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Toy/Model Shops City Centre

You are right Maggs. I think there was a Dolls Hospital in Broad Street somewhere, but I can't remember exactly where in the street it was.

Judy
 
Does anyone remember the beautiful Marshall and Snelgrove shop in New Street? I used to pop to C & A in my lunch hour to get a new dress for the weekend. They seemed well made and the very latest styles. What about the starlings that roosted in the city every evening...so noisy, and they used to stop the Big Brum clock landing on the hands. Memories eh?

Maggs.
 
BERNIE D'BOULT;
When The Model Aerodrome closed they moved to Alum Rock Road facing
the Capitol cinema just in the corner by the bridge. The owners son was named
Chris and he went on to be a rep for Solido diecast cars. Imet him in later years.
 
Hi El-Stano,your memories almost mirror my own.Trying to start some of those old british diesels was quite a task at times.I think the only easy starter was a Mills 75,but I didn't like them 'cause they looked 'old-fashioned'! The late spring you mention is correct,if I remember correctly 1963 was the year of the real bad freeze-up. I don't suppose you get much of that ehere you appear to be now, best wishes, Mal.
 
mallyb2 said:
Hi El-Stano,your memories almost mirror my own.Trying to start some of those old british diesels was quite a task at times.I think the only easy starter was a Mills 75,but I didn't like them 'cause they looked 'old-fashioned'! The late spring you mention is correct,if I remember correctly 1963 was the year of the real bad freeze-up. I don't suppose you get much of that ehere you appear to be now, best wishes, Mal.
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Funny you should say that. Nov-Feb in Murcia were officially the coldest for about 30 years. Some of the locals are threatening to throw us out for jinxing them ;-) and yesterday it poured down for 16 hours :-(
Cheers,
Stan
 
mallyb2 said:
Hi El-Stano,your memories almost mirror my own.Trying to start some of those old british diesels was quite a task at times.I think the only easy starter was a Mills 75,but I didn't like them 'cause they looked 'old-fashioned'! The late spring you mention is correct,if I remember correctly 1963 was the year of the real bad freeze-up. I don't suppose you get much of that ehere you appear to be now, best wishes, Mal.
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In the late 50’s I managed to acquire about 11 different types of engine, some with glow plugs, but my favourite was a 2.5 c.c. diesel that I used in many of my designs. And also the diesel fuel tasted better than glow plug juice! lol

Graham.
 
Hi all,anybody who has an interest in the early days of model shops and model-making in Birmingham should google : model aerdrome; when site comes up, click :memoirs 2. There you will find a hilarious account ,by Dave Day,of modelling and model shops in Birmingham from the late '40's until '75. This shows models,old adverts,old shops and kit manufacturers,prices of items long ago,plus many well-known modellers are mentioned. Absolutely riveting stuff, well worth a visit, cheers all, Mal.
 
Mal,

Thanks for the link and after reading through Dave Day's (great) memoirs I'm now glad that in the 60's I became a mad cyclist, the ultimate cure for CLAD (control line aircraft disease).
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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.
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I know this query dates from 2003, six yrs ago !!! but here's a pic of the shop in question which I found in one of Alton Douglas' books and have scanned ( I hope he won't mind, though to be fair he plundered the Evening Mail archives for most of his pics I heard LOL ) The pic hasn't scanned too well and I can't make out the actual name of the shop, but I think it is Horntons ( they had another shop over the road from this one ) To see the pic clearly, right click it then click open link then enlarge by clicking the symbol which appears when you put the cursor at the bottom right corner of the pic
I remember the shop myself and used to gaze longingly in the window aged about 8.
I think this site is now more or less where the entrance to the NCP car park is
 
Silhouette, many, many thanks for posting the photo of the model shop, it is definitely the one I had in mind when I posted all those years ago. I will show my friend although he has probably forgotten the argument by now.
 
I'm not 100% certain, but I think that shop was definitely called Hornton's. They were more model railways than aircraft, and a bit up-market for me, but a very good shop all the same. There was a train layout in the window which you could start by placing your hand over a photo-electric cell on the window.

Big Gee
 
Big Gee

You are correct the name of the model shop was Horntons (Models & Toys) 15 Navigation St, Birmingham 4.

Phil
 
Heres a couple of other names for you to play with, please forgive the pun.

Phil
 

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Richie said:
Yes, and all gone now. we had two famous shops here in Wolverhampton:-

Sherwood Miller

Fenwicks.

