Retail therapy - my alternative to Salute pt 1

I've been mulling over whether to go to Salute or not and have decided not to.  There's a few reasons but principally there's nothing that I want to buy that I can only get  from there.  The Covid situation appears to be ramping up a bit again so I'm not that comfortable going.  However, I'll be using the money I put aside with an extra £30 that the admission and travel would have cost to get some hobby supplies in for Autumn and Winter.

In fact I've already started.  I've just returned from a week away.  Whenever I go away I always look to see if there's a real bricks and mortar hobby shop to visit.  And this time I was lucky enough to go to Salisbury, which in itself is a great place, but in town there's the Salisbury Model Centre. 

This really is a proper hobby shop not a model railway shop with some extras, albeit there is a decent range for the railway modeller.  There's a great selection of model kits of all scales and interests and a small selection of wargames figures from the plastic Warlord, Victrix and Perrys ranges.

However, what makes a real shop so much better than online is all the extras that you get to see that you don't know or forget about.  And SMC is great in this regard.  They carry a number of paint ranges, tools, brushes etc. lots of scenic items from companies like Woodland Scenic and a lot of model railway buildings.  And there's all those bits and pieces like plastic card and metal rod etc.  I didn't go too mad but picked up some useful supplies.  

Prices were the same as buying from the Web and if you visit the SMC website you can get a 10% off voucher.  The proprietor was friendly and knowledgeable and I'm sure if I lived locally I'd be in there regularly.  He's a modeller himself and very enthusiastic.  I heartily recommend paying a visit if you get a chance. 

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