Looking for recommendations for ship modelling museums and hobby shops in London

TnAeroNut

TnAeroNut

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My wife and I are planning to spend a week in London for our 50th anniversary soon. I know the National Maritime Museum is a must-see, but what other jewels should I plan on visiting?
 
I would highly recommend taking a day trip to see the HMS Victory at Portsmouth's Historic Dockyard Museum. There is also the HMS Warrior and some other naval artifacts to see. I went to see it a few years ago when I lived in London.
 
Number one Maritime museum in the world is the Greenwich museum. Also, there is a good display in the Science and Industry museum in the Kensington area of London. Longridge's model of the "Victory" is there. And, take a train to Plymouth to see the real "Victory". Enjoy !
 
While Plymouth is a lovely city unfortunately we don’t have the Victory. As previously mentioned that is 150 miles away in Portsmouth.
 
Walt Zimmerman said:
Number one Maritime museum in the world is the Greenwich museum. Also, there is a good display in the Science and Industry museum in the Kensington area of London. Longridge's model of the "Victory" is there. And, take a train to Plymouth to see the real "Victory". Enjoy !
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I am afraid this is no longer the case. The National Maritime Museum, now retitled Royal Museums Greenwich has very few ship models on display. The bulk of the collection is now at Chatham Heritage Dockyard and is open to the Public. Worse still the Science Museum has dismantelled its excellent gallery and put the collection into storage. I suggest a visit to Bristol might be of interest as would a visit to Portsmouth where the National Museum of the Royal Navy has a collectionof models and of course full size sailing vessels in HMS Victory and HMS Warrior.
 
Walt Zimmerman said:
Number one Maritime museum in the world is the Greenwich museum. Also, there is a good display in the Science and Industry museum in the Kensington area of London. Longridge's model of the "Victory" is there. And, take a train to Plymouth to see the real "Victory". Enjoy !
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I assume it was some years since you visited. Those exhibits are long gone.
 
TnAeroNut said:
My wife and I are planning to spend a week in London for our 50th anniversary soon. I know the National Maritime Museum is a must-see, but what other jewels should I plan on visiting?
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Dear TnAeroNut:
Do not know if you both have the time, as it would be a full, day trip. The area of Cornwall has some wonderful hobby shops and a good port. They help me tremendously whilst in the UK.
 
TnAeroNut said:
My wife and I are planning to spend a week in London for our 50th anniversary soon. I know the National Maritime Museum is a must-see, but what other jewels should I plan on visiting?
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Greenwich (NMM) and the Science museums now have very little in the way of model ship displays. The management didn't think it appealed to the 'yoof' of today!! The Greenwich collection is in climate controlled storage in Chatham, Kent. You can make an arrangement in writing to visit and see some of them but will need to specify which vessels. Not very useful. The equally impressive collection at the Science Museum is also in storage and not available to the public. When I was a child I used to roam London on my holidays, the model ships were a delight, I visited the museums 2 or 3 times a week.
I'm afraid Portsmouth hasn't much to offer in the way of models, even though it has the largest collection in the UK there are not that many, most are modern warships. But there is Victory, Warrior and the Mary Rose. All in all, I think Portsmouth is your best option, you'll need a full day, and if you're luck, I'll buy you a pint!!
 
DouglasJamieson said:
Dear TnAeroNut:
Do not know if you both have the time, as it would be a full, day trip. The area of Cornwall has some wonderful hobby shops and a good port. They help me tremendously whilst in the UK.
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The 'County' of Cornwall is 1,400 sq miles. Not exactly a day trip! There is Cornwall Model Boats, but they can just as easily be phoned to offer assistance. Cornwall itself is different. Stunning scenery, towering sea cliffs on rocky wild coasts. Postcard fishing ports that could be 100 years ago. You'll need two weeks to do it anywhere near justice.
 
I chair the Society of Model Shipwrights in the UK. When you arrive or before if you wish, contact us through our website <modelshipwrights.org>and one of us may be able to give you some guidance. One of our members is a volunteer guide on HMS Warrior and could make arrangemnts for you to see the National Museum of the Royal Navy's reserve collection in the dockyard there. We could also get you linked into the collection of the National Maritime Museum at Chatham as we have contacts in that organisation.
 
