James May Explores A Model Train Factory! | Big Trouble in Model Britain

[Music] in 1901 Frank Hornby founded a company that would go on to become one of the world's biggest model making and toy Empires it has brought joy to Millions with names such as Hornby Railways scalextric and airfix now for the first time in its 118-year history the company has granted our cameras exclusive access during what is set to be its most important year yet hornby's lost 30 million pounds in the last five years which is an astronomical amount of money in a bid to save the company they've poached the head of one of their biggest Rivals why did they hire you because of my good looks and he's brought back an old employee of Hornby to help Simon Kohler worked for the company for 35 years before leaving following a Fallout with the previous management it is not a toy industry it's not the grocery industry it's a hobby model industry now the man they call Mr Hornby is back I have the passion to make it work you know this is a great business you know the people are so into it so excited about it they say love that logo love what you've done with the mallard and you think yeah yeah it is good actually [Music] hello viewers and my apologies if you thought you were going to watch a documentary unencumbered with the thoughts and opinions of a so-called TV TV presenter but this is important it's very important and I'm no mere TV presenter I'm James May and I am a model train enthusiast Hornby was a part of my childhood I'm sure it was a part of yours as well and now look the whole thing's gone off the rails they've had to call in the Old Guard to sort things out oh [Music] [Applause] right let's get back to the double O gauge action you join us at a critical moment Ken the head of audio is showing Simon the company's number two plus another chap whose name we've forgotten his latest sound prototype for the forthcoming release of their new Lord Nelson engine this is amazing signing off the Lord Nelson's chuffing sounds is just one of many challenges facing Simon Kohler back after being let go four years previously brilliant brilliant thank you very much [Music] for over 50 years Margate was home to the company the factory was here as was the bustling HQ employing over 2 000 people but with manufacturing now taking place in China and the HQ moved by the previous management team to the glitzy town of Sandwich all that's left here is the visitor center manned by head of archives Peter oh bloody Jason hold on I'll get into our ring impact Jason yeah I'll have to ring you back I'm being filmed at the moment I'll give you cheers bye welcome to Hornby where are you from actually Blackpool oh lovely Peter runs tours of the museum where we're standing at the moment was our canteen and in them days back then even the junior managers were served as well it was all very nice he's been at the company for 52 years no no I'm afraid not made in China I'm afraid yeah the Factory's now been empty for about um I think about four years but Peter wasn't happy under some of the previous management teams most of them didn't know the difference between bloody diesel train and a steam train after Consulting with our lawyers We Now understand that the previous management team at Hornby were well aware of the differences between Steam and Diesel locomotives when they watch the next bit of Peter's interview our lawyers also suggested some amendments the company I saw they were here for [Music] and that's what they came for he came here and I hope this is all going to be edited hi [Music] slightly more measured in his views about mistakes he thought were made by some of the previous management teams is Simon Kohler well I've heard we've previous management of scrapped a load of tools and I'm a bit concerned that some of the tools that I will want to use at a later date may have been some of the victims [Music] the molding to OLS are the key components in manufacturing the company's fabled plastic and metal diecast models they cost tens of thousands of pounds each but once made they can be used again and again to produce new runs of the old models but as Simon now discovers a lot of the tooling that didn't go over to China in the factory move I'll tell you what there's a lot less here than there used to be as in fact been scrapped we've got no Hornby down here it's just one Hornby tool which is the Hornby tunnel Simon is being shown What toolings Remain by Dave a former tool maker who had to oversee the scrapping of the very tooling he'd helped to make at one stage there was around about nine nine and a half thousand tools here there was a comprehensive list of across the brands and what was to be scrapped I Simon's hopes of using these old tools to produce reruns of some vintage models are now in disarray the stuff that's got just Irreplaceable yeah it was a sad day as a tool maker to see that going into a skip I don't know what to say I'm just I'm just I just need to say I'm serious this thing is oh dear [Music] four years ago operations were moved 8.8 miles down the road via the a256 to sandwich and a more suitably