Warwickshire Show.

> Then also everyone who reads the forum will go on that day next year too.

So you can pick a different one...

Neil

I was there all day yesterday and noticed it was quite busy, should have taken sandwiches and a flask of something hot, but people started to thin out in the afternoon and you could then get a good look at everything.

Good show I think although a shame that some of the larger players where missing, ArcEuro, Chronos, Reeves.

Will go again next year.

Dave

I went today and it was very busy. As others have said its a pity some of the larger players were not there. Catering left a bit to be desired. Went to grab a sandwich at 1:15 only to find they had sold out of them completely. Suggest you take your own.

Have a good visit.

Colin

I visited on Friday and the severe overcrowding was particularly unpleasant this year.

Some of the trade stand holders are so unprofessional it's incredible, one stayed on his wretched mobile phone for ages while I was waiting to make a purchase and was ill-tempered with another customer. Short-changed by another. Some of them are just plain oafish and shouldn't be let out. Also, traders please note, there's a difference between passing-on knowledge and being a 'know-it-all' especially when you clearly DON'T. You should take note you might be dealing with someone who knows more about something than you. Probably the case when you consider the general age of visitors to model engineering shows.

Took my own food and drink but was hard pressed to find a chair to sit on. Noted that there were less people camping/ exhibiting outside this year.

All traders in shows these days seem to charge top prices so, increasingly, there is less point in attending. Bargains are rare, you used to be able to justify the entrance charge with a bargain but you can't nowadays.. Many items can be had for a fraction of the show prices by investigating industrial suppliers, e.g. vee belts for Myford lathes going at the show for £8 each! - These can be obtained for a quarter of the price.

Going to shows.

I always find the best bargains on the last day, in the last hour.

The traders do not relish the fact of packing up all the stuff and if their (hired staff) do not have clue what they are selling, one can snag a bargain. Many years ago I bought some computer memory sticks at the Melbourne PC Show. I asked for 120 nS memory, the salesman apologised as he only had 80nS memory, so he let it go at a 50% discount. I had a smile all the way home.

Regards from the land of the kangaroo

* Danny M *

Well given that most suppliers have a blanket £7-8 postage charge these days just the saving on one purchase saves your entrance fee.

Maybe the trader was still trying to deal with one of there opther customers who could not attend the show, more than likely they had business calls diverted to their mobile. As for short changed again a lot of traders have to bring in extra people to man a stand that may not be regular staff and can't be expected to be on the ball with tills, cash boxes etc

Having helped out a trader by manning his stand a few times at shows in the past its amazing how rude and ignorant some of the punters can be too.

J

I went on for the first time on thursday,as the M4 and A34 were closed by accidents it was a long tedious journey from near winchester over 200 mile round trip. The exhibition was packed ,far too overcrowded for comfort,I bought a set of metric drills which are crap,when I got home and unpacked them on about 30% the drill point angle varied down to 90 degrees and off centre. so check before purchase, the club stands were good ,but the model stands were not positioned very well ,the emphasis was on trade stands probably due to the organisers wanting rent money,will not go again.too much far eastern junk on sale.

I can't help thinking that, if it's that overcrowded, someone must like it...

Neil

'...too much far eastern junk on sale.' ... only to be expected, where do you think all of the stuff comes from! The major suppliers Arc Euro / Chronos / Axminster / Warco / Chester etc.., all get their stuff from, China / India, with some items coming from Poland, Czech republic (Tos etc.). if you were looking for a UK manufacturer, best of luck, even RDG /Greenwoods / Glanze get a lot of their stuff from the same Asian / eastern sources, even Screwfix / Toolstation / B&Q have a lot of stuff marked 'Made in China / India / Eastern Europe'...UK manufacturer...dream on!

The only truly British owner/manufacturer, that I can recall, that is still in British hands is Morgan, (Land Rover is owned by Tata India IIRC, etc.) so if you're in the market for a Morgan + 2, & have £40K + to spare...? So unless there is an Entrepreneur out there with a few tens of millions to invest in engineering tooling, with a particular bent to model engineering, we're stuck with Asian / Chinese / East European imports (junk?). the only recourse I can see for UK stuff is car boot sales or auctions (ex school/college/training equip't).