I have no experience of the Imperial War Museum but they used to have a collection by an outstanding model maker; Norman Ough. He focused on warships of the first half of the 20th Century. Why not check them out on Google?
 
Wow, Things have changed! Sorry about the mistake about Portsmouth, too. That is the city where the Victory is located, not Plymouth. The last time I was in London was about 15 years ago, and the models were still in the Science museum. The last time I was in Greenwich was probably around 1976 or so. It was an incredible display of Admiralty models, and other excellent models as well. A friend of mine, Ron Cleveland, had two models on display there. It was a real treasure of information, and the staff was very helpful. Sorry to hear that Greenwich has changed so much
 
Walt Zimmerman said:
Wow, Things have changed! Sorry about the mistake about Portsmouth, too. That is the city where the Victory is located, not Plymouth. The last time I was in London was about 15 years ago, and the models were still in the Science museum. The last time I was in Greenwich was probably around 1976 or so. It was an incredible display of Admiralty models, and other excellent models as well. A friend of mine, Ron Cleveland, had two models on display there. It was a real treasure of information, and the staff was very helpful. Sorry to hear that Greenwich has changed so much
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It's a crime. The director replaced it with a telecommunications exhibit more "relevant to the younger visitor" Possibly it is? But it never achieved it's goal of encouraging the younger generation to visit. Everybody loses. Some years ago I did contact them to request at least some of the old collection be brought, but all I got back was an opinion of "the sign of the times" and "what young people want". No compromise was considered. I sometimes think that perhaps a more coordinated, greater numbers approach might do more good.
 
Whenever the topic of the NMM at Greenwich comes up on forums, which it does quite often, I read that there are hardly any models on show. I didn't find that to be the case when I spent an hour or two there about a year ago. Maybe there aren't nearly as many as there were 20 or 30 years back (I never visited), but there are still quite a few and those that are on show are pretty impressive examples of the art. So I'd say, spend a day around Greenwich, the Cutty Sark is well worth the entrance charge and the NMM is 5 minutes walk from that, is mostly free, and you'll easily spend two or three hours there.

As for the visiting the Victory, yes-ish.... With the masts and bowsprit gone, it's starting to look like a hulk, but the interior remains very impressive. When I last visited a couple of years ago I was quite underwhelmed by the museum, they are trying to force-feed it to you as an 'experience', there really isn't a great deal of content, and I didn't find that bit particularly worthwhile.

For some reason the warrior never makes an impression on me. I always got excited seeing the masts peeping above the surrounding buildings on the road in, but maybe I've always been too focused on the Victory.

No-one has mentioned model shops in London, unfortunately nor can I, but if you really, really wanted to visit a proper emporium of model-making, Sussex Models in Worthing is my haunt of choice. Huge range, huge knowledge, tons of tools, parts and so on. You won't find a spread of niche kits like those we all build, I doubt anyone stocks those, but for planes, trains and automobiles, including RC, it's pretty good. Every other model shop I know of now seems to be just aimed at train people. As for London, I suppose Google is your friend :) , but if you do find somewhere good, please share on here!
 
Ps. If you decide to visit HMS Belfast, consider having an evening drink on the nearby 32nd floor of the Shard. Admittedly it’s very pricey £15 for a glass of vermouth) but I can’t think of anywhere else in London that gives those views.
 
Kevin the Lubber said:
. Every other model shop I know of now seems to be just aimed at train people. As for London, I suppose Google is your friend :)
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That's so interesting, most shops in my part of the world seem to be full of only RC cars mostly.... Rare to find trains at all anymore
 
BONETTA said:
The National Maritime Museum, now retitled Royal Museums Greenwich has very few ship models on display.
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Notwithstanding Kevin's comments that it's not as bleak as it sounds - the very thought that the former National Maritime Musuem (yes, they changed their name) has shifted away from the display of ship models is rather disappointing. It would seem we are dying breed pursuing a dying craft...
 
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