The 2015 Festival of Model Railways and Hobbies was hosted by the Shoeburyness Model Railway Club at the leisure centre in Southend. This year Tamiya Truckin’ was invited to display at the show so we tagged along to take a look at the event.
The large tennis hall in the leisure centre was covered over and prepared for the event. Although this is primarily a model railway show, it’s great to see the club embracing other area of model hobbies and allowing them to come along to the show. The model railway layouts are a sight to be seen, and the detailing that goes into these is amazing as well as the differing sizes. There are layouts that span many tables, but some of the most detailed ones came in window box size, one of which was a shunting yard and in such a small layout with so much movement and enjoyment to be had. There was a steampunk-inspired futuristic layout that featured futuristic trains and games workshop creatures all being run by a gentleman in a full steampunk outfit. But OO gauge wasn’t the only size on show. There were many different larger scales including a small garden layout that you could take a ride on. Alongside the layouts are the vast array of trade spots that could sell anything you need from smoking units to LED lighting with one company having a display that featured a burning hillside under lit by LEDs – very clever. Another layout that caught our eye and many other visitors featured a working waterfall with a railway viaduct passing over the top that was something we have never seen even on our trips to the toy fair in Nuremberg.
Andrew from Active Scale did a roaring trade throughout the show, and not being one to sit around and wait for customers to come to him he could be seen showing off the models he had for sale. This was great to see as this helps not only his trade, but allows new modellers to see what they can do out of the box.
Meccano is still very popular and there was some very interesting and amazing models on display including a Land Rover that was radio controlled.
Over on the Tamiya Truckin’ layout, Ant and his team put on a huge display in a small space. Thanks to the sponsorship from Active Scale Models the display drew a huge crowd around it on both days. Dirt moving is always great to watch as the excavators work away filling the tippers whilst many of the trucks are also driving to the drop off point. An impromptu police chase also kept the crowd entertained with one criminal doing a Thelma and Louise-style ending to the chase as the vehicle fell off the end of a bridge into the dirt below.
One of the newest displays to the layout is the introduction of demolition that adds a new dimension to the layouts. The buildings for destruction are made from plaster of paris and the excavators with demolition claws make short work of deconstructing the buildings and filling the tipper trucks to remove the rubble from site, making sure that they checked in and out at the site office.
If you didn’t get to go to this show its definitely worth putting on your calendar for next year. And if you are interested in getting into model trucks head on over to Tamiya Truckin’.
Thank you to Shoeburyness Model Railway Club for making us feel so welcome.
