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Martin Wilkinson was profiled way back on ModelFlight #10, when we established his pedigree as a fine scale modeller after some 30-odd years in the hobby (since his primary school days, in fact). That issue appeared before I started the 'site seeing' page, and at that time I didn't know that Martin was webmaster of a large, fascinating and varied web site. 

Martin actually started Ivy and Martin's Web Page in 1998, just as an exercise in learning how to set up a web site. With no idea what to put on it, he decided to do pictures of his model aeroplanes. People soon discovered the site and started asking questions and seemed interested, so he decided to widen the scope and added some old full-size aircraft pictures, then started a gallery of model pictures that others began sending him. He also thought he would attempt to compile a definitive list of model and aviation links which, he says, still has a long way to go.

Then he realised that he had a potentially valuable resource in his own picture library. Over the years he has visited many aircraft collections and has photographed some of his favourite aircraft in great detail. With the power of e-mail, he could send sets of pictures to anywhere in the world, and maybe make a few pennies doing so. Thus he set up Martin Photos which started out with just 10 subjects. He now has over 60 subjects, and lists a few of his scale drawings as well as photographs. There are at least another 30 photo sets awaiting the scanning treatment and currently another 3 scale drawing in preparation.

The site continues to evolve. Recent innovations include a range of mugs, mouse mats and tee-shirts printed with a selection of his aircraft and model pictures, while he has just set up a shopping cart and credit card payment facility for the photo sets. (He does it all as cheaply as possible, hence his current ability to only work in US Dollars - there appear to be no British companies willing to provide credit card facilities for a minimal commission-only fee and throw in a free shopping cart system). Martin advises British customers that they will save money by sending in a cheque instead. He gives away photo sets and drawings as prizes in his monthly aircraft recognition competition. Sometimes the competition is easy, while occasionally he puts in some really difficult ones. 

So where does Martin's wife, Ivy, come in? Well, alongside all this, Martin has developed a separate part of the web site as an illustrated catalogue of the beautiful range of children's costumes designed and hand-made by Ivy. These, too have been well-received - in fact, Martin says that Ivy gets far more orders for her costumes than he does for his aircraft pictures!

On the right, I have reproduced part of the options menu that appears on Ivy and Martin's Web Page site, showing the main feature content of the web. My selection excludes a further eight or nine option bars covering a range of classified links, advertising rates, and other services on the site!

There certainly is plenty to discover on this site, I must say! Martin's Models features a wonderful collection of over two dozen models, both scale and non-scale, whilst the Model Gallery carries pictures from other modellers and is open for contributions. There are a couple of pictures of Martin's models on our photo gallery, and the picture on the opening screen of Don Coe's Turbulent came from the Model Gallery. The Vintage Aircraft Photo Sets and Scale Drawings pages are also fascinating and if you want a tee-shirt, mug or mouse mat that's a bit different - or even a fancy dress costume for the kids - then here's the place to come for it!

Visit Ivy and Martin's Web Page at

http://www.ivyandmartin.demon.co.uk 

- it's great!