artist in his own right.

 

Tony liked to work in 1/36 scale (1/3rd of an inch to the foot), or twice 1/72nd). This was a common Aeromodeller Plans Service scale. They supplied Plan packs of a plan to 1/72 scale and another of the same aircraft in 1/36 scale.  His favorite period was the pre-war light aeroplane and his exquisite models were made entirely  from Plasicard with some items such as cowls made by push moulding. I've often thought it's a great scale to fit with 1/35th military models. the average 36 foot span aeroplane being just 12 inches span.

 

Again somewhere I have the Christies auction catalogue Tony gave me which featured all his remaining models. Many more were made and sold to commission.

 

The  1/28th scale WW.i models were actually by his brother and were often seen at Hornchurch when the Woollett boys shared a stand.

 

I'll see if I can find some of my photos.

 

John

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Nice memories, John.  Hornchurch, you say?  I had my driving lessons there and attended Hornchurch slot racing club as a teenager.  I lived in Romford.

 

I'd love to see some pictures of his work. I put him as one of the greats alongside George Stokes, Geoff Pember, Norman Ough, Jack Nelson, etc.

 

I can recall seeing pictures in mainly Scale Models magazine and thinking how I'd like to do that and how civil aircraft looked so much more varied and attractive than war planes.  Nothing has, or will, change that perception.

 

Cheers,

Martin

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I met Tony Woollett  sometime in the mid nineteen nineties at  an open day at the Mosquito Aircraft Museum. Whilst it might sound like a cliche, I can only say that it was an honour to meet such a gentleman. We had a very enjoyable chat about modelling in general, scratchbuilding in particular  and it was very enlightening to  hear him speaking. on hearing about the auctioning of his models  after his death I made sure that I was able to  get hold of  a copy of the Christies catalogue for the sale. Photographs of  everything that I'd seen that afternoon at London Colney. If there was ever a modeller  who could inspire, Then that would be Tony Woolett. I have seen copies of that catalogue  for auction  on eBay from time to time and I would urge anyone  with an interest in civil aviation modelling of the between the wars era to try and get one.

He also contributed a chapter  to Bryan Philpotts book Making Model Aircraft on Scratchbuilding a Comper Swift in, of course , 1/36th scale...

 

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Tony's brother was Bob. As a fan of pre-war light aircraft I was very fortunate to get to know Tony after turning up at the Reading club in 1991. The first model I ever took there was an Aeroclub Comper Swift. He took an interest, encouraged me to try a spot of scratchbuilding, complimented the resulting B A Swallow and over the following years taught me how to scratchbuild better models.

 

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Woollett wasnt the only modeller to have a sale at Christies.  W.O.Doylends 1/72 scratchbuilt were sold there too.  So many that there were two separate dedicated auctions on 25 February and 12 August 1994.  Several models sold for thousands of pounds (each!).

 

All were hand carved in beech with solid carved perspex canopies.  All markings hand-painted!  He set out his methods in a 1957 book "Aircraft in Miniature" which is well worth reading, even if you never build a "solid" in wood - there are usually copies around on Amazon, Abebooks or eBay.

 

I have both catalogues for the sales and the models are lovely.  Presumably as substantial sums were paid out, they are around and about.

 

Cheers

Will

 

 

 

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I presume this was the same person - there can't have been two Tony Woolletts in Wokingham surely?:

 

Anthony Woollett was an opening batsman who was offered a professional contract with Kent in 1950. He went on to play in 44 first-class matches for the county in five seasons. He was a player and coach at Wokingham CC for more than 40 years.

 

Full name Anthony Frank Woollett

Born September 20, 1927, Lambeth, London

Died January 26, 2004, Wokingham, Berkshire (aged 76 years 128 days)

Major teams Kent

Batting style Left-hand bat

Other Coach

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I recall being in awe of Tony's (and others) work after reading a copy of the book "Colour Treasury of Model Airplanes" - although I think the title was a bit different to that.

You can view the contents via this link from the Boxart Den website. Double click on the images for a larger view. http://www.boxartden.com/gallery/index.php/Profiles/Crescent-Books

Some of Tony's exquisite work can be found on pages 20, 27, 28, 31, 32 & 34.  

 

Cheers.. Dave

 

 

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On 7/12/2017 at 5:01 PM, Scratchbuilder said:

I understand his models were mainly to 1/36th scale, although he ended up doing WW1 to 1/28th scale, heaven knows why.

 

Many years ago I read an article about his 1/28 WWI models in Windsock(?). It was explained that he chose 1/28 because he already had some of the old Revell 1/28 scale kits and realized they would be a good starting point for developing a new collection. He could use parts from the kits such as wheels, guns, engines, etc to save himself some scratch building time, and he could also use the kits themselves as the basis for conversions. If I recall correctly, he used the Fokker Dr.I to make a D.VI, and used the Camel to make a Swallow(?)

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  • 5 weeks later...

There was, if my memory serves, a mini how to masterclass by Tony Woolett on an episode of Model World by Bob Symes which was shown on TV back in the early 80's.

He demonstrated his techniques of scratch building the wings and fuselage of a 1/36 scale de Havilland biplane using only plasticard and a balsa core for the wings. He then went on to display his skills of hand painting the aircraft's registration letters. All very inspiring stuff.

I had all of the episodes recorded on VHS tape, but alas that a) I cannot find it and  I've got nowt to play it on now anyway since the dawn of the DVD player.

I've tried recently to find it on YouTube, but there only seems to be a couple of part-episodes from that particular series.

As I said, it was only a very small part of a generic modelling series, but very interesting non the less.

 

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