A Grand Day Away

Bit of a hiatus on the toy soldier front, what with other matters chewing away the time.  So a couple of mates and I decided to have a 'Last of the Summer Wine' type day out.  A very pleasant lunch was followed by a visit to the Montrose Air Station Heritage Centre: www.rafmontrose.org.uk. I'm ashamed to admit I had never heard of it.

Anyway, a fascinating place set in what was a WW1 and WW2 air training establishment and provided the first British aircraft to land in France in 1914.  Loads of exhibits and is very 'touchy feely' as the visitor is encouraged to interact with the exhibits.  The staff are very welcoming and are keen to hear of wartime experiences of the visitors or their families.

A nice replica of a Spit' which flew from the base.

40mm Bofors gun.

A BE-2 which is an ongoing project from original plans to flying.

A real gem on the site is a caravan literally crammed with Airfix and other model planes all either made by enthusiastic modelers over the years or donated.  They've got piles of boxes of kits from 1/72 to 1/24 donated, a good deal more than the inventory of most model shops.  It's kinda looked after by a gentlemen called Dave Montgomery who has his own Scottish Museum of Plastic Kits in Fife his e-mail is dave.montgomery@hotmail.co.uk.  If you are going to be in the area drop him an 'e' and arrange a visit, it sounds awesome.