toolongtoremember Posted January 6, 2021 Share Posted January 6, 2021 Hi Everybody, I couldn't find a thread for the progress of Pocket Planet, London so I thought I'd start one. Pocket Planet was announced in August 2020, and was said to be ready by August 2021 and open to the general public. Their website is here; https://www.pocket-planet.com/ and they are working with Gaugemaster to source all the required items and there is an article on this here; https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/news/article/view/id/213/ Their commercial manager of Pocket Planet is from Gaugemaster, so this must be a serious venture. Anybody have any more news? Thanks, Nick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Hello Nick I have just emailed Gaugemaster and told them about this new thread and suggested to them that they comment on it. I personally would go to this - a lot closer than Germany! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgeconna Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Mmmmmm Hamburg or London......Hamburg is much Much Better than London IMHO plus cheaper. Fab Boozers, Gigs and nosh , coupled with being dead cheap to get around and loads of interesting things to do which are reasonably priced. London just ain't the London I used to love anymore... Interesting to see Ireland as part of the scene too, I wonder will some Murphy Models stock run on it too. Good luck to them. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TEAMYAKIMA Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 1 minute ago, Georgeconna said: Mmmmmm Hamburg or London......Hamburg is much Much Better than London IMHO plus cheaper. Fab Boozers, Gigs and nosh , coupled with being dead cheap to get around and loads of interesting things to do Yes, but, in theory at least, I can get into London for free with my OAP bus pass 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 How big is 37 000 square feet compared to other similar venues? At least it will have parking. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Joseph_Pestell Posted January 7, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2021 1 hour ago, Suzie said: How big is 37 000 square feet compared to other similar venues? At least it will have parking. About half a football pitch. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Suzie Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 Quite big then. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denbridge Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 On 06/01/2021 at 10:24, toolongtoremember said: Hi Everybody, I couldn't find a thread for the progress of Pocket Planet, London so I thought I'd start one. Pocket Planet was announced in August 2020, and was said to be ready by August 2021 and open to the general public. Their website is here; https://www.pocket-planet.com/ and they are working with Gaugemaster to source all the required items and there is an article on this here; https://www.gaugemasterretail.com/magento/news/article/view/id/213/ Their commercial manager of Pocket Planet is from Gaugemaster, so this must be a serious venture. Anybody have any more news? Thanks, Nick. Before people get too excited making plans, it is scheduled to open in 2022, not 21 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold PaulRhB Posted January 7, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted January 7, 2021 5 hours ago, Suzie said: How big is 37 000 square feet compared to other similar venues? At least it will have parking. On this page it says half of that is devoted to the models. https://www.pocket-planet.com/landscapes/ Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Harris Posted January 7, 2021 Share Posted January 7, 2021 (edited) 6 hours ago, Suzie said: How big is 37 000 square feet compared to other similar venues? At least it will have parking. Given it's location, "under Hyde Park and adjacent to Park Lane and Marble Arch", I'd guess not anything very cheap, I assume it's within the existing Q-Park at Marble Arch which is £7/hour to use. The trouble is I suspect the car park fills up pretty quickly with commuters / shopper. There is another carpark behind M&S in Oxford Street, only £10/30 mins. Thankfully, it's outside the congestion charge zone, but if you pass through that add another £15. I'd advise using the tube / bus. jch Edited January 7, 2021 by John Harris 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolongtoremember Posted January 9, 2021 Author Share Posted January 9, 2021 Just checking back in here, seems quite the enigma for such a large project. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassetmetrology Posted June 24, 2021 Share Posted June 24, 2021 I work for a company who were working with these guys at the initial concept stages. I know that originally they were trying to lease an upper section of the curved fronted building next to London Eye but this never came off. The Architectural drawings and layout concepts looked great though.... We were in talks to supply 3d scanners to enable the 3d scanning of visitors to then be printed and inserted into the 'land' and also the possibility of printing the visitor to take home. At that stage colour 3d printers could not print in a strong enough material to confidently ship out (potentially) worldwide. Since then we have full colour 3d printers that print in a plastic material which is much more suatable. Ultimately there was a lack of understanding from the developer that to offer this there would have to be a substantial investment in technology but even then the possibility to 3d print 'while you wait' just didnt exist due to the print times and also the fact that almost all 3d scans would have to be post processed before printing. The other issue is that to make 3d printing say 1:64 scale figures would require hundreds of individual figures to print at a time to make it financially viable.... So, this side of things (with us) never took off. After speaking to one of the directors recently i know that they DO have a new home for the attraction under hide park. And we are told that they DO have a partner for the scanning and printing side of things however i an very skeptical about this. Originally they had hoped to open July of 2020 but..... COVID. My understanding is that they also have financial backing from some big players from the leisure industry..... 