Battlefield Society exhibits at Abington Park Museum

Readers of this blog will probably prefer Abington Park to Northampton’s main municipal museum … the latter is full of shoes, the former houses the Northamptonshire Regiment and Yeomanry collections (and more leather collections but not shoes) … so it has plenty of military exhibits and dioramas.

I was invited to put on a display of model soldiers and a battlefield model for Northampton Battlefields Society for the museum’s Collectors Day …

So the display was necessarily medieval in theme, with an array of Bosworth figures as the centrepiece in addition to the 1460 battle.

But I also included all the common scales from 2mm to 90mm and historical figures from Ancient Egypt to World War Two … planes, boats and ships as well as figures … and of course plenty of flats.

(a sample of Yesthatphil’s collection displayed at Abington Park Museum’s Collectors Day)

… indeed the display included a good many pieces that have been featured on P.B.Eye-Candy …

My partially scratchbuilt model of Antonov’s flying tank (featured here) was a source of fascination to many of the hundreds of visitors who came by during the day … (I’m very glad I took it along) …

The knowledge of many of the visitors was quite a surprise … (some recognised the big TB2 bomber … one even mentioned to me Christie’s light tank and his idea of adding wings to it … ) … Others, of course, were amazed the glider wasn’t something out of an H.G.Wells story.

(Antonov’s Flying tank)

(scene from the battle of Northampton)

The Collectors Day was a ‘one off’ (although the feedback was very positive so the museum are thinking of doing it all again next year).   The regimental displays are there all year and are well worth a visit in their own right – especially if you have relatives and/or ancestors who served with Northamptonshire’s local units …

Here’s a quick look at some of the permanent displays which include lots of WWII and 20th century material …

… and a series of (mostly 1:72) pretty good dioramas …

Abington Park Museum is a traditional style museum which focusses on exhibits in glass cases more than on electronic gizmos and interactive interpretation …

… and it has plenty of interesting stuff on display.  Check the link above if you are in Northampton with a free afternoon.

Meanwhile, my thanks to the management and staff for being accommodating hosts and to the visitors who supported the event and stopped for a chat …

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New 15mm accessions … October …

(Skytrex AB-41 Armoured Car)

Following the AA gun, there has been a little spurt of output … the Sahariana patrol has been awaiting completion.  The wait has been for Battlefront to stock and send goods – but after 7 weeks I gave up on them and bought the items from Skytrex who delivered with 3 working days (what a contrast!!)

The AB-41 is a nice little model and looks good in all respects.  It cost the same but is all metal, of course (so you might think it better value) …

I was also waiting for tow (Sdkfz-7) for 22nd PD’s artillery support.  I have tried 3 times over the course of 2 years to get one from Battlefront but to no avail (it seems another of their perpetually out-of-stock items) but again Skytrex have a metal one (in this case cheaper) – see the full review …

(Skytrex 15mm Sdkfz-7 model)

… and I have provided something new to tow that Red Army AA gun …

(Ya-12 fast artillery tractor)

OK – nobody makes that so we’ll have to go through the building process on the modelling page … it is made from a PSC T-70 of course – and was a fairly simple project.

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