During this past year as I have set my 'workshop' (man cave) up I have a fair amount of tooling purchases, cutters, digital DTI, mic's etc. from the far east & I would honestly say the better quality stuff I have got thru' CTC (Hong Kong)... 'usual disclaimer'... they seem to have better quality control in place. I also have older stuff 'Starret / Moore & Wright (UK) / Snap on (US) etc.. but these were 'obtained ' over the last 50 yrs or so, so considering the economic climate & the far eastern burgeoning economy then I expect a lot more 'junk' to be available, we'll have to live with it.

Apologies for the diatribe & no offence intended, but I try to live & work with what's available at the moment, be it good or bad.

George

This comment depends on what you wish to buy and from whom. Some of the traders at the show have free carriage. Also, some of the traders not at the show, such as Chronos, have free carriage. ARC does not charge anywhere near £7-8 postage for accessories. Depending on order value, our charges are as little as £2.30, upto £4.85 inclusive of VAT, and orders over £60.00 are carriage free to most U.K. mainland destinations. Until end of this week - tomorrow, it is carriage free for all accessories, - just in case you failed to notice the advert on the right .

On a different note, we are sorry that ARC wasn't at the show. We were surprised at the number of people who visited the show who later went out of their way to come and visit us in Leicester, for which we are very grateful.

Ketan at ARC.

For those that did not visit the show, our occasional member Jo has posted quite a few photos of what was to be seen over on Model Engine Maker Forum. (she makes no appology for the lack of Locos photographed )

Enjoy, J

The show was great with lots of good models well made and finished, almost all interests were covered.

Standards of model making is still there all we need to do is interest the next generation!!

Prices for everything these days is going up and up and the money we all have because of the re-session is limited, The prices of the trade stands is going up but so is everything else, I would say in the last 5 years the cost of living in real terms has risen about 20% so even though you can't buy those cheapys at the shows that you ounce could the range of products is ever increasing and some of the trade stands are bringing back things which we used to make in the UK by having them made in the far east at cheaper prices and the standard of quality/material choice and correct heat-treatment are making these products almost as good as when we made them here, But at a cheaper cost which if we require are within our budgets.

I thought that even though some of the larger trade stands we absent there were a few more with other things to offer.

I thought it was a great show, went with two friends, went in as it opened at 10:00 and left at about 16:00. Lots of models worth looking at and got some more tooling. We managed to get seats for morning coffee and bacon roll, lunch of coffee and sandwiches and afternoon drink with cake. And the sun was out when we went outside.

You do have to look at the tooling but there was good deals. Uk slitting saw blades for a pound, ball end fc3 cutters £3 etc.

Steve

Gentlemen,

I went with a mate today and arrived around eleven oclock, it was busy but comfortable, it did get busier but if I couldnt get to a stand I went else where and then went back. Didnt see any crap particularly as someones crap is somebody elses gold, picked up the bits I needed from J&B tools and RDG and looked at some lovely models especially the gas turbine locomotive running on the track outside, my Diabeties gave me a turn a lunch time, mainly because of a very early breakfast, so went outside and found a chair to sit and eat my sandwiches felt better and went back inside. Spoke to a gentleman on the Blackheath club stand about one of the boats on the stand and when I described a similar boat with a coal fired boiler he said I was describing a boat by a Mr Perman, I told him correct as I was one of his Grandson's, it was nice to know my Grandfather is still remembered. a great day.

Martin P

This year was my first time at the show.and I was disappointed. Many of the club displays were unmanned, so I could not ask anyone about their displayed locomotives.the smell of gas, meths or whatever the gauge one chaps use was very strong, and was making me and a few others a little sick due to poor ventilation. As always the tools for sale was the overpriced rubbish from god knows where.i understand that some traders had to pay over 8000 pounds for a stand, no wonder their was nothing in the way of bargains to be had.the few chairs available outside made eatting out a bit of a waitting game.don, t think I will go again.michael

Quite a mixed selection of views on the show. I went there 4 years ago and had planned another visit this year but unfortunately had to cancel. I recall that when I was there it was very crowded and noisy but also enjoyable. Too much to see in one day so I had planned to stay overnight and go for two days this year - now maybe 2014.

I recall seeing a demonstration of a gearcutting machine. The chap doing the demo was about my vintage and like myself, a bit hard of hearing so trying to communicate above the background noise, we ended up shouting to each other. I agree that there is a lack of seating for us older metalbashers. The floors seem to get harder after a couple of hours. Anthony Wedgewood - Benn designed a holdall with a built in seat which is appealing, could put all the bits of metal in the bag and then sit when the going gets tough Even better if it was fitted with wheels