Tank Museum Stretton Models (1 Viewer)

[steveemmo]

Stretton Models is a small company based in church stretton, it is run by a lovely man called bryan, his company used to paint the verem ranges of solido military vehicles, and later his own range called Tank Museum. I have collected solido tanks for years now, ever since i found a grey jagdtiger complete with box on a stall in bury market, they wanted theprincely sum of £12.00 for it (all the money in the world) and i very nearly walked away, in fact i did but my mum went back and bought it for me as she could see that i was very taken by the vehicles superb detail and working metal tracks, later into my new hobby i found verem versions and then the tank museum range, i would buy these models of ebay (spit) from across the world, but could not find any for sale in the uk. america was the best source, and once sheltering in a doorway up a little rue in rennes from a rain shower i turned to find a model shop, thats handy i thought and me and the wife went in and there on sale were several new tank museum vehicles, in broken french (loud english) i explained to the woman serving that you could not buy these in britain, fabrique in angleterre she replied, i know i said and the conversation faltered on for a while, anyway i bought them and have them to this day, one day i cannot remember how, i found a phone number for stretton models and rang it, fearing a snotty "we`re a big company and don`t deal with the public" response but i was surprised to hear the friendly voice of bryan evans, i told him that i had collected his tanks for years and that he was britains best kept secret, and that it had taken years to track him down i asked him why he did`nt advertise his stuff, he said "well you dont want to get too busy do you ?" i later met him and now consider him as a friend of mine, he is a very down to earth fella, www.strettonmodels.co.uk . i am now the proud owner of seveal one off`s built by bryan that he made especially for me, i will post pics as i go, heres the first

 

[Njja]

Wonderful story, its always nice to read something like this. It offers insight

into why we all find it so interesting to collect things especially related to

our childhood.

Looking forward to more photos!

 

[Phantom Warrior]

Great story. I have two Tank Museum models and have wondered about their history and the unclear relationship between Stretton, Verem and Tank Museum

Terry

 

[steveemmo]

Occasionally i would see Bryan at the barry potter fair stafford showground and he would tell me of the times he and his family would be putting the diecast tanks together and painting them as they went until the early hours of the morning "this went on for years "he said later when the tanks were assembled painted and packed into boxes they would pallatise the batch and Bryan would take them to the solido factory in france, arriving again in the dead of night he was met by waiting warehouse staff and eagerly awaiting the goods which were loaded immediately on to a waiting truck. Bryan would make his way back to shropshire loaded with all the die cast parts and the whole thing rolled over again, at the stafford toy fair i would see him over the throng of customers at his stand, customers which his wife was competently dealing with, usually with bryan in the background chatting or away for a smoke, i would catch his eye "i`ve got something for you " he would say with a little smile, and i knew he had just made a sale !. this next vehicle has about 30 tiny parts in the turret alone, "so there won`t be anymore of these" said Bryan.

 

[steveemmo]

Re: Tank Museum Stretton Models 1:50 scale

The Heavy Brigade

 

[steveemmo]

5 Russians

 

[panda1gen]

Great story, collection and models.

 

[kx1a]

Ana, Happy holidays to you and all the others there at Honour Bound and beau Geste
Bill W

 

[steveemmo]

Variations on the panzer IV chassis

 

[steveemmo]

more panzer IV variants, 2 hetzers and 2 stugs