Sussex Model Centre

The Sussex Model Centre is a traditional hobby shop that now does a lot of it's business on-line and by phone. Because of this they have an extremely wide range of stock, right down to balsa, glues, bolts, etc. Most of the small items are not on the web site but if you ring, someone will pick the items off the shelf or describe the alternatives.

Their web site is fairly good but doesn't include reviews or availability and you often have to drill down to see actual prices. This can be a problem for items like heli spares, where it would be nice to see the price and availability for each item without having to ring.

Deliveries appear to be weekly, and they don't always know what is going to be delivered. When an item is out of stock you are often told "it should be here on Tuesday" but if the distributor is back-ordered it could take months. If you back-order an item, they expect you to ring and check to see if it has arrived.

Due to the large area that customers come from (due to lack of other shops) SMC can often be very busy which can make it more difficult to get advice on products. It can be good to go at a quieter time if you want to ask questions.