London Model Engineering Exhibition - Where are all the planes ?

[Chris Armstrong]

I've taken my lads to the London Model Engineering Exhibition the last two years. Sadly small compared to the one at Wembley Conference Centre that my dad took me too in the 80's.

Some lovely models, but no flying model aircraft. Is this because we have a larger number of RTF/ARTF planes now compared to then or just a further sign of PCs/Xboxes/tablets taking over peoples interests ?

I see people still building stuff on here, but none were to be seen.

[bert baker]

Horizon were there flying, or do you mean actual scratch built planes. Gayden looks like the place for unushal built models

 

Edited By bert baker on 27/01/2017 19:54:10

[Chris Armstrong]

Meant actual scratch built aircraft. I'll dig out some photos of how it was when I were a lad.

[Martin Dilly 1]

There were several scratch-built aircraft on the BMFA stand but I agree, the LMEE is not the same as the Model Engineer Exhibitions used to be when run by MAP/Argus/Nexus at venues like Seymour Hall, Wembley and Olympia. Then there used to be competition classes for all sorts of models, including aircraft in several categories. Having been involved in almost all of the SMAE and then BMFA stands for umpteen years I know that one of the things that deterred people from entering model aircraft was that sometimes they were displayed where the public could damage them, or certainly the more delicate ones. The organisers then, of course, published magazines on several different modelling subjects, e.g. Aeromodeller, RCM&E, Model Boats and Military Modelling, while TEE are basically model engineering publishers with an emphasis on locomotives.

I think one of the reasons that there are virtually no model aircraft trade stands is that the stand prices are too high for several of the 'cottage industry' operations who specialise in one or other fairly narrow area of our sport, and I assume the major model flying retailers think most of the visitors are after lathes and loco bits.

[kc]

You are confusing two different shows by different organisations! THE Model Engineer Exhibition was the MAP/NEXUS/Argus show by the Model Engineer magazine while the London Model Engineering Exhibition has always been by Tee Publishing /Engineering in Minature.

Actually there was a very poor turnout of aircraft again this year at Alexandra Palace and that seems down to the BMFA not using their space to show what aeromodellers can do. Far too much space was allocated to childrens plane building area. The idea that the by getting children to colour foam chuck gliders you attract new recruits seems false. We need to attract adults to model building  .  Much of the front of the BMFA stand was taken up by a Microfilm model in a glass case - not really the thing to attract people nowadays.    The indoor flying was impressive but the 'pits' was so far out of sight around the back that there was no chance to see the models close to or see the people preparing the models.    

We really need a show in Winter to get our modelling items and get inspiration from good models.

 

Edited By kc on 28/01/2017 00:20:53

[Frank Skilbeck]

Posted by kc on 27/01/2017 23:56:09:

We really need a show in Winter to get our modelling items and get inspiration from good models.

Edited By kc on 28/01/2017 00:20:53

LMA Gaydon show in Oct would seem to fit the bill.

[Paul Marsh]

I used to go to the MEX when it was held in Sandown. It was usually held over new year times.
It never had much rc stuff, more steam trains, engineering and Stirling engines. I was with Fantastic Foam then, so that's why I went, apart from us, Southern Modelcraft and one or two other traders, that's all there was, and maybe a very small RC models static display.

[Cuban8]

If memory serves, the Sandown Show or 'Sandown Symposium' was a separate show originally organised by the Elmbridge Model Club and quite a different animal from the MEX that was mainly held at various venues in London itself. I don't think that Sandown worked very well for the few times that the MEX was there.

IIRC, the running of the Sandown Symposium  was eventually taken over by one of the magazine publishers and was never quite the same again, with the lower floor railway exhibitions and model engineering mostly done away with. I was told by a couple of friends in the model trade that stand prices were raised beyond that which it was economic for smaller businesses to exhibit. A shame, because Sandown was a great show in its heyday despite the nightmare of poor transport links and carparking.

I first saw Hanno Prettner give a display of aerobatics at Sandown during the mid 80s - nothing quite like it had been seen by us before and it fired up my enthusiasm for that type of flying (albeit nothing like Mr Prettner, of course ) . We also saw and heard the first gas turbine model around the same time at Sandown - I think they managed to get it off from the carpark between the track and infield area opposite the main stand.

Not forgetting the 'Toffee Bomber' for the kids

 

 

Edited By Cuban8 on 28/01/2017 11:15:36

[kc]

The Model Engineer Exhibition is still held - last time it was at Brooklands in Sept 2016. Somewhere they must have the trophy for planes -wasn't it the RCME Cup? I wonder if it's still awarded?

The after Christmas period was and is the best time to have a model show. The ME exhibition suffered when they changed the date - when I mentioned the change of date to a person from the organiser they claimed it was because the traders didn't want to come at that time. I thought that unlikely it was more likely the organisers staff who couldn't be bothered to interrupt their long Christmas break!

