MaxG Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 Will be near Derby in the near future and wondered what model shops there are now and if they are worth visiting. When I lived there a lot of years ago there was one adjacent to Royces in either Grosvenor street or Hawthorn Street just off Nightingale Road. TIA Maxg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 No chance now, I'm afraid. The nearest model shop for Derby is Gee Dee's in Nottingham. They've all closed. I buy all my stuff an line or at shows. I used to work on Victory Rd (RR Sin Fin A site) and often cycled past the one on NIghtingale Rd but I wasn't an aeromodeller then. The name escapes me - like many names do these days Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuphedd Posted February 10, 2016 Share Posted February 10, 2016 There is a pretty reasonable one in Ashby by all accounts , Chris B should be able to tell you more ! cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cripps Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 The shop on Nightingale Road was Goodyear's. It was adjacent to a newsagent also run by the proprietor whose name was ...Alf Goodyear. It was one of those wonderful old-school model shops that we all miss. You could go in and ask for something obscure and Alf would just rummage around in the back and find one for you - brilliant! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Ah, Goodyear's, now I remember It sounds rather like Wayland's in Heanor but I think a little bigger. Wayland's was almost total chaos staffed by Wayland himself, and a nicer bloke you'd be hard to find. As I heard him once explain to salesman over the phone he kept the shop more as a hobby and something to do rather than as a means of making money. Well, he was well past the normal retirement age. His wife kept half the shop for handicrafts. They eventually retired for real. One of the best shops in the Derby area was Spondon Supermodels but that closed probably 10 years ago. The last reasonably accessible shop was Hobbystores in Beeston which closed about a year ago. Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxG Posted February 11, 2016 Author Share Posted February 11, 2016 I didn't remember the "Goodyears" name but remember the shop and the fact that it was by the newsagents. I also remember the Spondon shop and have bought there in the past as it was near where my in-laws lived. If I go back further in the old memory banks I seem to remember that prior to Supermodels it was home to Terry Tippett and Micron RC. I bought my first set of radio gear as akit from there, A PL6D Tx and matching Rx which I successfully built and used. I still have the gear and keep thinking about modifying it with a 2.4 set up as per Phill Green. Ashby is a way away as I will be staying at Kilburn near Belper. So it looks a though I will have to give any visits a miss. Thank you all for the help and also the trip down memory lane. Maxg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted February 11, 2016 Share Posted February 11, 2016 Just a hop, step and a jump from me then. Kilburn is only a couple of miles or so from Heage. Ashby's probably 25 miles from us though I did once cycle to Foremark Reservoir to work on our dinghy and had to nip over to the chandlers in Ashby for some parts but I was pretty fit in those days Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Cripps Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 I only went into Wayland's a few times but it was very much like Goodyear's in that respect. When Alf eventually retired, the model shop separated from the newsagents and was run by a few different people. At one time it was known as Premier Models which is probably the name you remember. Super Models in Spondon was run by Dave Heaton and then later his son, Mark, but as you say closed at least 10 years ago. Terry Tippett was the brains behind Micron radio and at one point had 3 shops, all in a small shopping precinct in Sandiacre, not far from M1 J25. Micron radio was very popular in the local area at least but struggled when the japanese manufacturers started to flood the market with cheap (relatively) radio in the late seventies. My first radio was Micron, too, and I still have it somewhere, I think. Converting it to 2.4GHz is an interesting idea but I think the DEAC pack would need replacing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff S Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 Yes my first 35Mhz radio transmitter was a Micron. I gave all of it away a few years ago. I used to live in Long Eaton but that was may years before I became interested in RC. Dave and Mark Heaton are members at Ashbourne though I haven't seen either of them for a year or so. The RC scene has changed dramatically even in the relatively short time I've been involved. There was once room for small manufacturers like Micron and the first sail winch I bought for model yacht racing, a Whirlwind, was made and designed by David Andrews who was chairman of the club I joined in Loughborough. This has been the result of the changes in electronics which has generated not only ever more sophisticated (and cheaper) products but, at the same time, enabled the means to buy worldwide at the click of a mouse button. Having been in at the start when I was given the opportunity to play those new-fangled microprocessors at work when it was all at the knife and fork, nuts and bolts level when we had to read the data sheets to get them to work, I appreciate the differences. It's all a bit high level now and doesn't seem quite so much fun The plight of the aged since the beginning of time! Geoff Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuphedd Posted February 12, 2016 Share Posted February 12, 2016 wrong thread but the word Micron !! was mentioned now Micron produced the RF boards for 35 meg a long time before the BIG boys got their act sorted , So I built up 3 kits for myself and 2 mates . This meant that we could fly at our club irrespective of the 27 spots !!! There were no other club members interested in home built stuff !! what did the club do ???? Banned us !!! so formed our own club and moved elsewhere ! Technology is not always readily accepted ! all My Micron gear gear now sold to a Collector ?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Tippett Posted November 11, 2016 Share Posted November 11, 2016 Hello Pete Interesting that you mention Micron. and a club that banned Micron. We produced UK Micron R/C kits and also got banned from our local radio control club after probably being part of the initial goup that started the club up. We still have no idea of what we did wrong ! Terry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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