Hooton Models

[papermodelfan]

One recently popped up on eBay, that made me think of them.
Sometime in the last few years, these disappeared. These were a great series of British Aircraft, modeled mainly on those in the Shuttleworth Trust collection, in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire. The materials were mainly paper, printed on the backside of a metallic or shiny colored surface, plus plastic and metal bits to complete it. The result was exceptionally realistic. They were sold from a website that was related to the Shuttleworth collection, and there was a fellow in the Midwestern USA, Joseph Bloom, who sold them in the US. I built one, the Supermarine S-5, and had a couple of others I meant to build.

The models were: (often with several liveries of each)
Avro 504
Comper Swift
Deperdussin
DH60 Moth
DH80A Puss Moth
DH82 Tiger Moth
DH83 Foxmoth
DH89 Dragon Rapides
Hawker Hart/Hind
Supermarine S5

Anyone know the story of what happened to the Hooton folks, or for that matter, to Joe Bloom?

Rob Tauxe

[Ron40]

Rob,
I remember these models from years ago. Was always tempted
to buy some but never did. They were great models from all
accounts. I have no idea about Hootens or Joe Blooms status
but would be interested to know also....Ron

[Leif Ohlsson]

Second what Ron says, all of it. I saved a few photos from the build instruction for the Dragon Rapide, since I had (still have) the Schreiber 1:24 kit (what a wonderfully generous scale for a twin-engined aircraft paper model, and one that still exists in print).

Here are the photos I saved, in order to understand how one could model a better chair than the one in the Schreiber kit:



I looked and looked at these small photos, and from them came up with a solution:



The Alvar Hansen (designer of the Schreiber model) solution to the left, my own to the right. Here's the design, based on the photos from the Hooton Models site and developed from the parts that came with the kit:



Note the three small brochures for Hillman Airlines and the De Havilland Company at the lower left. They are supposed to go separately into the pocket at the back of the chair:



Thanks for the opportunity to remember this great line of models. I only wish I had had the hard drive space and the download speed we have now at that time. In that case I would have tried to preserve much more of the Hooton Models site.

Leif

[Ron40]

That is great info Leif. That chair design of yours could also be
applied to the Ford Tri-Motor with some minor modifications..Ron

[Leif Ohlsson]

Thanks Ron - found some more info about the fate of Hooton models. Go here.

It seems the models were designed, and the one-man company run, by former architect Peter Richardson from Liverpool. He died some six or seven years ago, very suddenly, on board a yacht he was renovating in North Wales. When he wasn't designing buildings or lecturing at Liverpool Polytechnic he was an aviation enthusiast.

It is sad one only learns about the people one would have liked to have some form of contact with after they are dead several years...

However, in the age of the internet spiders, some things are preserved beyond their earthly existence (I'm not trying to make a joke in bad taste, the reference is to the web-site of Hooton models, now extinct). The Wayback Machine repository of Hooton models can be searched here. All of it is not there, but here's a snapshot from 2004, I believe.

The models are gone, but here's an example of what they looked like (and what they would have cost you; the reason I never got one!), the Puss Moth page:



Leif

PS. Zakopius below posted the same thing, while I was composing this.

[Zakopious]

The following links indicate that the owner has passed on and his models are no-longer available:
Hooton Models - Key Publishing Ltd Aviation Forums
Yahoo! Groups

PlaneTalk :: View topic - Hooton Models

PlaneTalk :: View topic - Hooton Models

2nd International Paper Modeler's Convention

You can view the Hooton website on the Wayback Machine:
Internet Archive Wayback Machine

[Leif Ohlsson]

This is sampled from the 1999 snapshot of the Hooton Aircraft website. I don't believe I've ever seen this particular information about (and by) Peter Richardson before. Here goes:

-----

Hooton AirCraft © Peter Richardson 1997 e-mail[email protected]

Hooton AirCraft were conceived by Peter Richardson in support of a madcap enthusiasts scheme to develop a Museum of Popular Aviation at Hooton Park in the North West of England.


A much younger Peter Richardson with
own design Nordic A2. This aeroplane
won the SMAE Junior glider Championship
back in 1956! Peter was Norhern Junior
Champion that year winning Junior
Rubber and Glider and third place in
senior open rubber.

Hooton Park was once famous as the home of the Liverpool and District Aero Club which, in the golden years of aviation between the wars was the most popular aero club in Britain outside of London. Hooton Park Aerodrome was the home of the Comper Aeroplane Co, makers of the world-beating Comper Swift; the Pobjoy Aero engine Co, who, during the 1930's built an amazing 2.6 litre 7 cylinder radial engine of almost 100 h.p.; the Martin Hearne Company, which besides operating airlines before WWII, during the war as No 7 Aircraft Assembly Unit put together over 7,000 aircraft imported into England under lend-lease from America and from the Dominion factories in Canada. Hooton was also selected by Edsel Ford to be the European centre for the production of the Ford Trimotor, three of which were assembled by Comper's, but a dearth of European sales precluded further production.

Built in 1917, originally as a Royal Flying Corps training aerodrome for American and Canadian pilots, during the 1920's and 30's the aerodrome was reopened for civil use, and was commissioned again for military service in 1937, when it became the base for 610 Sqdrn, soon to go to war and serve with honours, first in the Battle of Britain, when Chas Storrer - who later was to serve as the Squadron Commander - became one of the first allied aces. Later 610 Sqdrn was commanded by those other aces, Douglas Bader and Johnnie Johnston. 610 Squadron was finally disbanded in 1958, and Hooton Park closed as an aerodrome, only to reopen some four years later as General Motors mammoth Ellesmere Port Vauxhall Car Assembly Plant.

-----

End of the Wayback Machine 1999 snapshot (which actually links to some 2000 files; don't know how that works) of Peter Richardson's self-presentation.

In 1956 I had not yet reached the age where I started subscribing to British "Aeromodeler". Starting in 1960, I soon learned all about SMAE, Northern Junior Champions, and Nordic A2 gliders, much the same way as my contemporaries learned all about George, John, Paul and Ringo a few years later. Peter Richardson built a beautiful glider!

Incidentally, it seems the campaign to save the Hooton Hangars was actually successful - go here, for Peter Richardson's own 2000 report.

Leif

[papermodelfan]

Wow - what a great bunch of Internet sleuths you all are! The wayback is a neat site! So that is the end of the story. A sad business. I think I'll write Joe Bloom and see what happened from the US side. They are very interesting kits, but were usually so expensive they went past my budget.

Cheers to all, and a productive long weekend, at least to US members.

[Zathros]

Not in the interest of piracy, but in the interest of digitizing and externalize his work, it too bad someone could not get permission from his wife or estate to try and scan his work, preserving it, either for sale, or posterity, as Mr Zorn has done with his Ford TriMotor. It would be a shame to lose his legacy. This was the first thread I read today and could not respond till now as it saddened me. Shifting sands of time.

[Gil]

Hi Lief,

I, too, have wondered what happened with Hooten Aircraft. I visited the site often and marveled at the proffered offering, their apparent quality and the fact that many extras were included in the kits.

It is sad to hear of Mr. Richardson's passing though being on-board your yacht puttering around restoring it seems, oddly enough, an ideal place for life's final requiem. May his soul rest in peace...,

Best regards, +Gil