ralph morton

Congrats to Bowenaero on the collection. You may find this of interest.
I started collecting aerominis in the mid-80s when I discovered a VC10 model at a UK Toy Fair. However, I had seen the ads for Brian's VHF Supplies shop in magazines (notably Air Pictorial) when I was at school and college in the early 70s. Sadly my interests in those days were such that money was not available to buy the aerominis. However, if you want a list of the Tomkins models they are featured in these ads (try any UK mag from the early 70s on planes) or at the back of some of his publications from the same period on World airliners.
Brian and Nigel Tomkins now run Collectors Aircraft Models from the Sheraton Skyline Hotel in London (see their website) and have probably been crucial in getting this hobby started.
They also did their own Airmini series (someone on another link has reproduced their catalogue) which I discovered by accident in 1985 at a Dutch Toy Fair when I bought a civil Boeing 707 refueler made by Airmini.
I think that the rarest Tomkins Aeromini must be the hybrid BA/BOAC 747 which they advertised in 1974/5, which had BOAC colours with British Airways lettering as worn by some 747s in the period. I have never seen one, but Collectors Aircraft models does 1:200 UK aircraft models of Tridents and VC10s in this livery.
The BOAC 747 was one of my must have models, and it cost a lot of money. Even though I now have the brilliant Gemini model I still like the Tomkins model ( it has retractable gear!).
Hope this helps!
Ralph Morton