Peterborough Scale Model Show 2025

10 Mar

Sunday 3rd of March saw us travel to Peterborough for their Scale Model Show and our third sunday show in a row. It was their second show at this venue. Sunday morning was absolutely freezing setting off from near Doncaster at 6am for the 90 minute journey to the venue, but thankfully the venue wasn’t cold. The show had a steady flow of visitors throughout the day.

The Model Show is at Stamford Wellend Academy School. As with most shows held in schools there is ample lighting to see the quality models on display. This week I didnt get chance to visit all the tables which is disappointing, however, I did manage to cover over 80% of the clubs and sigs on display who presented a high caliber of models. There is no formal competition area for Peterborough, however, there is an open competition where judges walk around all the tables and review the models on display. It was great to see some new and different styles of models which I hadn’t seen before. I particularly enjoyed the two clubs who prominantly showed work by their junior members and I was amazed at the quality shown at such young ages.

There was an impressive array of quality figures on display this week whether as the sole focus or as part of a diarama helping to set a detailed scene. The Beatles and a number of aliens were in attendance alongside figures from anime, cartoons, Star Trek, Star Wars and even a Goblin. Figure painting is not an easy feat and takes a lot of skill and patience. The figures on display at this weeks show are a credit to their artists.

A wide variety of vehicles were on display covering many different themes, topics and eras. Tanks seemed to be the main theme of the day with all scales from 1/72 through to 1/16th been covered. A variety of eras, schemes and types of tanks were seen, including the popular Sherman M4A8 ‘Fury’, Tiger 1, Churchill, Panther and Panzers. Also on display were a number of cartoon themed vehicles from Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit, however, the Flintstones car in particular caught my eye. The modern era was well represented with some impressive sports cars, F1 cars and modern trucks showcasing remarkable build and painting.

It was lovely to see a number of boats and Ships on display as this is not something I see at every show.

There was a diverse array of aircraft on display, including Bi-planes such as the Hawker Fury and De Havilland Tiger Moth, and WWII aircraft including Spitfires, Lancaster Bombers, Typhoons, Vampires, Corsairs, BF109’s, FW190’s, and Ju88s. The post WWII and modern era were also well represented with Phantoms, Tornados and the F86 Sabre on display. The digital camo on the Phantom F-4EJ below is particularly impressive.

It was especially hard to chose my favourite this week. My favourite is purely chosen on feel, I don’t look for the most accurate, best made model there, I chose my favourite by how it draws me to it. As a novice builder who is still completing her first model I do not feel I have the right to say this model is done more exceptionally than another, although being around the scale modelling scene for over 12 years I probably have a fair idea of what is good and what is not. So my favourite is my favourite, some may not agree with it and it may not be the best model on display that week but to me it captured something and drew me in, and as with all art, taste is subjective. After looking through my photographs again this week I have managed to pick a top five…

There were a number of models which didn’t fit into any particular category but are still worthy of attention, below are those models which are different, diaramas, trains, buildings etc… which have not been shown above.