Jonathan Mock reports on his modelling-related travels

IEditor of this magazine -Spencer Pollard - when he visited Bristol. We started the day the way most sensible people do, with breakfast in the charming Cafe on the Square in historic Sea Mills that sits close to the edge of the River Avon and the Severn Beach railway line. Our first port of call was Antics model shop in Bristol and the ever sociable Mr Andrew Hills. Antics is the former ‘Modellers Den” that was relocated 30 years ago when Fairfax street was demolished and redeveloped as part of the Galleries shopping centre, which itself now faces an uncertain future. Antics however is safely away from all that and continues to thrive.

t’s amazing how abnormal the new normal can feel, even when trying to return to normality - if that makes sense.

In early August I met up with the former As always I was amazed at the flow of new products since I’d last visited, certainly it’s impossible to keep up with the the pace of things mentally let alone physically in terms of building new models, a far cry from the wastelands of the 1980s and early 1990s. Eduard’s new 1:48 Wildcat had just arrived and it was with superhuman restraint that I didn’t succumb, mostly because my modelling dance card is already full. I did manage to bag some AK 3rd Gen paints to try out and a few other consumables, working on the basis that tools are something I will always use regardless of the project in hand. Well that’s the theory. Spencer similarly stocked up on some Mr Colour paints and a few tools.