Community & Business
18 September, 2025
Model mania is alive and kicking in Malanda
MAKING models was many a child’s weekend hobby – heading to the model shop to buy the next Airfix kit – the planes, boats, cars.
These days many argue it’s a thing of the past, as children play with electronic or computer games to pass the time, but for Malanda local Errol Flynn, the art of model making has never left him, and indeed, has gone up a few levels.
“I suppose I started building models when I was about nine,” he said.
“I had the planes, boats, trains and all that sort of stuff. Now, I’m 74, so I’ve been building models most of my life.”
These days he is a regular at the Malanda and Atherton Shows, where his own creations are prize winners.
This year he won first prize for his model of the Malanda Big Pub, and first prize at the Atherton Show for his “Magic Town” model.
“It was based on Harry Potter, it had a train station, platform, magic shops,” he said.
The year before he won first prize at the Malanda Show for his model of a 1909 Fowler steam engine made out of cylindrical chip cartons, cardboard and other recycled materials.
Another win last year was his model of the town of Tombstone at the Atherton Show.
“That took off all right. I was surprised. I got a special award for it as well,” he said.
“It had about 25 houses, horse carriages, a blacksmith shop, hotels, Boot Hill, a railway station with a train going through, and a big water tower next to it.
“It was built on a 3D aspect, so if you bent down and looked from the front of it, it sort of goes into the distance. That was a big project; took me about two years to build.”
Errol has collected his model-building skills through the many, and eclectic, jobs he’s done over the years.
“You should see my resume,” he said with a laugh.
A major influence was his run as a line technician for Telecom.
“At the Chermside external training facility, they taught us how to build miniature exchanges, put manholes in and cement them in the ground, all of this sort of stuff,” he said.
“Working for them for 20 years, putting pipes and cables in the ground, working in people’s homes installing phones, going through roofs – you get to know a lot of stuff.”
He’s also taken a skill here and a skill there from being a qualified motor mechanic “as a young fella”; a purchasing officer for local councils; selling real estate; being a local volunteer fire officer; running his own handyman business; restoring furniture; and with a diploma in heritage interpretive tourism, working on tours on the Reef, in the rainforest, and at Undarra as a guide at the lava tubes.
Building homes, or “bigger models”, was another passion. He built his first when he was just 23, before moving to Mt Surprise and building another home, this time with a shed.
He and his wife Marcia then moved to a 20-acre block at Butchers Creek and he built another house and another shed. After 10 years or so, and with a family, they bought another block, 300 acres, “and built another house, with two sheds!”
It wasn’t until he retired and moved into Malanda township that he returned to miniature subjects.
“I’ve built the Majestic Theatre, St Patrick’s Pavillion... I built the Bismark, which took three-and-a-half years, I’ve built Notre Dame,” he laughed.
Errol has even built a miniature version of his beloved Triton station wagon, which has a self-designed and built camper that can be slid onto the tray to become a campervan, or onto his purpose-built trailer, to become a caravan.
“It can go anywhere,” he adds.
Needless to say, the Malanda home has big verandahs and a “huge shed out the back”.
The latter is where he stores many of his models, if they haven’t found a place within a glass case in the home.
“All of the models have got lights in them, I did the wiring myself,” he said with pride.
Another popular item among his family (he has five children, nine grandchildren, and 14 great-grandchildren) is a perfect Cinderella coach with wheels that actually move. More favourites are the miniature “books” he creates, which open up to reveal two-storey rooms, furniture, plants and other magical details.
Have any of the kids followed in his model-building steps?
“My youngest grandson has started to make models, but kids these days are more interested in video games,” he lamented.
As for Errol’s next project, he is already in planning mode.
“My next model floating around in my head – and it’s going to be very complicated, it’s going to take me a while – is the Bridge on the River Kwai, out of the movie – not the original, the Burma one they built,” he said.
“I’ve been planning it in my head, probably over the last three months. You have an idea and then you start to build on it, build on it and build on it.”
The local show season will be waiting.
