• Welcome to this forum . We are a worldwide group with a common interest in Birmingham and its history. While here, please follow a few simple rules. We ask that you respect other members, thank those who have helped you and please keep your contributions on-topic with the thread.

    We do hope you enjoy your visit. BHF Admin Team
  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
    Luckily i create an offsite backup once a week! this has now been restored so we have lost a few days posts.
    im still fixing things at the moment so bear with me and im still working on all images 90% are fine the others im working on now
    we are now using a backup solution

Toy/Model Shops City Centre

I remember the shop by Rachams - I used to buy models of past kings and queens (famous historical figures) and spend hours making and painting them. I must have been really sad?????

keith
 
The model shop for the serious modeler was Chuck Doughty's in Small Heath. Birmingham did have some champions in it's midst in the early fifties. Alan Hewitt who played trumpet in the Second City Jazz band and his brother Brian were the European Stunt Champions. The Solihull Club had Maurice Hanson who was very prominent in the A2 glider class.
 
The shop on the corner of Cherry Street was Baranbys before they moved to the GW Arcade, I think.

The Hornton family who owned the shop in Stephenson Street owned quite a lot of land and property in the city centre and also owned Horts wine bar in Five Ways I think--is it still there?
 
malvern said:
The shop on the corner of Cherry Street was Baranbys before they moved to the GW Arcade, I think.

The Hornton family who owned the shop in Stephenson Street owned quite a lot of land and property in the city centre and also owned Horts wine bar in Five Ways I think--is it still there?
Click to expand...

Hi Malvern,

No, the shop on the corner of Cherry Street was The Model Aerodrome, as identified by Lencops in a previous post. Their original shop was in Stratford Road, with their kit-manufacturing 'factory' at the rear. A few doors from the Stratford Road shop was Ballard Brothers model shop, if you could actually describe it as a shop - it was more like a permanent jumble-sale.

Other Birmingham model shops were The Model Mecca on Witton Road, more for boats than aircraft; Bob's Models on the Stratford Road in Sparkhill; Jim Davis Models in Erdington. Great places to hang out on a Saturday afternoon!

Big Gee
 
Big Gee said:
Hi Malvern,

No, the shop on the corner of Cherry Street was The Model Aerodrome, as identified by Lencops in a previous post. Their original shop was in Stratford Road, with their kit-manufacturing 'factory' at the rear. A few doors from the Stratford Road shop was Ballard Brothers model shop, if you could actually describe it as a shop - it was more like a permanent jumble-sale.

Other Birmingham model shops were The Model Mecca on Witton Road, more for boats than aircraft; Bob's Models on the Stratford Road in Sparkhill; Jim Davis Models in Erdington. Great places to hang out on a Saturday afternoon!

Big Gee
Click to expand...

The Model Aerodrome on the corner of Cherry Street and the one on the Stratford Road, Sparkbrook, almost opposite Vale Onslow, both existed at the same time in my youth, 50's-60's. I was a regular in both of these shops. I bought second hand model aero engines and packs of scrap Balsa wood, and used them for designing and building my own aircraft, no kits for me! (Couldn't afford them) I formed a bit of a model aero club with my mates and we were allowed to use the playground at the back of Dennis Road School to fly our control line models. Another of my 'aerodromes' was the huge bomb site on Stoney Lane / Alfred Street, or the bomb site between Leamington Road and Brunswick Road.

Graham.
 
Horntons, they had two shops very close to each other, one on the corner of Stephenson st ( known as Horntons corner) & the other smaller shop in the road at the back, I was often looking in their window, bought a 9.5mm projector & films as I recall, lots of interesting shops back then, remember all the electronic shops in Hurst street, lots of obsolete wartime electronic stuff & boxes of strange switches & circuit boards ,I loved mooching in them, all gone now like everything else
 
I'm afraid we are repeating earlier post, but before Hornton's started in the model business in the later 1950s, the nearest model shop was Kanga Models, right opposite, half way up Colonnade Passage on the left. I first discovered this place I think in 1943, when they had few models to display apart from model aircraft kits. They did sell the tiny 'Modelcraft' cut-outs, which were printed on postcard-size card to make buildings and anything else which could be easily assembled from flat sheets. In 1943 they brought out a wartime version of the Wilson lorry kits with card, wood and moulded clay wheels, replacing the prewar metal kits.
Repeating myself, I remember the full-time manageress (who wasn't the owner) in those days, Mrs McQueen who knew all her regular customers. In the late 1970s, I think it was they had moved to the next alleyway, and when I went in the shop, she recognised me immediately and asked after some of my fellow Birmingham Model Railway Club members. She must have taken a motherly interest in her young customers for over 35 years.
Peter
 
