Back in the 70s and 80s, I became addicted to the largest scale model show in the world. The Model Engineer Exhibition, an annual event in England that would attract more than a hundred thousand visitors each year, There were thousands of entries from static models to full working models. It was an amazing thing to see. I actually entered the competition in the 1983 show and was lucky enough to be one of the two Americans to ever win a gold medal at that event. (Loren Perry of Gold Model models in California was the other one, he named his company after it).
The event is so prestigious that the Royal family presents the awards. The surname of the royal family, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, etc., is Mountbatten. Mountbatten is the family name originally adopted by a branch of the Battenberg family during World War I because of rising anti-German sentiment among the British public. On 14 July 1917, Prince Louis of Battenberg assumed the surname Mountbatten for himself and his descendants and was created Marquess of Milford Haven. The name is an Anglicization of the German Battenberg, a small town in Hesse, Germany. (Berg is German for Mountain). Marriages between the royal families in Europe were commonly used as a means of linking countries and avoiding war, although It didn't seem to help much as far as I can see.
Probably the most famous Mountbatten was Admiral Louis Mountbatten of the WW II Burma campaign. Anyway, in my case, the medal was placed around my neck with typical British pomp and circumstance by Prince Charles' nephew. It was a very memorable event, I am told the large medal is of real gold. So, now to the model. I was at every exhibition from 1979 to 1987 and was fortunate enough to have actually seen this model. It was absolutely incredible, not to mention humbling! I saw some of the most incredible models there that I will remember for the rest of my life. Who could do something like this? Check this out! The Rolls Royce Eagle.
If you click on the photos, they will enlarge.
http://www.modelenginenews.org/gallery/croft/eagle/index.html
Bob
The event is so prestigious that the Royal family presents the awards. The surname of the royal family, Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, etc., is Mountbatten. Mountbatten is the family name originally adopted by a branch of the Battenberg family during World War I because of rising anti-German sentiment among the British public. On 14 July 1917, Prince Louis of Battenberg assumed the surname Mountbatten for himself and his descendants and was created Marquess of Milford Haven. The name is an Anglicization of the German Battenberg, a small town in Hesse, Germany. (Berg is German for Mountain). Marriages between the royal families in Europe were commonly used as a means of linking countries and avoiding war, although It didn't seem to help much as far as I can see.
Probably the most famous Mountbatten was Admiral Louis Mountbatten of the WW II Burma campaign. Anyway, in my case, the medal was placed around my neck with typical British pomp and circumstance by Prince Charles' nephew. It was a very memorable event, I am told the large medal is of real gold. So, now to the model. I was at every exhibition from 1979 to 1987 and was fortunate enough to have actually seen this model. It was absolutely incredible, not to mention humbling! I saw some of the most incredible models there that I will remember for the rest of my life. Who could do something like this? Check this out! The Rolls Royce Eagle.
If you click on the photos, they will enlarge.
http://www.modelenginenews.org/gallery/croft/eagle/index.html
Bob
