General

Recommended Shop!

Posted by Rich W on 27 May 2018, 14:41

Not sure if it's allowed to recommend individual shops on here, but I'm going to anyway!

If anyone lives or is holidaying in Ireland and Northern Ireland I've got a couple of shops I can recommend from visiting them over the past week. With the prominence of the internet stores there are less and less good model shops out there in the towns and cities so I thought it would be good to point them out incase anyone wanted to support a shop whilst they were in the area.

Firstly, I can thoroughly recommend finding a shop in Belfast called My Old Toy Box. It's only about a 15minute walk from the city centre and is found in a slightly old fashioned indoor market. The shop has a really good collection of models including a lot of 1/72 figures-especially Hat and Italeri. They also had odds and ends of Revell, esci, ACTA, Zvezda, Imex and Ehmar. They also have an upstairs area for rarer second hand sets and they had a lot of old Airfix and a few hard to get Revell sets. Prices were very good from what I could see (I paid £5.25 each for Hat Gatling gun and Hat British zulu command). They also had a huge selection of paints, scenics etc and had die cast models, Subbuteo (the football game) and other collectables. I've taken a few photos of a selection of their shelves (with their permission!) to give you an idea as to what the shop was like.

Secondly, I visited a small shop in Limerick (Mid/South Ireland) called The Gathering. It's only a 15 minute walk from the main shopping streets. The selection of 1/72 is quite small (a mix of Italeri, Ehmar, Zvezda, Imex) and the prices aren't the cheapest, but it was a really nice shop to visit. They also had a selection of Warlord 28mm and paints/scenics. What was impressive was that they seem to paint a lot of the figures themselves in the shops in-between customers and the standard was very good. They had a huge selection of Zulu war figures all painted and based ready for an event they were attending.

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Rich W  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1236
Member since:
05 Feb 2018, 23:40


Posted by Kekso on 27 May 2018, 16:59

Well, I certainly wouldn't mind to visit those hobby shops.
User avatar
Kekso  Croatia

Moderator Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze) Supporting Member (Bronze)
 
Posts: 6837
Member since:
19 Oct 2011, 18:32

Posted by Bluefalchion on 27 May 2018, 17:30

Looks fantastic! Next time I am in Ireland I will check them out.
User avatar
Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
Posts: 3575
Member since:
23 Dec 2010, 07:57

Posted by Wiking on 27 May 2018, 17:58

Rich W wrote:
With the prominence of the internet stores there are less and less good model shops out there in the towns and cities ...

Unfortunately true words.
In the city I live in my youth close, was:
3 Hobby shops.
2 Shopping center with plastic modelling section.
2 Shops for modeltrain.
2 Wargamers Shop.
Not all at the same time. But in a timeline of around 25 years.

Today there is:
0 Hobby shop.
0 Shopping center with plastic modelling.
0 shops for model train.
0 Wargamers shop.

Your hobby shop pic look similar to the ones I remember in my youth.
Ok, with German text on top.
User avatar
Wiking  Germany
 
Posts: 2825
Member since:
14 Sep 2015, 10:03

Posted by Kekso on 27 May 2018, 18:03

Wiking wrote:Today there is:
0 Hobby shop.
0 Shopping center with plastic modelling.
0 shops for model train.
0 Wargamers shop.


That reminds me of:

Image
User avatar
Kekso  Croatia

Moderator Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze) Supporting Member (Bronze)
 
Posts: 6837
Member since:
19 Oct 2011, 18:32

Posted by Wiking on 27 May 2018, 20:26

:yeah: :-D
User avatar
Wiking  Germany
 
Posts: 2825
Member since:
14 Sep 2015, 10:03

Help keep the forum online!
or become a supporting member

Posted by Peter on 27 May 2018, 21:00

Kekso wrote:
That reminds me of:

Image

I don't see the point Dali? Can't we miss Kevin? :eh:

On topic: the toy shops are stopping everywhere. They can't concer with the internet! :(
User avatar
Peter  Belgium

Moderator Moderator
 
Posts: 22501
Member since:
25 Mar 2008, 18:51

Posted by Beano Boy on 27 May 2018, 23:50

Who`s Kevin Bacon? BB
Beano Boy  England
Supporting Member (Gold) Supporting Member (Gold)
 
Posts: 8083
Member since:
03 Sep 2013, 14:45

Posted by Bluefalchion on 27 May 2018, 23:53

Kevin Bacon is an American actor. He was in "Footloose" and "Mystic River" and a bunch of other stuff.
User avatar
Bluefalchion  United States of America
 
Posts: 3575
Member since:
23 Dec 2010, 07:57

Posted by Erich von Manstein on 28 May 2018, 00:29

Bluefalchion wrote:He was in "Footloose" and "Mystic River" and a bunch of other stuff.


