Model shops - Edinburgh

[MikeQ]

Got to make a trip and drive past Edinburgh on the way to Dundee for work ... great. There used to be a model shop just north of the Gyle that was easy enough to dodge into. I like to see if I can pick up decent balsa in my travels. Is it still there? Can't see it on Google maps. Can't remember what it was called. Anywhere similar close by or is this another LMS down the drain?

cheers

mike

Edited By MikeQ on 03/02/2020 11:01:43

Edited By MikeQ on 03/02/2020 11:02:02

[John Muir]

Probably thinking of Marionville Models Mike. Seems to have moved to Livingston and gone over to drones and Warhammer games these days. There's Scoonie Hobbies in Kirkcaldy. I haven't been there in ages but used to keep a reasonable stock of balsa and bits and pieces. Maybe a bit off your route though.

[MikeQ]

Hi

yep ... Marionville rings a bell. It was just off the motorway so easy enough to dodge into. Must be 5 or 6 years maybe since I was there. Maybe more.

Never mind ... thanks for getting back.

cheers

mike

[leccyflyer]

As John says you;re talking of Marionville Models - which was a great shop and I used to love to drop in there on passing. Haven't visited their warehouse premises in Livingston. Wonderland Models in Lothian Road is mostly plastic kits and toys, but has a few bits and pieces, a small balsa stock, drones and parkflyers, plus glues and paints.

The only other RC model shops that I'm aware of round these parts are Scoonies Hobbies in Kirkaldy and Tay Models in Perth - which is mostly cars and drones.

[Paul Marsh]

I would not bother, as been in both and hardly anything interesting. Best northern shop, if you can detour, is Leeds, probably the best shop in the north east

[leccyflyer]

Leeds Model Shop is indeed a decent shop, but it's unlikely to fit into a diversion on a trip from NE England to Dundee.

[MikeQ]

Yeah ... leeds is de facto my local model shop now and I live in Sunderland!

lol ... that is indeed some detour. Needless to say must be your wife reads the map on day trips out

[ken anderson.]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 08/02/2020 14:22:08:

I would not bother, as been in both and hardly anything interesting. Best northern shop, if you can detour, is Leeds, probably the best shop in the north east

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

or only shop in the north east,unless anyone knows different..

ken anderson...ne..1....north east dept.

[Paul Marsh]

Posted by leccyflyer on 08/02/2020 15:58:31:

Leeds Model Shop is indeed a decent shop, but it's unlikely to fit into a diversion on a trip from NE England to Dundee.

Could be, if he goes up the M1 and A1(M) then A68 via A696, depends.

[MikeQ]

Lol ... look ... the North of England doesn't start until Thirsk and the North East is north of that.

Ask you lass for a look at her map book

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Paul Marsh on 08/02/2020 18:08:00:

Posted by leccyflyer on 08/02/2020 15:58:31:

Leeds Model Shop is indeed a decent shop, but it's unlikely to fit into a diversion on a trip from NE England to Dundee.

Could be, if he goes up the M1 and A1(M) then A68 via A696, depends.

Nope, Mike lives in Sunderland - calling into Leeds model shop on the way to Dundee via Edinburgh means heading south to go North.

[Martin Harris - Moderator]

Posted by MikeQ on 08/02/2020 18:11:37:

Lol ... look ... the North of England doesn't start until Thirsk and the North East is north of that.

Ask you lass for a look at her map book

That's nonsense. It's obvious that the South starts at Southampton so logically, the North must start at Northampton.

[Erfolg]

There was, or is a good model shop just outside Aberdeen on the road, or general direction of Inverness. I visited it some 8 years back, so may no longer exist.

Aberdeen has a number of MFC, so may know more about what is actually there.

There was, or again is a model shop in Edinburgh, near to the meadows, at the Bruntsfield end. A bit of a toy shop, and bit of a dodgy area.

 

Edited By Pete B - Moderator on 10/02/2020 10:41:49

[MikeQ]

Lol ... Northampton. Unfortunately, not even Leeds qualifies for the North. And Manchester and Scouseland are positively on the tropics. I'm afraid Thirsk is the border ... maybe even the A66.

Think ill I'll give the model shop at the meadows a miss thanks

[Don Fry]

So by the time the poor seeker of balsa, in his ( hopefully), conpany paid motor, once he does a south, then some way north, arrives at destination, might not be TOO lethargic to do a bit of business.

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Erfolg on 08/02/2020 18:25:29:

There was, or is a good model shop just outside Aberdeen on the road, or general direction of Inverness. I visited it some 8 years back, so may no longer exist.

Aberdeen has a number of MFC, so may know more about what is actually there.

There was, or again is a model shop in Edinburgh, near to the meadows, at the Bruntsfield end. A bit of a toy shop, and bit of a dodgy area. The magazine shops have some uninteresting magazines for Heterosexuals.

There hasn't been a real model shop in Aberdeen since GTI Models closed more than 10 years ago. There is a small model shop in Inverurie, which was still there up to a couple of years ago - again mainly cars, railways, plastic kits with a small ARTF selection, small balsa stock, paints and glues.

[PatMc]

Posted by Erfolg on 08/02/2020 18:25:29:

 

There was, or again is a model shop in Edinburgh, near to the meadows, at the Bruntsfield end. A bit of a toy shop, and bit of a dodgy area.

 

That'll be the Salvation Army charity shop on Bruntsfield Place.

BTW nothing dodgy about the Bruntsfield area.

 

Edited By Pete B - Moderator on 10/02/2020 10:42:22

[Erfolg]

Ha, Ha, nice one, I think the shop is called something like "Wonderland". I fact it is called Wonderland.

