Good Friday 1984, and a spotty teenager is sitting bored in his bedroom. Suddenly, parents announce they are going to Winkworth Aboretum and would I like to come. So the spotty teenager thinks “why not?” and goes along. And he was glad he did…
I can remember a feeling of total calm that day. It was delightfully sunny and after a pleasant walk I popped into the National Trust shop for a bookmark (I collect leather bookmarks!). I was surprised to find a charming range of wood and card models made by Innovate in Dorset, supposedly for model railways but sometimes badged up for the Trust. I bought two: a farmhouse and Manor House. I stupidly sold the farm at SELWG a few years later, but I still have the manor which has appeared earlier in this blog. I made them both whilst watching Stirling Moss test Rowan Atkinson’s driving skills in Driving Force later in the day.
I’ve never lost that feeling for Masterplan buildings and they were a good deal for wargamers, being robust and easy to assemble. They were also ripe for conversion and tarting up, often appearing in Miniature Wargames (and usually by Phil Robinson). But apart from me and Phil I hardly ever saw them in use! Innovate is sadly no more, but the models turn up occasionally on EvilBay and have started to hit ‘collector’ prices. Fortunately, I have a large collection with plenty of spares and these are now my buildings of choice, having ditched everything else bar the Airfix Waterloo farmhouse!
Unfortunately, they are up in the loft so I cannot get to them to photograph any, but here are some examples off t’interweb. I do very little to mine apart from paint them in cheap craft paints to protect the card and cover the bare wood. I colour match to keep to the original design. As soon as I’m able, I will post a few pics of my own collection.
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