Bedford and District Model Club Open Day

Bedford and District Model Club, in association with Airfix, are pleased to annouce their first club open day. This event will take place at our regular meeting place of Southfields Community Centre (see the where page for more details on how to find us) on Saturday 8th May from 10:30am until 4:30pm. Our aim is to promote the model making hobby to the local community, make the community more aware of our club and what we do and hopefully attract a new member or two along the way!

The day will include;

• Display of club members models
• Model making demonstrations
• Opportunties to ask advice or get help with existing kits
• A small shop featuring kits ideal for beginners

Refreshments will be available on the day, all profits from the day will be donated to the Help for Heroes charity

Press Release:

Airfix Comes to Kempston (and Help a Hero too)

Who remembers seeing James May’s Toy Stories episode covering Airfix on BBC2 last year?  Did it rekindle old childhood memories? Did it encourage you to restart the hobby and get your children and grandchildren involved? It must have done, because Goldings in Bedford High Street had their shelves literally stripped bare at Christmas. In fact you couldn’t buy an Airfix Spitfire for love nor money anywhere in the UK. The plastic model kit construction hobby is currently enjoying a massive resurgence with shop shelves being emptied of Airfix kits as fast as they can be replenished.

Kit building was the schoolboy pastime of choice from the 1960’s until computer gaming threatened to kill it off twenty years later. The range in its heyday was colossal-aircraft, cars, tanks, ships, soldier sets, buildings, historical figures, even dinosaurs. Up till recently it was very much the pastime of male forty-something adults, perhaps a bit over obsessed with historical accuracy and detail of the subjects they construct.  Airfix’s takeover by Hornby four years ago gradually changed that. The James May programme proved to be a catalyst for hobbyists young and old and even led Airfix to try for a world record attempt for group Spitfire building at the RAF Museum in Hendon back in December. Over 250 people of all ages and both sexes took part.

All of this now comes to Kempston.  In conjunction with Airfix, Bedford and District Scale Model Club are holding their very first Open Day for the public at Southfields Community Centre, Southfields Road on Saturday May 8th from 10-30am to 4-30pm.

‘ This is no ordinary model show for reclusive obsessives’, says club chairman Dave Ross. ‘Aside of our own club members’ model displays you’ll witness live, ongoing model building demonstrations. There’ll also be advice on hand from club members on how to get the best out of the hobby - which kits to buy, all manner of construction techniques, going right through to how you can finish a model properly. All aimed at removing the mystery and occasional frustration of putting a model together. Feel free to bring your kit down if you want to start it but don’t know how, or if you’ve hit a problem and don’t know how to fix it.’

The club will also have a small retail shop on the day, stocked with models and materials provided by Airfix, most of them suitable for beginners or novices, with some pre-owned kits for sale for those wanting to try something more ambitious. The club will have information and flyers from local retail outlets and online model stockists. The area is blessed with several good shops if you are prepared to travel a little way.

All proceeds and profits are going to the Help For Heroes charity, so you could do no worse than pop down during the day, find out how much you and your children can get out of the hobby and make a difference at the same time. The club website, www.bedfordmodelclub.co.uk , has directions and details of how to get there.

The last word belongs to Dave Ross. ‘Model construction has a wealth of educational and recreational benefits – basic engineering skills, problem solving, concentration, responsible use of tools and materials to name but a few. But above all, it’s fun. And we can show you how much fun it can be.’

Entry is free for under 14’s, with a minimum recommended donation of £1.00 to Help For Heroes on the day for adults.