ARC III Cripplegate

ARC III Cripplegate

 

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Number ARC III
Name Cripplegate
First year published 1949
Publisher Micromodels
Number of cards 6
Size of cards 9 x 13 cm
Scale 1 : 300
Description First isssued in 1949 at 1/8d.
Catalogued as out of print in 1954.
Reprinted in 1955 at 3/- d.
The first and second editions show a change of address from 6 to 3 Raquet Court.
Large stocks were purchased by Broadway Approvals in 1956, and passed on to the Watford Model Supply Co. in 1971.
 
Cripplegate was selected as one of the official souvenir sets at the Festival of Britain in 1951, so a special sticker was applied to the wrapper.

The designs for the set of old London Gates, both published and unpublished, were taken from models researched and constructed by the Artist and Historian John B. Thorp. They were on display during the late 1940s in the Museum of London. Some otherwise identical editions of the Gates have the Thorp credit, whilst some do not.

It appears that the Thorp credit was an overprint that is for no apparent reason (other than carelessness) missing from some print runs.

A re-print of Cripplegate was issued as set HL1 in 1979 by Peter Gray from Micromodel Distributors. The cards are in full color, but the wrapper artwork of this set is in black and white.

Autocraft has printed two versions of  Cripplegate:

  • one with the head Micro New Models, priced at 1/8d . This is the prototype found in the archives of Micromodels Ltd. The Micromodels 1/8d production kit has modified construction and an altered cover.
  • one with the head Micro New Models, priced at 3/-d

Micromodels London also published this model.

D.G. Models has issued Cripplegate in a larger scale with completely new artwork.