Great Post, Jamie!
Every now and then I will have a dream about being in a model shop, sometimes the dream is recurring or its like I have been there before... almost like a deja vu feeling, but in reality, its shop I have never been to. There is usually something strange or problematic in the shop though... they may be out of the model I am looking for, or all of the models are weird in one way or another... probably has something to do with my guilt about spending money on models when I should be spending it on something else!!! There is one retail store that I have been to multiple times, located in Pennsylvania called the Outback Toy Store which was started by a farm machinery dealership and has grown into a wonderful business. Their focus is farm models... which is where I got my start into models. A cousin used to work at a Ford/New Holland dealership and they got me started with Ford 1:16 tractors/implements, and probably some 1/64 items (for birthday and Christmas). As a kid, every summer I would look forward to the county fair (I grew up in rural Pennsylvania) so the county fair was agriculture based, and there were always a handful of vendor who would sell die-cast farm models from 1/64 through 1/8 and pedal tractors ( I was lucky enough to have a pedal tractor as a kid
). Every now and then I will I will dream about that fair, and its always sad as I am practically running around the fairgrounds and all the stalls, and I am not able to find anyone selling any models... As I became a teenager and was buying models with my own money, I stuck with 1:64 farming. During my college years - I was about 2 hours away from where I grew up and there was another county fair, which was much larger and there was one particular vendor who primarily sold 1:64 items, but they had a fair amount of Joal items in various scales, and they had a few items in 1:50 which was the first time I saw 1:50. The one model that made me switch from 1:64 farming to 1:50 construction, was the Gradall 5100, which I went home with the day I saw it. I had to leave to go to the ATM and then went back to buy it. I was as just as thrilled as I was when I got my first toy tractor.
A few years later (1994) I ended up in Aberdeen for about a year and there was a shop there called Toysmith if I remember correctly. They had a grand selection of Britains 1:32 and Siku toys/models which I did purchase a few of the construction models... however, they had a fantastic selection of the Corgi Hauliers of Renown which were fabulous, but they were way out of my price point as a college student at the time. I ended up with a 1:64 Eddie Stobart close-coupled articulated as a consolation prize. At the time.. they had the Cadzow lowboy which had both 1 & 2 axle jeep, but I wasn't able to do it...
Shortly after I returned to the states, I discovered DHS Diecast and this forum, back when the Pete 379 and the Rogers Lowboy were first produced. Like the Corgi Cadzow, they were a bit out of my price point, however, by the time the released the Rogers with the flip axle, I wasn't gonna miss out again, and ended up with the KW. I did eventually get the WSI version of the Pete though....
Needless to say, this is an absolutely fantastic hobby and I enjoy it just as much now as a 50 year old as I did when I was a young boy.
There was one time, I was maybe 9 or 10, and I was at a department store with my mother and they had a 1:32 Ford Backhoe Loader and I was crazy about it... this was like 1982-1983... I think it was $20 or so and I asked my mom... and she said put it back, we don't have the money to get that.... I carried that thing around the store with me... to the check out...and that's where it sat... right with the rest of the toys that didn't go home with the child who carried it all the way to the checkout line... I was so disappointed... I probably cried/sniffled all the way home. Mom says she still remembers how disappointed I was... she admitted to feeling so bad she couldn't get it for me because she could see how excited I was about it.... Now as a parent myself, I still apologize for making her feel bad that day. I did end up getting that same model for my birthday that year.... And I still have it!
Thanks for this post Jamie! I truly enjoyed this walk down memory lane!!!
All the best!
Ryan
P.S. Back in October, 2019 - we were outside of Glasgow for about a week. Shortly before our trip I started searching for retail shops in the area and found McLaren Models in Falkirk, which was only about 30 minutes from where we were staying. Their site had an amazing inventory and the photos of the shop I found online... it looked amazing and was so excited to be able to go and check the shop out...but as fate would have it, they had recently closed the retail store. Bummer, However, there is another retail shop I have learned about located in Innishannon, so I might just need to start planning another trip! :D
"Fairplay to those who dare to dream and never give up hope" - Marketa Irglova