Richie.
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There was also Bill Daniel's shop in the Mander Centre, moved to near Banks's Brewery. I think the only shop left in Wolvo now is Penn Models.

The internet killed off model shops, plus very few 'modellers' scratch-build these days. Cars, boats and aircraft all come ready-built and ready-to-run. Even basic stuff like balsa-wood is difficult to get nowadays. Sad, really, but unfortunately symptomatic of a generation that has little or no feel for skill.

Big Gee
 
Big Gee said:
There was also Bill Daniel's shop in the Mander Centre, moved to near Banks's Brewery. I think the only shop left in Wolvo now is Penn Models.

The internet killed off model shops, plus very few 'modellers' scratch-build these days. Cars, boats and aircraft all come ready-built and ready-to-run. Even basic stuff like balsa-wood is difficult to get nowadays. Sad, really, but unfortunately symptomatic of a generation that has little or no feel for skill.

Big Gee
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Yes I'm sure when the spirit of craftsmanship among the young was allowed to wither, then the construction trade was handed over to those who had little or no heart in the actual building. Nothing is Built for Britain nowadays, just Built for Back Pockets!!!

Richie.
 
Anybody remember a model shop called “Beatties” in what is now called the “Palisades’” shopping centre? I spent many a happy hour in there during the seventies drooling over all the fantastic models and hoping my pocket money balance would reach the dream target to purchase some of the fantastic things they had on display. What was the name of the “Palisades” before? Was it the “Bull Ring Shopping Centre”? I always called it “the place where the model shop is”.
 
I remember that model shop " Beatties". We bought our lads a remote controlled car kit from there.
 
Yep I remember Beatties lots of Airfix kits and the like. Also remember Barnby's toy shop and my favorite the Midland Educational
 
Yes I remember Beatties, Barnby's, Midland Ed., and Henry's department store. They were all lovely shops, but Beatties had a shop more recently in Corporation Street, that one closed about three years ago. Originally Beatties started in Wolverhampton during the 1960's. Does anyone remember Evans Evans?

My son had all his toys from Barnby's including his Jacko the monkey.
 
maggs said:
Yes I remember Beatties, Barnby's, Midland Ed., and Henry's department store. They were all lovely shops, but Beatties had a shop more recently in Corporation Street, that one closed about three years ago. Originally Beatties started in Wolverhampton during the 1960's. Does anyone remember Evans Evans?

My son had all his toys from Barnby's including his Jacko the monkey.
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Maggs,I think that was a different Beatties to the one in Wolverhampton and then Dudley,Solihull etc. That came about in the 1930's.
 
pmc1947 said:
Big Gee

You are correct the name of the model shop was Horntons (Models & Toys) 15 Navigation St, Birmingham 4.

Phil
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I remember a model shop near to Horntons,but I've a feeling it was in a covered arcade,I remember it was near New St. station,does anybody else remember this shop,or is my memory playing tricks again?Having said that,I'm pretty sure I'm right,because I remember distinctly seeing my first view of an O.S. Max (Japanese) glo engine.This would be about 1957,when Japanese goods were still though of as being cheap copies of Western items.How times have changed !I do,however,remember the model railway layout that could be started by placing your hand on the shop window,so perhaps I am getting confused...can anybody enlighten me ?.................Mal
 
There was a model shop in the arcade right opposite the old entrance to New Street Station. I think it was called Kanga Models, and in the 1940's and early 1950's it was run by the wife of the famous Colonel C E Bowden, designer of the ugliest model aeroplanes ever.

The shop with the 'hand-over-the-window starter for the railway layour was definitely Hornton's, on the other side of the street (and I can't remember the name of that street...)

OS is now the world's oldest manufacturer of model aircraft engines. Even in the 1950's they were considered quality items, better than a lot of the cheaper US-made engines. Japanese model stuff was always pretty high quality.

Big Gee
 
Hi Big Gee,you're right about Col. Bowden designing the ugliest model aircraft ever,I remember some of his designs,and they all had incredible amounts of dihedral,and immensly long spindly undercarriages.They never inspired me to build a copy,but was it him who designed the first radio-controlled model to cross the English Channel,also the first model boat to do the same,or was that Colonel Taplin,of 'Taplin Twin' fame ? I think the model was equipped with E.D. radio equipment,designed I think,by George Honnest-Redlich.The shop you mention is certainly the one I remember,but I must have also visited Horntons,because of the railway memories,but I don't seem to remember the shop.Strange,because I used to go miles finding model shops,and I remember most of them...............Mal.
 
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