[Paul Marsh]

The above show was held at Sandown, but not the model show, itself, which was held in May. This was an engineering show,much like the OP's Title event, just in a different place, although probably organized by a different group.

It was held in winter...

Edited By Paul Marsh on 28/01/2017 13:43:11

[Martin Dilly 1]

To take up a couple of kc's points regarding the London Model Engineering Exhibition. First, on the BMFA stand there was an RC aerobatic model, an RC 3D model, an RC F3K discus-launched glider, an RC electric pylon racer, an RC scale helicopter, a control-line team racer, a Vintage free-flight model, an electric FF duration model, an F1A FF glider and the microfilm indoor model that kc mentions. Secondly, that model didn't take up "most of the front of the stand"; it took about 15% of the frontage. For several years that microfilm model has been the one model guaranteed to grab peoples' attention and get them talking; most have never seen anything like that up close and the more they hear about it the more technology they realise is in such an apparently simple-looking aircraft.

One of the aims of the BMFA stand is to show the wide variety of disciplines that today's model flying includes, and to excite the interest of visitors in branches of the sport that they may not even know exist.

By the way, the childrens' plane building area behind the BMFA stand is not actually part of the Association, but run by Steve Midson's Mid-Air Models.

Anyhow kc, what would you like to see on future BMFA stands? New ideas are always welcome, so let's have yours.

[kc]

Well all those models may have been there but on the Friday only the aerobatic model was clearly shown - most of the other models were behind it and it was not possible to get a good look at them! The Microfilm model has been in the same position on the stand for many years so maybe something more relevent to todays flying should be positioned there. Don't get me wrong Martin the microfilm model is interesting but it won't get new people interested in aeromodelling. Any newcomers today will expect RC in any model they aspire to own..

It would have been nicer to see somebody building a balsa model showing how all the ribs etc form the structure . I would suggest the satnd could in future have someone building a model like the Mini Super - small enough to build, but could be recommended as a trainer, a sports model etc. Showing that building is not a Black Art but achievable by anyone with a little help. Get people using their hands not computers.

[Paul Marsh]

Looking through the pictures of the above Sandown, there was only one model I took a picture of, so as then, there was only one model to look at, and I remember, it was only a static. Been built to museum standard, but looking at it, never flown, or intend to be flown, just as a display.

The format is still the same - an engineering show, not a model show for rc aeroplanes.

[kc]

We are still confusing the 2 different shows! Chris originally complained about the London Model Engineering Ex not having much in the way of planes. Well it has more planes this year than it ever used to when it was at Picketts Lock in the 1980's. But it's not really an aeromodelling show.

On the contrary The Model Engineer Exhibiton has had competition classes for aircraft for very many decades ( this was surely the show Chris went to with his dad in the 1980's) and 4 classes for aircraft were still there for 2016. See this link or follow the link at the bottom of the forum. Were there actually any planes at Brooklands? I didn't go because i didn't realise it was on so early in the Autumn! As there are classes for planes some of us should enter this year!

I entered a plane in the competition classes at Olympia and Alexandra Palace during the early 1990's. Just normal sports models to show the audience what a club model looks like. Of course I didn't get any award that went to Rob Millinships magnifiicent Spitfire and other great models. I didn't even get photos of my models in RCME etc but my plane is there in the background in a couple of shots! A worthwhile experience though. Presumably the RCME cup or whatever it is called is still up for grabs if anybody entered. ( I think it used to be awarded for a model built from the Plan Service plans. That would be a bit awkward now if Traplet sell the plans! But could have the rules amended i reckon )

So lets see some planes entered for the 2017 ME Ex but it seems they have to be scale models . If it is to be held at Brooklands again as this makes the trip to deliver planes in advance worth the trip. Brooklands musueum is said to be very worthwhile..

[Keith Lomax]

Building on Kc's and Martin Dilly's comments ...

I attended the Model Engineering Exhibition from around 1990 to 2000 (give or take a year at each end).

The show was "owned" by the Society of Model and Experimental Engineers (great source of confusion between SMEE and SMAE), and they ran it jointly in conjunction with MAP / Nexus in those days.

I attended two or three at Alexander Palace, then it moved to Olympia, and from the second year there we gained the second hall exclusively for flying (which included indoor control line team race, heli flying, indoor aerobatics and free flight - there were so much exhaust fumes in the atmosphere it was probably inflammable).

Throughout that time it ran from the last Sunday in December (or the last bank holiday if Christmas fell at the weekend) until the first Saturday in January. A lot of the trade stands relied on the fact the friends and family of the independent shop owners had long Christmas breaks from work and could either man the stand or backfill in the shop. It was seen as being the place to go and spend your "Christmas money".

