Christmas bargains 2011

[PR19_Kit]

Alder's in Croydon? Blimey, are they still going? 

I remember going in there to buy Veron solids with my Nanna in the 50s! We never got out inside an hour, there was so much stuff to oggle over. 

[McColm]

Was that the 1850's?

[NARSES2]

Alder's in Croydon? Blimey, are they still going? 

I remember going in there to buy Veron solids with my Nanna in the 50s! We never got out inside an hour, there was so much stuff to oggle over. 

Yup still there. Changed ownership numerous times but you'd probably still recognise it. Still try's to cater for the "suburbanite aspiring middle classes" 

Kennards and Grants are long gone although the latter's facade is still there. Kennards is now Debenhams and part of the newer shopping complex (Croydon now has 2). Fond memories of Kennards pony rides as a kid and that really old chimp in a cage in the pet dept. All the parents would shield their kids eyes as the bored old sod would inevitably "pleasure himself" as you went past. Cue "whats that monkey doing mummy ?" 

Was that the 1850's?

Ah Duncan as a friend - isn't that cute 

[McColm]

Well you can still have a kiddies ride in the square outside, Alders always reminds me of "Gracebrothers". As to the toy section, you are right it is run by a Railway man, me I try and hangle the price down.

[Weaver]

Well M&S in Manchester had nothing - zip. In fact the range of presents generally was pretty poor compared to past years.


About a year ago (I think) Fred Aldous, a long-established craft shop in Manchester, got a whole bunch of shiny new Airfix kits in and filled their ground floor with them. Six months later, they were squashed into half the ground floor, and now they're in a corner of the basement, discounted. Can't say I'm surprised: there's limited cross-over between "crafties" and modellers and as far as I know, they made sod-all effort to promote their new status as a model shop to modellers. Anyhow, their Airfix prices are currently lower than Modelzone and I confidently expect an impressive sale in the new year....

http://www.fredaldous.co.uk/brands/airfix.html?cat=15&dir=asc&limit=all&manufacturer=389&order=name

(Take the in stock/out of stock flags on that page with a pinch of salt: I know for a fact that some of them are wrong as of today...)

[kitbasher]

Well M&S in Manchester had nothing - zip. In fact the range of presents generally was pretty poor compared to past years.

I think it is the M&S 'outlets' rather than the regular stores that might be stocking the remains of last year's reboxed Revell kits.

[Daryl J.]

My stash has been getting increasingly corpulent thanks to SprueBros daily specials they've been running.      & 

[McColm]

ModelZone in Croydon has got a sale on. I'll check them out tomorrow as they've got some 1/144 Lockheed constellation kits and reduce prices on the Airfix BAe Nimrod.
All sold out.

[Weaver]

Modelzone in Manchester still has loads of the £5 Academy F-89s and quite a few £5 Gannets too, as well as all sorts of other stuff.

Saw some Airfix starter kits in the local Mobil petrol station yesterday: now that's a first! 

The Works (remaindered book shop) have a few Airfix starters as well, but more importantly, they also have The Eagle Annual of the 1950s at £5.00. I got one - most excellent!  Random pages of Dan Dare, funny adverts and advice for boys (adverts and instructions for air-rifles: can you imagine that nowadays?  ), and most importantly, more cutaways that ARN'T in the specific "cutaways" book. Highlights include a huge flying-wing airliner with about 50 passengers, all in double staterooms with bunks... , a cutaway of HMS Eagle complete with Attackers and Gannets, and an "airport of the future" ("the future" being 1985  ) with VATOL rocket-powered local airliners and long-range hypersonic airliners with swing-wings and remote piloting  .

Definately an example of how the future was so much better in the past, and well worth a fiver of anyone's money...

[Weaver]

Couple of points for folk visiting the Manchester Modelzones:

1. The City Centre branch and the Trafford Centre branch have very different sale stock. For instance, there are NO F-89 Scopions at the Trafford Centre one but there are loads at Deansgate.

2. A lot of the stuff in the Trafford Centre branch is price ticketed wrongly, at prices higher than the ones shown on the website. However they do come up correctly when they scan them, so CHALLENGE THE PRICE if it seems wrong. For instance, the Grumman Panthers are ticketed up at £5.99, but they're actually £3.99.