Model Shops UK

[spruecutter96]

I'm going to add the blindingly-obvious one here... Hannants London. the only "true" model shop in the London area. There's also the Ian Allan London shop (near Waterloo station), which is around 30% plastic kits and accessories and 70% railway stuff, IIRC. I haven't been to Ian Allan for a few years, so don't know if it's still going or not.  

 

Chris. 

Edited July 14, 2020 by spruecutter96
Amending information.

[spruecutter96]

Another very obvious one.... Hannants Lowestoft. If you've never been, it's like 25 great model-shops in one. You could easily spend all day there. At last count, they had more than 54,000 stock items on the shelves. 

 

By the way, a previous poster made the comment that Tim from Affinity Models is still doing the show circuit (which is true), but he also trades on-line. Tim told me that financially having a bricks-and-mortar shop made no sense at all, now that folks buy so much on-line.  

 

Chris. 

Edited July 14, 2020 by spruecutter96
Amending information.

[TonyOD]

9 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

Another very obvious one.... Hannants Lowestoft. If you've never been, it's like 25 great model-shops in one. You could easily spend all day there. At last count, they had more than 54,000 stock items on the shelves. 

Must be like Aladdin's cave. I've had tonnes of stuff from them online over the years and I never cease to be amazed at the comprehensiveness of their offer.

[spruecutter96]

Hi, Tony. 

 

Aladdin's Cave for the model-maker sums it up pretty well. I've read that they used to have one and a half real Harrier jump-jets sitting at the back of the warehouse (now gone). They had a good-sized sailing-boat at the back when I visited a few years ago.

 

The warehouse is huge and has numerous aisles of fifteen-feet high shelves. The selection of kits and accessories is gob-smacking!

 

The warehouse is currently not accepting visitors, for very obvious reasons, but that is a temporary measure.

 

If you ever find yourself in the Lowestoft area, you will not be disappointed.  

 

Chris. 

[Mike]

Something you guys don't seem to have mentioned here so far is the Vendors section we have here.  Most of those companies are small, some of them one-man-bands (no cymbals between the knees, before you start), so if you peruse the listings and choose one of them to patronise, and I don't mean asking them if their mummy knows they're selling things on the internet.  I really do have to think hard when I'm talking to you lot, with all your dirty minds and strange senses of humour bunch of weirdos

[spruecutter96]

Mike, if we weren't a bunch of weirdos, we wouldn't be messing about with bits of moulded plastic, would we? 

 

Chris. 

[LorenSharp]

Strange sense of humour, Moi' ?

[bigbadbadge]

1 hour ago, snowen250 said:

And i remember serving you in the much missed Hythe shop! Still got the dark blue beetle?

 

Other excellent places in Kent are:

 

The hobby shop - Faversham

 

Excellent shop with a wide range of choice.

 

Aviation Bookshop - Tunbridge Wells.

 

Obviously just aircraft, but a great selection of aircraft kits and then a truly amazing selection of books! Obviously. Good prices too

 

Simon

Crikey hi Simon, I remember you to fella how are you these days.  Hope you are well. 

Not got the beetle anymore had to sell that and my camper van unfortunately, but now have a 1967 VW Type 3, Fastback , the very small Avatar is of my veh.  

Good to hear from you.

All the best

Chris

[Mike]

9 minutes ago, spruecutter96 said:

Mike, if we weren't a bunch of weirdos, we wouldn't be messing about with bits of moulded plastic, would we? 

 

Chris. 

Excellent point, well made...

6 minutes ago, LorenSharp said:

Strange sense of humour, Moi' ?

Oui, tu.

[PhoenixII]

5 hours ago, TonyOD said:

I have a Boyes near me and they carry a good range of tools and full range of Humbrol paints.

@TonyOD Boyes up here also carry the {whole} Vellajo range as well

[PhoenixII]

18 hours ago, Roger Newsome said:

[REF:]........As above also in their Darlington and Northallerton shops. On occasion I've seen cheap Hobby Boss kits but perhaps only half a dozen at the most.

Roger. 

Sorry Roger, always forget Darlo!

There is:-

Art Shop Ltd. Darlington, kit stock tends to be a little up and down, but always carry varnish, paint and a huge selection of brushes to suit all pockets.

Toymaster, Darlington. Small selection of Kits, more GW, also paint and glue.

 

[TonyOD]

27 minutes ago, PhoenixII said:

@TonyOD Boyes up here also carry the {whole} Vellajo range as well

They do indeed. I bought some Prussian Blue for the spinners on my Mossie. Great range of tools and brushes at very reasonable prices. They do some of that Warhammer stuff too. I gather it has quite the following.