Not to forget “Tremors“, “Sleepers“, “Death Sentence“ or “X-Men: First Class“... . ;-)
User avatar
Erich von Manstein  Aruba
 
Posts: 1104
Member since:
03 Jan 2009, 21:31

Posted by FredG on 28 May 2018, 09:05

Kekso wrote:
Image


User avatar
FredG  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1594
Member since:
09 Dec 2011, 21:47

Posted by Beano Boy on 28 May 2018, 22:35

I love toy shops, in fact I live in one. BB
Beano Boy  England
Supporting Member (Gold) Supporting Member (Gold)
 
Posts: 8083
Member since:
03 Sep 2013, 14:45

Posted by MABO on 29 May 2018, 11:44

Beano Boy wrote:I love toy shops, in fact I live in one. BB


:-D :yeah:
User avatar
MABO  Europe
Supporting Member (Gold) Supporting Member (Gold)
 
Posts: 9127
Member since:
12 May 2008, 18:01

Posted by Marvin on 29 May 2018, 20:07

Ah - a shelf full of soldiers! Heaven...
User avatar
Marvin  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1002
Member since:
04 Apr 2012, 19:51

Posted by Rich W on 01 Aug 2018, 00:20

On my visit to North Wales I have found another gem of a model shop. Porthmadog Models can be found in the centre of Porthmadog, a very nice small town in one of the most stunning parts of the UK.

The shop had a great range of plastic model kits, die cast toys and paints/scenics. It also stocked 28mm Warlord figures and 54mm sets. But the best selection in the store was its 1/72 plastic figures! It had a huge range of Hat, Italeri, Strelets, Ceaser, A Call To Arms and Zvezda. It also had varieties of Imex, Revell, Red Box, Airfix, Ehmar, Orion, Mini Art, Accurate, Mars and Waterloo. They had a lot of discontinued sets that you just can't find on the internet (Hat Peninsular Brit inf /Swedish Inf, ACTA Brit Zulu War inf, Revell German Artillery etc )and the prices were all very good (the majority being the same price or even CHEAPER than the internet). The lady at the till was friendly and basically you couldn't ask for a better model shop!

I took a few photos (with their permission!) to give you an idea of the place. The photos are blurry as i had my hands full of sets I was buying! They don't have a website (just reviews on Google) but i overheard them saying they post deliveries and can take payment through Pay Pal if you're not able to get there-although you should have a holiday in Snowdonia and make a special visit to there!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Rich W  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1236
Member since:
05 Feb 2018, 23:40

Posted by Susofrick on 01 Aug 2018, 09:46

I would very much like to go there. But there will be trouble! I wouldn't want to leave! Looks like pure Heaven! Great pics to drool over! A LOT! :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool: :drool:
User avatar
Susofrick  Sweden
Supporting Member (Gold) Supporting Member (Gold)
 
Posts: 7678
Member since:
19 Feb 2008, 12:10

Help keep the forum online!
or become a supporting member

Posted by Kekso on 01 Aug 2018, 14:15

That's a gem for sure :love: . They even have many Zvezda sets.
User avatar
Kekso  Croatia

Moderator Moderator
Supporting Member (Bronze) Supporting Member (Bronze)
 
Posts: 6837
Member since:
19 Oct 2011, 18:32

Posted by Rich W on 07 Aug 2018, 23:09

I really could have spent all day there...but my parking space was limited to 1 hour...I'll be visiting again next summer!
Rich W  United Kingdom
 
Posts: 1236
Member since:
05 Feb 2018, 23:40


Return to General