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Geep7 Posted June 26, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 26, 2021 Just thought i'd have a look, and the website doesn't appear to be working. Is this still going to be a thing? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolongtoremember Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 On 24/06/2021 at 16:03, Bassetmetrology said: I work for a company who were working with these guys at the initial concept stages. I know that originally they were trying to lease an upper section of the curved fronted building next to London Eye but this never came off. The Architectural drawings and layout concepts looked great though.... We were in talks to supply 3d scanners to enable the 3d scanning of visitors to then be printed and inserted into the 'land' and also the possibility of printing the visitor to take home. At that stage colour 3d printers could not print in a strong enough material to confidently ship out (potentially) worldwide. Since then we have full colour 3d printers that print in a plastic material which is much more suatable. Ultimately there was a lack of understanding from the developer that to offer this there would have to be a substantial investment in technology but even then the possibility to 3d print 'while you wait' just didnt exist due to the print times and also the fact that almost all 3d scans would have to be post processed before printing. The other issue is that to make 3d printing say 1:64 scale figures would require hundreds of individual figures to print at a time to make it financially viable.... So, this side of things (with us) never took off. After speaking to one of the directors recently i know that they DO have a new home for the attraction under hide park. And we are told that they DO have a partner for the scanning and printing side of things however i an very skeptical about this. Originally they had hoped to open July of 2020 but..... COVID. My understanding is that they also have financial backing from some big players from the leisure industry..... This is good to know, but they have gone VERY quiet recently Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Denbridge Posted August 24, 2021 Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) According to Companies House one of only two directors has resigned. I hope that isn't a bad sign. Edited August 24, 2021 by Denbridge Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolongtoremember Posted August 24, 2021 Author Share Posted August 24, 2021 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Denbridge said: According to Companies House one of only two directors has resigned. I hope that isn't a bad sign. Thats not good, I note also that Gaugemaster have changed the opening date on their article to first quarter of 2022. Also I have messaged Gaugemaster, so if they reply we'll know, if not I guess their silence would be deafening which would be a sad outcome. Edited August 24, 2021 by toolongtoremember Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
toolongtoremember Posted August 26, 2021 Author Share Posted August 26, 2021 To follow up on this, Gaugemaster did not reply, even to affirm their amended opening date with me. Sad to say, I reckon this one is lost. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hodgson Posted August 26, 2021 Share Posted August 26, 2021 Never mind, there's still AIMREC which you may have seen being promoted at a number of major shows over the last few years. It isn't going to be as initially envisaged either (a very large venue on the site of Ashford works), but in a suburb a few miles away, and not as handy for international travellers as originally hoped, but it's still a decent size. https://aimrec.co.uk/about-us latest update https://aimrec.co.uk/aimrec-news Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Essinge By Posted August 22, 2022 Share Posted August 22, 2022 (edited) Kathy Millatt talks a bit about Pocket Planet in the latest episode of RAILpeople (here it is on Podbean https://www.podbean.com/ea/dir-nckvn-14d1271c). Seems like they're securing funding at the moment. Edited August 22, 2022 by Essinge By Forgot to link 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian_M Posted August 7, 2023 Share Posted August 7, 2023 Anyone got any further news on this? Looks like their website is broken, and it's no longer in the Gauge master archive. I Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted August 7, 2023 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 7, 2023 If this is them, they still exist: https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/10983758 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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