Truro Model Builders

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Truro Model Builders Weekly build nights for model makers in the Truro area.

Summer is a slow time for making models, but there have been some completions during the hot weather.
06/09/2026

Summer is a slow time for making models, but there have been some completions during the hot weather.

Yesterday saw the annual West Cornwall Model Show, held at the Wesley Centre in Camborne. As always, the Model Builders ...
06/09/2026

Yesterday saw the annual West Cornwall Model Show, held at the Wesley Centre in Camborne. As always, the Model Builders were present, represented on the IPMS West Cornwall display, but also in the excellent display of card and paper models set up by Kevin Lowry and Nick Finnemore, doing their best to convert plastic builders to card.

I am delighted to announce that Nick gained two awards for his work in the show competition. His stunning 1/33rd scale Short 184 seaplane was justly awarded a gold award, and in addition he won a silver for his smaller scale WW1 German submarine. Judges felt the seaplane would be worthy of museum display, and Nick certainly shows just what is achievable in a medium many of us are totally alien to.

Truro Model Builders will be in attendance at next month's West Cornwall Model Show. As usual, it promises to be an exce...
20/08/2026

Truro Model Builders will be in attendance at next month's West Cornwall Model Show. As usual, it promises to be an excellent day, and I hope we will see some of you there.

Nigel Higgins has recently completed his latest F1 build, Tamiya's 1/20th scale McLaren MP4/4:A slight change this time ...
03/06/2026

Nigel Higgins has recently completed his latest F1 build, Tamiya's 1/20th scale McLaren MP4/4:

A slight change this time for my latest F1 build you may notice, a McLaren MP4/4 of the late and great Ayrton Senna.

This Tamiya model has been a strange/problematic build for some reason, it might be because I tried to use Top Studio carbon decals, the “fit” just wouldn’t play nicely and the airbrushing kept coming undone! Anyway it’s done and I’m calling it finished!!

The car itself is the F1 McLaren Honda MP4/4. 1988 was supposed to be a transition year, with Formula One changing regulations ahead of a complete turbo engine ban. However, the McLaren team were undaunted by the lowered boost pressure of their turbo V6 engines and reduced fuel capacity of their MP4/4 machines, and went on to rewrite the record books. The two drivers, Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, won 15 out of 16 races between them that season, with Senna taking the Driver’s Championship. McLaren also took the Constructor’s Championship by a huge margin, scoring an amazing total of 199 points to further highlight the team’s complete dominance that year.

After a quiet start to the year kit production seems to have ramped up with the onset of spring. It must be the light ev...
20/05/2026

After a quiet start to the year kit production seems to have ramped up with the onset of spring. It must be the light evenings, but whatever the cause the last few weeks have seen the completion of a number of projects that have been worked on over the winter. No less than five of them have come from Richard Barber, who has earned himself the nickname of 'Dynamo' for his rate of completion. I'm just pleased that I have finished one model for show.

There has been a growing interest in card modelling in recent months at Malpas Village Hall. Our resident railway modell...
12/02/2026

There has been a growing interest in card modelling in recent months at Malpas Village Hall. Our resident railway modeller, Steve Howe, has been a long term builder of card buildings, while Nick Finnemore has produced a number of paper and card creations. This has spread to Kevin Lowry, who is also beavering away now surrounded by pieces of card and paper, and it was almost alarming to see Nick and Kevin trying to convert Del Hudson to the medium this Monday gone.

However, when you see what can be done with card and paper, it's no surprise. Both Nick and Kevin completed their latest builds this week, and they are truly stunning.

First up is Nick's 1/33rd (yes, you did read that right) model of the Messerschmitt Bf 109V-14 D-ISLU, in a stunning red scheme as flown by Ernst Udet at an international air meeting in Switzerland in 1937. The V-14 crash landed at the event, though Switzerland were impressed by the Bf 109, enough to procure it for the Fliegertruppen.

Nick's model is produced by Kartonawara. All parts are card and paper, with the exception of the wheels, which are resin, and the canopy which he took two or three attempts to scratchbuild.

Kevin has built a 1/24th replica of the German pioneer Otto Lilienthal's Normalsegelapparat, or Normal Soaring Apparatus. Ten of these gliders were produced, with the first flight being made in 1893.

The model is printed by Schreiber-Bogen, and Kevin reports that the rigging was the most difficult aspect of the kit.

At the end of 2025 Truro Model Builders can look back on a year of some excellent models being produced from the work be...
20/12/2025

At the end of 2025 Truro Model Builders can look back on a year of some excellent models being produced from the work benches of our members. Many of them have featured on this page already but others, for various reasons, have not had their moment in the sun.

So, here is the Truro Model Builders Yearbook for 2025.

Address

Malpas Village Hall

TR11SQ

Opening Hours

Monday 19:00 - 22:00

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