My daughter and son-in-law lived in Bruntsfield, overlooking the castle and the meadows, you are correct, in that it is not dodgy. Where the model shop is, sandwiched between Haymarket and Bruntsfield. I was not overly impressed though with Bruntsfield, it had its good points, a brilliant cycle shop, restaurants, and some Chinese supermarkets. I was put off by the Seagull, that did not like what it took for an Englishman, it attacked without Mersey. I would repulse the attack, by suddenly opening my umbrella, as it is always grinning in Scotland, or just cold (I am almost joking).

On the other hand I really liked Inverness and Culloden where they also lived, weather and all.

Edited By Erfolg on 09/02/2020 16:38:38

[MikeQ]

Haha ... I know where you mean now. I was an IT contractor before going permie and worked at the Gyle for a good few years on and off. That's how I know of Marionville models which was just off the Gyle. I used to stay at a B&B around Cameron Toll and ride to and from work on my cycle ... often with detours all around Edinburgh.

I know the city quite well but forget all the names. Especially the bars etc.  Worked Glasgow quite a bit. Both quite different in any number of ways!

Edited By MikeQ on 09/02/2020 18:36:48

[leccyflyer]

Wonderland is on the corner of Lothian Road and Bread Street, as I mentioned earlier. If you want a plastic kit it's an excellent shop - likewise for tools, paints and glues for plastic kit modelling. For RC stuff they have a very small selection of servos, a few accessories, batteries etc, aimed at the model car side of the trade. A few small foamie electrics - Hobbyzone stuff - and multirotor drones. They do however have a small stock of balsa sheet and strip.

[PatMc]

Posted by Erfolg on 09/02/2020 16:37:57:

Ha, Ha, nice one, I think the shop is called something like "Wonderland". I fact it is called Wonderland.

My daughter and son-in-law lived in Bruntsfield, overlooking the castle and the meadows, you are correct, in that it is not dodgy. Where the model shop is, sandwiched between Haymarket and Bruntsfield. I was not overly impressed though with Bruntsfield, it had its good points, a brilliant cycle shop, restaurants, and some Chinese supermarkets. I was put off by the Seagull, that did not like what it took for an Englishman, it attacked without Mersey. I would repulse the attack, by suddenly opening my umbrella, as it is always grinning in Scotland, or just cold (I am almost joking).

On the other hand I really liked Inverness and Culloden where they also lived, weather and all.

Edited By Erfolg on 09/02/2020 16:38:38

The Haymarket's about a mile away from Bruntsfield, Wonderland is near Fountainbridge.

I know (or at least used to know) the area quite well, I was born in the old Simpson's Memorial Hospital that was sited in Lauriston Place just the other side of the Meadows from Bruntsfield & for several years I was even an altar boy at a church just behind the hospital. (Devout practising atheist now )
During school holidays & weekends pitch & putt on Bruntsfield Links or football, rounders etc on the Meadows with a bunch of mates was favourite. And I had a paper round in Marchmont, in fact I'd have delivered Rebus's paper if he'd been around back then.
BTW one of my brothers now lives in Morningside just up the road.

[Lima Hotel Foxtrot]

Posted by leccyflyer on 09/02/2020 18:45:32:

Wonderland is on the corner of Lothian Road and Bread Street, as I mentioned earlier. If you want a plastic kit it's an excellent shop - likewise for tools, paints and glues for plastic kit modelling. For RC stuff they have a very small selection of servos, a few accessories, batteries etc, aimed at the model car side of the trade. A few small foamie electrics - Hobbyzone stuff - and multirotor drones. They do however have a small stock of balsa sheet and strip.

I went there a lot as a kid in the 80's and early 90's as a holiday highlight. Excellent plastics shop, but the RC stuff was always only the basics and what would be guaranteed to sell. I got my first RC gear there: Hitec Flash 4, OS .15 and Precedent Fly Boy, the equivalent today would be the Horizon stuff they have on their website.

The area is fine, it's a short walk from the city centre.

[Erfolg]

My daughter worked in the hospital as a registrar, she then lived in a flat on a short bit of road called the Causeway. She moved from there to Bonneyrigg. From their to Bruntsfield. Then the hospital was closed and converted into prestigious living accommodation. A new hospital being built on the outskirts

I obviously do not know Edinburgh like you guys. When she lived there although the main road was fine. Behind the road on one side were a number of shady clubs. On the opposite side and behind the road there was a something which I took to be a cinema type building, converted to a nightclub with a scruffy exterior, most if not all of the other buildings were semi derelict, awaiting redevelopment. How ever heading towards Bruntsfield, on the same high street there was, what I would call a review bar. The son-in-law used to joke that we must go for a drink there.

However there were some brand new prestigious office blocks further along.Scottish Widows I think was one, maybe Lloyds Bank. At the basin where the Edinburgh to Falkirk Canal terminated, again there were prestigious buildings with quality restaurants . walking a little further along the canal, was Scottish and Newcastle Brewery, that had shut down and was starting to look sad.

I guess that now the whole area has been transformed into a very upmarket district. A modern day New Town (as in Edinburgh).

 

 

Edited By Erfolg on 10/02/2020 16:27:39

Edited By Erfolg on 10/02/2020 16:28:30

[John Robertson 3]

MikeQ - to get back on track, Marionville Models was a wonderful place in the 80's. I visited them in Livingstone at Marionville Models, Unit 2, Eliburn Industrial Park, Appleton Park Way, EH54 6GQ ', their new premises. I bought a couple of small items, but I don't think it's worth a detour. They seem to be very much a "Drone" operation these days, with Warhammer activities as well. Having said that, if one is into multirotors it seems to be a good place to go to for sales, service and set-up. Not for me, though!