I remember the shop "at the back of Rackhams" I bought a "Cox" 1/32 scale slot racing car, they were considered the best and my friends and I spent many weeks building them for racing, my mate bought a four wheel drive Lola F1 car and on its first run it melted the track! The engines used to rev at up to 10,000 rev and draw several amps from the power supply, the controllers were spun aluminum with heat vents in them. Each year they ran a race at the same time at the 24 hr Le Mons with similar rules, we had slick tyres. Our track was laid out in a Church hall and was 50 foot long by 30 foot wide but the cars were too fast for the first track which usually ended up with holes being burnt into it when a car got stuck, these cars were sold as capable of 50 foot per second......great fun.
A pig building them especially the constant velocity joints and balancing the wheels..
 
hey sorry guys but what the heck memories are made of this,
i remember the stratford rd shop as well grt story and thanks Graham,
we spoke on the 60s night but it was a mad evening.
there was another shop opp the capital cinema and one in lea village
we all loved our models, not on a scale like yourself graham
i think they are few and far between now,there are some good
quality shops but they i think are pre made,but i suppose if you are an
expert model maker you know where to find them.
thanks people for your memories it started with someone saying the
back of rackams and that got me remembering,my youth.
happy days regards dereklcg.
 
I believe my Aunt used to work in Barnbys store in Birmingham.

Didn't they become The Midland Educational shop at some future date?

Bob's models i believe were on Coventry Road, opposite Small Heath park, they are now on Hobs Moat Road in Solihull.

Good model shops are very hard to find, remember Beatties?
 
Re: Toy shops and model shops

The best model shop in the fifties was Chuck Doughtys in Small Heath. he catered for the competition modellers. I seem to recall Chuck had done very well in the USA in the contol line stunt field. Alan Hewiit who played trumpet for the Second City Jazz Band along with his brother Brian were the European stunt champions, Chuck marketed the kit of their winning model. That was also the days of the A2 glider and the Wakefield class rubber jobs with the six foot long fuselage, finally banned by the SMAE because they were too good.
 
dereklcg said:
hey sorry guys but what the heck memories are made of this,
Click to expand...

Derek, there is no need to apologize, I only pointed you in the direction of this thread as it was more in line with your posting and it makes good reading too.

Graham.
 
sylviasayers said:
I know this isn't Aston but can anyone help settle an argument I have had with a friend, I recalled a wonderful toy shop which may have been a model toy shop which was located at the corner of Stephenson Street and
Navigation Street, just past the old entrance to New Street Station before
redevelopment, I loved to look in there it was a treasure trove to me as a child. When we used to go to catch a tram to the Lickeys I always lingered
looking in the window but never went inside. My friend disputes this and said I'm thinking of a shop near the back of Rackhams somewhere. Help
I can't recall the name.
Click to expand...


This is the list of Birmingham Model Makers for 1950
 
I believe my Aunt used to work in Barnbys store in Birmingham.

Didn't they become The Midland Educational shop at some future date?



Barnbys was part of the Midland Educational Company when I worked there (1966-70).
What was your Aunt's name? When did she work there?

Chris Page
 
.Does anyone remember the dolls and teddy's hospital?. I think it was by W Cannings somewhere. There was a watch repairers close by where mom used to buy parts from for my dads workshop. Jean.
 
Neville Philpott said:
I believe my Aunt used to work in Barnbys store in Birmingham.

Didn't they become The Midland Educational shop at some future date?

Bob's models i believe were on Coventry Road, opposite Small Heath park, they are now on Hobs Moat Road in Solihull.

Good model shops are very hard to find, remember Beatties?
Click to expand...
Tried to get spare parts for a Mamod steam powered wagon from Bobs, Hobs Moat Rd, they did`nt have any they only deal in new models of what they sell: Not very helpful at all, Bob is RIP i believe, new owners now. Len.
 
Thanks, Bammot for the list of firms in 1950. I think it was Zenith of Smethwick which designed and produced a successful motor for model railway engines, and later the Zenith motor bogie, both of which were used a lot by model railway buffs in the 1950s. As far as I know their products were never used on commercial models, although some of the later designs (especially the Japanese ones in the 60s and 70s) used them.
Seeing the name Bearwood Model Supplies remind me that they opened a branch at the top of the Parade in the late 1950s, very convenient for me, working in Baskerville House.
Peter
 
I remember a Doll's Hospital but I am not sure where I remember it from!
I remember the shop having an oblong window with a sign that said
"Doll's Hospital" and there were about four steps going up into the shop.
As a small child at the time I remember it, I would always wonder what was going on inside!.
 
