How the hobby has moved on

[Babelfish]

I think I might have posted this on here a few years back (I can't rightly remember and I can't be @rsed to go back & check) but here it is again for newer members and for those who may have missed it first time round.

Taken from a modelling magazine (MM I think) from 1974 and offering us "the ultimate in detail" and "exceptional value".



Them woz the days!

- Steve

 

[billyturnip]

I wonder if anyone still has any of these.

 

[Tubby-Nuts2]

This is a loaded question. The hobby has not changed! (Still in the minority). Only the quantity, quality, and pricing have!

As an example, I do remember biting my knuckle's in the past spending 50 quid on a, 1/48th Tamiya Swordfish (Clear edition)!

My last purchase was @ 190 quid, for two figures and a motorbike! Granted I did bite up to my fore-arm on this one.

But this is the difference between then and now! .. It's disposable income.

I remember when a 'Bag of chips', was 5 pence! ( Fries, to our American friends) So, spending 25p, on a 'Matchbox', Matilda tank, was equally knuckle biting.


Mark.

 

[ellie]

Wow that's a blast from the past, I remember a model shop in the center of Leeds selling them. as kids they were something to behold. I was still painting Aroura Moster kits and the like at that time, and collecting 1/72 soldiers great days. I was 14 at the time and just starting to have an interest in Tamiya.

Ian

www.elliesminiatures.com

 

[Babelfish]

I had a couple of them Roger, in fact until comparatively recently (past 5 years or so) I still had the "German Artillery Officer" (the one pointing and holding binocs) painted up exactly as I'd done him way back then - complete with big, staring white eyes painted with a cocktail stick that I'd been really proud of at the time! Wish I'd kept it now.

- Steve

 

[Babelfish]

As an example, I do remember biting my knuckle's in the past spending 50 quid on a, 1/48th Tamiya Swordfish (Clear edition).
Mark.

I remember gazing longingly at the Tamiya 1/25 Tiger tank on the top shelf in the model department in Redgates toy store in Sheffield back in the '70s. But no way could I afford the 9.99 price tag!! I was more than a bit envious when my mate got one for Christmas one year.

- Steve

 

[Ferris]

This is a reminder of how standards change. Quality is hard to compare with what you can get today.

It also shows the risk in creating a big grey army...by the time you finally get round to painting it, you can get much nicer figures for comparable money. (Or worse: I have an attic filled with AFV kits and now I do figures...).

Another question triggered by this is: what's after today? I really think some of today's releases are close to perfect....what can possibly get better? Or will I look back at this remark in 20 years and laugh at how naive I was??

Cheers
Adrian

 

[Graham]

I remember gazing longingly at the Tamiya 1/25 Tiger tank on the top shelf in the model department in Redgates toy store in Sheffield back in the '70s. But no way could I afford the 9.99 price tag!! I was more than a bit envious when my mate got one for Christmas one year.

- Steve

I used to love Redgates and that model shop at the top of the Moor, opposite the Town Hall. It had a large scale railway running around the shop above the customers heads. Cannot for the life of me remember the name. I lived in Chesterfield then and a trip to Sheffield with my mum and gran was a better day out than going to Blackpool to me...... happy days

 

[Babelfish]

Beatties that was Graham. I spent many a happy hour in there as well!

- Steve

 

[Graham]

Beatties that was Graham. I spent many a happy hour in there as well!

- Steve

That's the chap

 

[John Bowery]

Mark,
I can remember a bag of chips was a three penneth???
John

 

[Huw63]

I wonder if anyone still has any of these.

Actually I think I have the officer figure lurking around somewhere!

Cheers

Huw

 

[Huw63]

This thread really set me thinking. I guess most of us are over a certain age but in many cases our interest (s) were formed at an early age. Mine were and are figurines, AFV models, choppers (custom motorcycles though I had a Raleigh Chopper as a kid), cars (had to let this go as it became too expensive) and history (mainly military) and rock music. I'm physically older but have a gleeful view of life.

My model shops were the Kit Shop in Pontypridd which has long since gone but the owner was a real gent. And the for special occasions there was Bud Morgan's in Cardiff which was an Aladdins cave of Almark and Historex figures.... Now I purchase online or at shows. Nearby Konstanz has a model shop but it's mainly trains. (Bud Morgan still exists as Antics Cardiff by the way.)

