Blood for the Baron!

Just found out that the Modeller's Loft store in Caterham is due to close in March with everything going down tot he Boscombe Down store. That means that there won't be a collector's shop round here for miles.

Its a shame as its a real old school shop where just walking round is hald the fun as you never know what is lurking in one of the cabinets. Its a real treat for those that like their Action Man as well as they have tonnes of the stuff. Not much Action Force though.

Anyone know of any other collector shops in the South East?

Isn't Boscombe Down the "top secret" testing area for the RAF? What are they going to do turn Action Man into a military application like in Small Soldiers?

Ironblood wrote:Isn't Boscombe Down the "top secret" testing area for the RAF? What are they going to do turn Action Man into a military application like in Small Soldiers?

It ain't top secret, everyone and there uncle knows about the place and there are books written about it too.

It's Boscombe, near Bournemouth in Dorset, not Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.

Although you may need a stabvest to visit, the area is well known for fencing second hand stolen goods.

That is REALLY odd as the Boscombe store is about a fifth of the size and will never be able to store the range Caterham did. That said though, it is only about half hour from here, so that means the area is building up as a good place for collectables.

Funny though as Boscombe were always moaning that they never had anywhere near the turnover the Caterham store did, but it has also been noted that Modellers Loft have been absent from the last few shows too.

paul463 wrote:

Ironblood wrote:Isn't Boscombe Down the "top secret" testing area for the RAF? What are they going to do turn Action Man into a military application like in Small Soldiers?

It ain't top secret, everyone and there uncle knows about the place and there are books written about it too.

within a few miles from here, inside the New Forest, they tested many bombs during WWII including the bouncing bomb, all which flew from Boscombe Down as it is about 20 mins away in the air. If you look at satellite images, the chalk markings are still visible for measuing blast radias, mock ups for train tracks, submarine pens etc.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 1&t=h&z=16

A Lancaster went down in the area too after catching its wingtip on the ground whilst returning for a straffing run. Anyone who fancies coming down, will happily take you out there.

Dave.

Wasn't the 40th anniversary Actionman line very profitable then?

It was truly wonderful place to visit, I'd only been once but it really felt like a small piece of collectng heaven

Dave Tree wrote:

paul463 wrote:

Ironblood wrote:Isn't Boscombe Down the "top secret" testing area for the RAF? What are they going to do turn Action Man into a military application like in Small Soldiers?

It ain't top secret, everyone and there uncle knows about the place and there are books written about it too.

within a few miles from here, inside the New Forest, they tested many bombs during WWII including the bouncing bomb, all which flew from Boscombe Down as it is about 20 mins away in the air. If you look at satellite images, the chalk markings are still visible for measuing blast radias, mock ups for train tracks, submarine pens etc.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 1&t=h&z=16

A Lancaster went down in the area too after catching its wingtip on the ground whilst returning for a straffing run. Anyone who fancies coming down, will happily take you out there.

Dave.

Might take you upon that sometime Dave. The sat image is brilliant, never seen that before.

Seems I got my Boscombes wrong.

Speaking to the staff it seems that the end of the 40th line means that the Caterham store has too much floorspace and that rental/purchase prices down in Bournemouth are much cheaper so they are moving the whole mail order operation down there, so making Caterham redundant. It also seems that they have a huge mail order operation thats very profitable for them so they are concentrating on that, which sucks when you want to go browsing their stores.

I might try and pop back and see if I can get some photos of the Action Man stuff if they let me.

paul463 wrote:

Dave Tree wrote:

paul463 wrote:

Ironblood wrote:Isn't Boscombe Down the "top secret" testing area for the RAF? What are they going to do turn Action Man into a military application like in Small Soldiers?

It ain't top secret, everyone and there uncle knows about the place and there are books written about it too.

within a few miles from here, inside the New Forest, they tested many bombs during WWII including the bouncing bomb, all which flew from Boscombe Down as it is about 20 mins away in the air. If you look at satellite images, the chalk markings are still visible for measuing blast radias, mock ups for train tracks, submarine pens etc.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&sourc ... 1&t=h&z=16

A Lancaster went down in the area too after catching its wingtip on the ground whilst returning for a straffing run. Anyone who fancies coming down, will happily take you out there.

Dave.

Might take you upon that sometime Dave. The sat image is brilliant, never seen that before.

Would be my pleasure, it is also the place where the largest bomb ever to be dropped in England. At point of impact, one hundred and thirty feet across and thirty feet deep.There's a little more about it here:

http://www.new-forest-national-park.com ... range.html

and here:

http://www.geodata.soton.ac.uk/newfores ... p0895.html

Cool stuff about the bomb, thanks for sharing that. I'm a sucker for all that sorta thing.
I thought Modellers Loft was mainly mail order anyway, I didn't even know they had two shops, but I'm not local to either so visiting has always been a vague dream.