Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Hornby Magazine LIVE 2011

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Oh, the pressures of being a best selling author ! Or at least that's what I thought half way up the country on a motorway full of spray. Not to worry though, as I pulled up at the venue the sun came out and apart from a few showers, one when I was transporting cardboard buildings from the car, the weather improved greatly. Hmph.

Anyway, the plan was simple - bring a boot load of projects from my Parker's Guide column in Hornby Magazine along, deposit them on a table, sit behind this and chat to the public. Simple.

My Stand at Hornby Magazine Live 2011And that's pretty much how it worked out. I set up Melbridge Parva and then decorated the area with other goodies from my projects box. A small worktable gave me an area to build models in and a few chairs for potential visitors who wanted to chat went out front.

Both days started a little slowly because I was at the back of the Ian Allan stand. You had to walk around a little bit of the show to find me, but find me people did. Once they arrived, I didn't stop talking until the late afternoon both days. On Sunday morning I drew a line across a bit of plastic and didn't get around to cutting it for another two hours !

It was very interesting to see what was interesting people. The highlight was the little builders yard I built from Skaledale ready to use buildings. Around 2/3rds of those I spoke to wanted to have a look at it. One man had even been so inspired he'd produced a rather excellent variant with some mine buildings bought in a sale. Three of these, one with a roller shutter door fitted in the end, made a very nice part of a goods yard. I'd have been happy to do something similar myself !

A repeated comment was "It's not as big as I thought it would be from the photos" but everyone loved the chance to see the real model. On a pure ego level, it was fantastic to hear this - writing for magazines can be an odd experience, there often isn't any feedback to anything you produce. Therefore the chance to have a chat and find out that some things are well received is great.

This is especially interesting because on-line, all the chat had been about the Class 33 detailing. This loco was on the stand and several people wanted to have a look - I'm not precious about these projects and encourage visitors to handle them if they are genuinely interested - but less than the buildings. Maybe a loco is a very specific subject but modifying resins brickwork is more the sort of thing that everyone fancies a crack at ?

Whatever, I spent two very pleasant days chatting to loads of very nice people. If you are visiting this blog for the first time after picking up a flyer - welcome - please dig around the archive on the right hand side for loads of content. Please get in touch too. I'm always happy to try and answer your questions, at the end of the day, I simply want to help people enjoy their hobby.

Parker & Wild Builders

4 comments:

NCB_Fan said...

Hi Phil, Thanks for the Chat on Sunday Morning, I was the lad you inspired with the Killin pug :D Just a quick question, Where did you buy the components for the kit & roughly how much did the project cost?

Thanks Again
Adam Saunders

Phil Parker said...

Adam - the body is from Dean Sidings. They don't have a website or e-mail but do advertise in many of tha magazines. I think the cost was around £37. It fits the Hornby "Smokey Joe" chassis but as this runs like a Formula 1 car, I replaced this with a chassis from Branchlines. Total cost will be in the area of £70 for the two part.

Full details and pictures are in the September & October 2010 issues of Hornby Magazine. Worth picking up back-numbers if you fancy having a got at the kit. (It's certainly worth it and DS have several other very interesting similar kits)

Gav said...

Thank you for your time and advice on sunday. I was the guy in the baseball cap new too the hobby.

I have desided to take your advice on starting small. My plan for the layout is all in my head ready to be put into action! The great plan is to build a diorama, then follow on with another to created a portable layout.

I intend to blog my effort and quiz everyone in sight for help and advice. And then hopefully be able to exhibit my work - providing hornby magazine visit hartlepool again!

Again, thank you very much for your time and advice.

Gav

Jason said...

Hi Phil. First time visitor to your blog after meeting you at the Hornby Live show.
I was the guy you mentioned with the mine building complex inspired by your builders yard. Was great to talk to you and left feeling more confident about my modeling.
My layout can be found here as it progresses:
http://www.newrailwaymodellers.co.uk/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=32172
Mnay thanks again for your compliment.. Jas.