Then the owners of Olympia decided to not only increase the hire cost of the venue (one of the SMEE committee said that they wanted £1 million per day) but also to knock down the car park to build flats.

It moved back to Alexander Palace, but the traditional week was no longer available and it was held for a couple of years over a three or four day long weekend in early December. The traders couldn't rely on their supporting staff, and the prices went up so many of them boycotted it. As I understand it, the show as we then knew it ceased to be.

In parallel with this, the London Model Engineering Exhibition was held at a different time of year in North East London (Pickets Lock). I never went but the BMFA started to take a stand there at about the time that the MEX moved back to Ally Pally.

 

Edited By Keith Lomax on 30/01/2017 16:05:56

[kc]

Keith Lomax has slightly confused the sitution by referring to "the Model Engineering Exhibition" -- -------it was surely The Model Engineer Exhibition ..........not Engineering. That's causing the confusion with the London Model Engineering Exhibition. Otherwise he is correct.

The days The Model Engineer Exhibiton was at Olympia were the very best as far as exhibits were concerned -2 floors of stands plus another side hall for indoor flying. SLEC and other aero suppliers had stands - you could buy anything needed for flying. I always bought a 2 day ticket in those years because there was so much to see. Fabulous ships, engines, planes, diaramas, model houses, Traction engines, locos, farm implements, ingenious workshop tools made to the highest standards all in the competition classes. Loads to see needed two days to see properly. . 2 great days out. Getting to Olympia was a pain due to the infrequent and crowded train from Earls Court but it was worth it.

Because it was such a great show and because it was during school holidays there was a huge number of fathers taking sons to the show. No doubt many of todays aeromodellers were introduced that way.

Later when that show moved to Sandown Park it was only a shadow of it's former self.

The Model Engineer still continues and as it has 4 classes for aero models presumably there should be entries into the competition. It's up to aeromodellers to enter!

However the London Model Engineering Exhibition ( referred to in the beginning here) has never had competition classes for planes and very few have ever been seen exhibited there. A fair number of small indoor flying models there though.but they were flown and not actually on static display. The very few aero models exhibited were often the same few models ...... Ian Richardson's scale jet was on the BMFA stand year after year and the same Microfilm model appeared yet again this year. Worthy models but nobody wants to pay to see the very same few models every year! ( Ian's jet was missing this year and Ian was missing from the Permagrit stand )

[Martin Dilly 1]

Thanks, kc, for the suggestion about having some actual building on the BMFA stand to bring the punters in. Ages ago, probably when the ME Exhibition was at the Seymour Hall in the late 1960, we used to do this, when the stand the then-SMAE had was about eight feet square. I have a photo somewhere of Jim Wright and me building a geodetic F1A tailplane (about all there was room for there) and that certainly used to gather a crowd; maybe it was the smell of the clear dope...

Regarding the microfilm model, I think it's the contrast between it and what most passers-by think model flying is all about that grabs their attention. Every year there are new people who stop, do a double take and look more closely, and that's what starts the conversations, and that's why we often have that model there.

More suggestions welcome for what the BMFA stand should be like.

[Chris Armstrong]

The show we used to go to was sponsored by MAP, now Argus. The more recent shows that were held at Sandown in Dec had the same logo as the old Wembley exhibitions so I had assumed, now confirmed above, that Sandown was the successor. I have to agree with it being a shadow of it's former self.

Going back to the LMEE & BMFA, I wouldn't get rid of the children's building area, it's what is needed. I do outreach sessions for the engineering company I work for. One thing sure to get people interested in what you do is making stuff or doing interactive experiments. It takes time, effort and space but is worth it.

I'm 48 and I was one of the younger people there ! we need more young'uns to get interested.

It was noticeable that some of the models (ships) were the same as last year. This is probably due to clubs displaying and no competitions being held. Anyway the children always enjoy it and I get to stock up on supplies.

[Nightflyer]

I used to go to Wembley Conference Centre, Alexandra Palace and Olympia for MEX and always enjoyed them. It was the one good thing after Christmas Day to enjoy before the New year or return to school, college or work. Also because it supported all forms if you had more than one hobby it was the place to go, until the Model Symposium at Sandown.

I have also gone to the LMEE from its days at Picketts Lock and one has to remember that it is not the same. In fairness to all organisers and traders it gets increasingly tougher when venue costs soar and you have a limited exposure and visitor catchment. I think these events are so important though. Being young or old these events can do much to support existing modellers but are also important for encouraging newcomers, or those with one hobby to have a go at another.

Sadly recently the other show I used to like going to which was Modelworld held in Brighton has succumbed this year to limited numbers and costs in holding the event which has led to its cancellation after I think 38 years. I for one hope that this is a short break and that it returns in 2018.