There's a thread titled dolls hospital, and on it sylviasayers says that the dolls hospitals were next to central fire station or in erdington market.
mike
 
Peter Walker said:
Seeing the name Bearwood Model Supplies remind me that they opened a branch at the top of the Parade in the late 1950s, very convenient for me, working in Baskerville House.
Peter
Click to expand...
The Bearwood Models name still exists, the last owner of the shop, Bob Chester-Lamb, runs a specialist large scale model railway business under that name from his home address in Upton on Severn, I still see him occasionally.
 
Hi guys,coming across this forum about the model shops in brum brought back some memories.I remember all the shops you mention,there was one I recall near new street station,I can't quite remember exactly where,and it was there I saw my first japanese glow-plug engine.All I had seen up to that date were british diesels,and that glo engine absolutely filled me with lust.I think it was my first love affair! Couldn't afford it of course ,it cost I think £2-15-0.Another model shop I haven't seen mentioned was on soho road,handsworth,near to the public library.Going back to well-known birmingham aeromodellers,does anybody remember ray monks (free-flight),mac grimmet from west bromwich (control-line t/r & combat) & dave 'tubby' day (control-line stunt) happy days, eh!( p.s I'm still modelling 50 yrs later) hoping for some interesting replies ,cheers Mal.
 
Hi MallyB,

I see Ray Monks every week - he's in his eighties now but still flies occasionally. Mac Grimmett hasn't flown for years, I believe, but was into slope-soaring when I last had news. Tubby Day is still around.

I was in the West Bromwich Club originally, then helped to found Handsworth MAC in the 1960's, following which I flew with The Outlaws Cannock, Walsall MAC and now Birmingham MAC. I flew control-line combat, speed and TR until about 25 years ago when I took up contest free-flight. Haven't flow competitively for about 4 years due to various excuses (mostly apathy and lack of flying fields) but I keep thinking of having another bash.

The shop on Soho Road was Handsworth Sports House owned by Jack Appleby. I worked there for about a year when I was 'between jobs'.

What do you fly and where?

Regards,

Big Gee.
 
Hi Big Gee,what a great response.I used to go to the shop in soho road between 1955-1960,I was a pupil at handsworth grammar school,where we had a model club.We used to fly control-line in the school playground,and free-flight at sutton park.I remember a couple of lads from the birmingham mac gave me a lift to a dis-used aerodrome in about 1958,I can't remember where, but I recall it was in an MG (ta or td) sports car,and the speedo didn't work.That's where I met ray monks,but he was a very well-known modeller in the '50's-60's,as you will know.I remember a model of mac grimmets being displayed in sohs rd shop,it was a cessna 310 twin,and I think he'd placed about 4th in the nat's with it.I left the area in 1960,and now live in chester.I have gone the way of most,and now fly radio,mainly scale.There is a club not too far from me that fly classic t/r,Barton mac, you may have heard of them,cheers for now,keep in touch,lot more memories if you're interested,Mal.
 
Hi Mal,

Great memories! I worked at the Soho Road shop for about 10 months in the late sixties, by which time it was very run down and I couldn't wait to get out and back to a 'real' job. Oddly enough, though, I remember the Cessna 310 and I think it was built by Tony Day rather than Mac Grimmett. Tony did very well in CL scale.

No FF at all in Sutton Park now, too much gorse, too many horses, dogs, cows, etc. When I was flying serious FF we went to RAF Barkston Heath near Grantham most weekends, whether there was a contest or not. Like a lot of people I disagreed with various rule-changes and developments in FF, and am now 'resting'.

Do you remember Roy Everitt and Bill Cooke who were in the Chester MAC in the 1970's? Roy was a good friend of mine when I was flying CL. I think he moved to Stockport or somewhere. I do know the Barton MAC and keep up to date on their excellent website, but I'm afraid my active competition CL days are over. I still have a couple of old models I sometimes fly for fun, including a Mac Grimmett 'Black Ghost' with a genuine original Oliver Tiger.

Drop me an e-mail sometime, and we'll have a real natter!

Regards,

Big Gee
 
I agree it was probably Barnby's. It was a lovely toy shop. It was more or less opposite Snow Hill Station and not far from the Gaumont cinema.
 
This thread (which I've only just found) brought back many happy memories: trying to start ED Bee engine without chopping fingers off; chasing gliders round Sutton Park; control-line flying on Saltley Grammar playground in the model club. This was banned when somebody nearly got decapitated by a runaway!
I mostly used the shop opposite the Capitol in Alum Rock but I remember drooling at the window in Cherry Street.
Here's a pic from 3/3/63 in the back garden of 81 Foley Road, Ward End.
Must have been a late spring that year...
Stan
 
I thought the Doll's hospital was somewhere near Bingley Hall. But perhaps I am going back further.

Maggs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top