Montreal’s modelling community finally had a well-equipped, pleasant, hobby shop where they could actually build models, as well as buy them, when The Modeller’s Workshop opened a store on Sherbrooke Street in 2006. It was a pleasant, bright corner and was originally the place where Hobby World sold models from some thirty years before that.

It was quite a job converting the store from the old, sad, Hobby World, to the new store but it was great fun doing the work. I always wanted a bright, ocean-blue, floor and I was found just the right tiles. Here are a couple of before and after pictures of the front of the store, for those who remember the old place.

Inside, as the name suggests, the Modeller’s Workshop was arranged so kids could come in and build models right alongside a couple of professional model-builders I had. There is quite a demand for built models and we had two builders working on military models, railroad models, and models for games. The work areas were built in an oval shape with the builders on the inside of the oval and the kids sitting all around the outside of the oval. We kept small parts, paints, and tools in the inside of the oval and the large models were along the walls of the store. This made a very open and airy environment unlike the traditional model store with its musty racks of models.

Here are a couple of pictures of the workshop set-up. On the right you see the kids’ spaces on the outside and on the left you see the builder’s spaces. They face each other across the little peg-boards, allowing some sense of privacy while providing quick communication.