Another day another store, and one I have been wanting to get an opportunity to list since I first went there almost a month ago when I arrived in Singapore
M Workshop
For those that don't know: M Workshop was founded over 10 years ago now by Mr Bernard Cher: a man who loves his armour models and who believes in modelling as an art form
M Workshop is not just a store, but also has the M Academy, mentoring modellers to excel in building painting and finishing, and selling their finished work as well as well as carrying out commissioned work
Modellers can book classes and sessions to improve on specific areas of their modelling or tehcniques
As a store M Workshop stocks a very wide array of modelling stuff:
- AFV kits by Bronco, Miniart, AFV Club, Dragon, Tasca, Tamiya and many more]
- Aircraft kits by Tamiya, Hasegawa and others
- Gundam, mecha and a wide range of MaK kits
- Paints from Tamiya, gaia and finishing products by AK interactive and Mig
- AM from Hauler and Eduard
- Tools, mostly Tamiya's high quality modelling tools
- Fugures from New World Miniatures, Darius, Aline and a small selection of Hornet figures and head sets
- Ship and maritime kits
- Miniart buildings and diorama kits
- a lot more stuff I can't remember; the place really is packed!
If you go to the store on a Saturday, after three you can meet and observe some of M Workshops best modellers in action. I was lucky enough to watch the extremely talented Chef Lim working
And another modeller, who's name I sadly did not get, using ink very effectively to shade a PzIII
Some examples of the superb figure work on display
Sadly the light was not right for getting pictures that do them justice
All in all, M Workshop has to be one of the best places for a modeller to visit in Singapore. The quality and variety of stock is superb, the staff very very knowledgable and freindly and an awful lot of temptation under one roof
Very Highly Recommended
How to Get There:
The nearest MRT Station is Dhoby Ghaut Interchange, which is on the North South (Red), Circular (Yellow) and Northeast (Purple) Lines
Leave Dhoby Ghaut and turn right on Orchard Road. Cross the road and continue down Orchard Road until you see the School of the Arts (SOTA) which likes very unmistakebly like this:
Go to the corner of the road just past SOTA and you are on the corner of Prinsep Street. Cross to the other side of Prinsep Street
Proceed up Princep Street and you will see a fork with a large two storey yellow building in the centre. Stay on the side of the road you are on and keep going past it (taking teh right fork)
Very soon you will see this building: Sunshine Plaza:
Keep going along Prinsep Street as if passing the building. About halfway along the side is a small car drop off point, just inside that is a few stores including M Workshop
Note: the address says Bencoolen Street because the address for Sunshine Plaza is Bencoolen Street. The entrance to M Workshop is on Princep Street
Address
91 Bencoolen St
Sunshine Plaza #01-58
Singapore
189652
Web:
http://www.themworkshop.com/
enquiry@themworkshop.com
Also in the Area
S.T.O.R.M Domain
Art Friend (Middle Street)
Thanks for these Chris. As Singapore has a slightly smaller population than London, I find it bemusing that we (in London) have no model shops of this quality in Greater London.
ReplyDeleteI assume that there is a greater modeller population in Singapore.
The photos of the built models explain why there are so many Panzer kits...
IAA we can say the same thing about modelling in the San Francisco Bay Area where I reside. We have a metropolitan area larger than Singapore with a larger population but are served by only five hobby stores, of which three are pretty half-hearted on the subject of plastic modelling (never mind armo(u)r modelling). Getting supplies for the hobby is pretty difficult and I had to resort to the internet on many occasions.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it is a cultural thing. One important fact to keep in mind is, as Chris has shown us in his posting on the SAF museum, is that almost all young men have been through mandatory military training (similar to Israel). After their mandatory service, they are kept around as reservists for many years. Thus a significant portion of their adult lives are tied to the military.
This also explains why my wife thinks young Singaporean males are all so physically fit. :)
Store owners here tell me the hobby is a lot less popular than it used to be, but Singapore seems to support a LOT more stores than metropolitan areas of a comparable size in the UK
ReplyDeleteIAA. London is somthing of an anomoly, I think the only reason there is only one model store in all of London is the high rents on retail space precludes it
I came here from Bristol (UK) which had a population of 1 million, and closely connected to other large towns and cities so many more people living in the region. We had 2 model stores: and neither of them stocked much in teh way of AM or had teh amount and variety of kits that M Workshop, STORM Domain, Miniature Hobby or the others have.
It might not be as big as it was here, but modelling is still pretty strong in Singapore I think