Scale Model Technical Services

Rotarian Jimmy Carroll is an acquaintance of a director at Scale Model Technical Services (SMTS) on the Castleham Estate in St Leonards and arranged for the club to visit and see what goes on in the factory. Surprising, the premises are quite small, two single storey units, for the amount of work that goes on there. We were shown the types of model made on the premises and these can range from high performance and classic cars to aircraft and large road building vehicles. All models are scaled, mainly 1:43, and are made to the exact specifications and markings of the original. The metal is cast in rubber moulds and heated to specific temperatures to produce the various parts. The components are then hand assembled by drilling and screwing before being painted to the exact paint specification used in manufacturing the original vehicles.

The hand-made model industry is dwindling and there are now only a few producers country wide. Competition from China has been great. With typical selling prices between £40 and £150, considerably more for larger one-off models, the market is mainly confined to specialist collectors. SMTS has an E-bay store and also uses a specialist model vehicle stockist to sell their goods.

After the visit the club adjourned to the Black Horse pub at Telham, near Battle, for an enjoyable, sociable evening over a meal and a drink. Thank you, Jimmy, for arranging the visit.