[Roger Newsome]

14 minutes ago, PhoenixII said:

Art Shop Ltd. Darlington,

Lol, that's one I forgot. 

[stan]

North East Model Centre, The Old Chapel, Chester Moor, DH2 3RJ Chester-le-Street, Co Durham.

Large selection of of plastic kits now on two floors

Paints largest selection i have ever seen.

[BritJet]

I saved the original list as a PDF for easy access - probably a bit out of date now but hopefully will fill in a few gaps

 

Steve

[binbrook87]

Wow that's a superb list! 👍

[BritJet]

I've extracted the text from the PDF. if you want to use/update the details for a new version. @Chris Jephcott hope this is ok as it's a shame to not have your list available on here anymore after all the work that went into it.

 

Steve

[nheather]

I’ve not been there in ages but after reading the list and seeing nothing for Hampshire thought I’d add the Fratton Model Centre

 

 http://www.frattonmodelcentre.co.uk/Fratton/Home.html

 

Cheers,

 

Nigel

[Jon Bryon]

Dorking Models, Dorking Surrey. Small but crammed. I'd go in more often but I'm in uniform and it's a bit unprofessional.

 

Roxley Models, Great Bookham, Leatherhead Surrey. Used to be only railways, but they stock some Airfix now.

 

As for the London area, AJ Aviation in West Drayton (formerly The Aviation Hobby Shop) are still trading and I'm pretty sure they still have the shop.

 

Jon

[sennapod]

Nice thread, and as someone else said there was a similar one a few years back which became quite comprehensive.

 

a good next step for someone with time 😉would IMHO to plot all the shops on a Google map  - maybe that could then become a pinned topic/link.  The difficulty of course, will be keeping it up to date - but it would be lovely to have a visual view of the distribution of shops.

[Robert]

Another shop is TJD Models at Farmingham Kent https://www.tjdmodels.com/ . Very good selection.

 

Regards

Robert

[Lightningboy2000]

5 hours ago, BritJet said:

I saved the original list as a PDF for easy access - probably a bit out of date now but hopefully will fill in a few gaps

 

Steve

Another one to add to your list, an essential visit if in Norwich is Langleys in the Royal Arcade. Always well stocked & worth a visit. They have Airfix Revell Tamiya all subjects, & good stocks of paints, tools etc.

[Pete F]

11 hours ago, sennapod said:

a good next step for someone with time 😉would IMHO to plot all the shops on a Google map  - maybe that could then become a pinned topic/link.  The difficulty of course, will be keeping it up to date - but it would be lovely to have a visual view of the distribution of shops.

Like this:

 

Google map of model shops

 

I've cut and pasted people's comments into the comments on the entries (hope this is okay - if not let me know). The map is opened by putting this link into your browser. Might be able to provide the map as an embedded page but it will require a bit more thought.

 

If it isn't okay to do all of this I will remove share and delete - just let me know.

 

If it is okay I will keep up to date from entries in this thread.

Edited July 15, 2020 by Pete F

[ckw]

This is potentially really useful - anywhere I go there are 2 things I'm looking for ... model shops and 2nd hand vinyl .... fully supported by my wife as it allows her to go clothes shopping unimpeded!

 

Anyway here's my first contribution;

 

AC Models in Eastleigh https://acmodelseastleigh.co.uk/

 

Appear to be very strong on railways and slot cars (of which I know nothing), but also a good stock of Airfix and Revell aircraft and sometimes others (bit hit and miss, but I did find an Aoshima Ta-152 there a couple of months back) Appears to have a good selection of armour too,

 

Excellent for supplies - several ranges of paint, weathering materials and scratch building stuff (brass rod, wood, plastrut etc.), modelling tools

 

Currently limited opening (Tues. Fri, & Sat 10-4), and, thanks to Covid has downsized from 2 shops side by side to one.

 

There are also a couple of decent shops in Portsmouth but their survival is currently in doubt - will check on my next visit and update here.

 

Cheers,

 

Colin

 

 

[spruecutter96]

One to add to the list of shops that are no-longer-trading.... Comet Miniatures, Lavender Hill, London. I used to love going in there and having a good look through all the dusty, old kits in the basement. The Sci-Fi, Film and Comic kits on the ground floor were also great, but some of the prices made my eyes water. 

 

Tony James, the owner, now trades on-line only as "Timeless Hobbies". 

 

Chris.