I would agree with Ferris' comments that we have reached an age of technical excellence in details partly due to technology and partly as we have higher disposable income the earlier (a function of age). The quality of casting and research is incredible today and the wealth of materials to support a realistic finish. My one concern is that the higher prices, standards, quality deters new comers plus we have rival entertainments that's imply didn't exist 30 or 40 years ago. In addition when I see prices of armour in the UK I am in shock as I'm paying a lot less here.

Enough ruminating for this evening.

Cheers

Huw

 

[mick3272]

My first model figs I purchased were Willie Figures, 33mm the shop was in Lower Sloane St near Chelsea Barracks were I lived. It was quite an up market shop and the couple who ran it were awfully posh and every day after school this snotty nosed barrack rat with the arse or knee hanging out his trousers would go in and drool over all the figures to decide which one I would buy on the Friday. My pocket money would only allow me to my one foot figure, Christmas and birthdays were for mounted figs. They were a nice old couple who must have had the patience of a saint and I often wonder what happened to them, as after a couple of years dad was posted to Pirbright, and when we came back to London many years later they were gone. In my minds eye they were great little figures allass I don,t have any , any more. If any body has one in a corner post a pic please be great to look at one again.

Mick

 

[Rich Sculpts]

My first model figs I purchased were Willie Figures, 33mm the shop was in Lower Sloane St near Chelsea Barracks were I lived. It was quite an up market shop and the couple who ran it were awfully posh and every day after school this snotty nosed barrack rat with the arse or knee hanging out his trousers would go in and drool over all the figures to decide which one I would buy on the Friday. My pocket money would only allow me to my one foot figure, Christmas and birthdays were for mounted figs. They were a nice old couple who must have had the patience of a saint and I often wonder what happened to them, as after a couple of years dad was posted to Pirbright, and when we came back to London many years later they were gone. In my minds eye they were great little figures allass I don,t have any , any more. If any body has one in a corner post a pic please be great to look at one again.

Mick

I remember the shop well, I used to visit it on route to the National Army Museum (just a few streets away) ran by Edward Suren and wife.

Rich

 

[mick3272]

I remember the shop well, I used to visit it on route to the National Army Museum (just a few streets away) ran by Edward Suren and wife.

Rich

Yes that was their name I would never have remembered it in a month of Sundays, It must have been in the early 60s, and the work shop and painting table was in the cellar .

Mick Happy days

 

[martin tabony]

I was looking through the ads in a Mil. Mod. from 77, when I saw a review of a book that was out of my price range at £2.75. (Uniforms of Jagers and Schutzen 1900-1914) I then searched for it on the net and bought it for 25p !

Martin

 

[peedee]

I wonder if anyone still has any of these.

I have the Mg gunner,
White metal with a plastic sprue.

I don't do Germins so...................

I'll paint it and post it next week for a laugh with a link back to this thread.

I'm using brushes though, I'm not going back to cocktail sticks and pins !

Paul

 

[theBaron]

Hey, I still like Tamiya's figures, and Monogram's. And you know me--for metal figures, I buy and paint Staddens, Tradition, old Phoenix, Imrie-Risley, Rose, etc. I understand that the general quality of sculpting is better today--that is, there are a lot more things available, that are very well done indeed, than in the past. But I like the look of the old figures, and they work very well for me and my glossy style.

Prost!
Brad

 

[Colin_Fraser]

My first model figs I purchased were Willie Figures, 33mm the shop was in Lower Sloane St near Chelsea Barracks were I lived. It was quite an up market shop and the couple who ran it were awfully posh and every day after school this snotty nosed barrack rat with the arse or knee hanging out his trousers would go in and drool over all the figures to decide which one I would buy on the Friday. My pocket money would only allow me to my one foot figure, Christmas and birthdays were for mounted figs. They were a nice old couple who must have had the patience of a saint and I often wonder what happened to them, as after a couple of years dad was posted to Pirbright, and when we came back to London many years later they were gone. In my minds eye they were great little figures allass I don,t have any , any more. If any body has one in a corner post a pic please be great to look at one again.

Mick

I loved the Willie figs too. They are still available from Tradition, now based in Scandinavia as memory serves. Try this link:

http://traditionoflondonshop.com/index.php?cPath=1_2