corporate HQ [Music] the layout is open plan and modern even so some people survived the move intact Ken's top secret Audio Research division is alive and well and to show he's still relevant in this fast-paced modern world he's trying something rather radical the model Railway equivalent of Phil spector's wall of sound [Music] you could have a country scenario where the there's a stable with some horses Ken's revolutionary idea is called the vent van it's got 29 sounds you press a button it'll play a sound and you can mix three of them together it's all you need to know and then you can just sit there and have fun with it one of these working on it in here has been quite interesting because I managed to annoy all the neighbors out in the main office many times especially with the cats there were so many different recordings of cats that we looked at to me they all sounded like cats and I've got a cat and I know what cats sound like but I had to get someone who had in their mind what they thought a cat sounded like and as those who are not cat owners will say oh that's a cat so that's when you reuse the cat and that's what everybody else says a cat sounds like but we had to have the dog as well Ken has spent months perfecting his cat and dog sounds but it will all be for nothing if he's not approved by Simon Cola and head of development Ed F5 this is just people walking around yeah and F7 because people are walking on the platform and some wagons just passing by something like this you're adding a whole sound canopy if you like over the whole land there's no limit the number of sounds we can actually evolve and and put in a chip and have its part of the layer at 22 which is the road drill bit of fun f-23 do we have a cat in the middle of the road being chased by the door okay let's go back to silence because that's apparently golden all right so no I'm really really I'm not going to say chuffed but I'm really pleased no I really am it's great it's great so this is due when when we got this before Christmas yeah yeah it should be in by the end of October I think or early November now terrific new products like this are vital to Simon's plans to turn the company around but equally important is serving the needs of the lifeblood of the company the model enthusiasts up and down the country those who grew up with Hornby but in recent years have had their heads turned by other modeling companies people in fact like Gerard [Music] welcome to catford and uh my garage [Music] the cruise owner of the house [Music] um built this garage himself back in the 1970s and he was interested in cars so when I first viewed the house I came in here and there was like two cars in here it was half of a car and one car and I thought it'd be a great place for a uh for a railway because you can get the car in the middle have a rail around the edge did you choose this house then because of the gallery oh yes basically it's on this it wants to come for modelers like Gerard detail matters nearly as much as plausibility I'll share something that's not plausible I can run this at this engine to here I'm gonna stop and go back if I do that and then do that is totally implausible do you know why I didn't leave a gap what should happen is this you drive your engine forward and then you should wait and then he wait and then he waits a bit more and now you go right because what's happening in that critical five seconds or six seconds I feel like reversing your car when you think when you reverse your car handbrake up dunk into neutral look over your shoulder is it can I reverse into gear release hambre off that takes about three or four seconds that is correct running you see and that's really important and when you do that people well yeah that's good because you create a little bit of a sense of anticipation oh it stops what's it going to do now all is well in my world Hornby pause for plausibility well once the dominant force in model train production today they have several competitors like Bachmann Pico and dapple all eating into their Market's share when I first got a railway back in 1968 it would have been entirely Hornby but then there was a time where they were the only player in town so I have a kind of sort of emotional attachment toward me but I have an emotional attachment to other manufacturers too actually because this you know this track is not Hornby the signals aren't Hornby the uh the brickwork isn't going to be the the flock is not Hornby the switch is not Hornby the controller is not Hornby so most of this is not Hornby and then is that the only Hornby thing here I can see is that engine it's not looking good for home Beyond this is it you've only got that shunter I think that is it actually sorry Hornby you've done very well but it is the only thing [Music] if the likes of Gerard brought up on Hornby are turning their backs on the company what hope for Linden and Simon and their plans to save their beloved business luckily they have a plan and not just for the train side of the business [Music] Hornby also owns ethics makers of mainly one 72nd scale airplanes for over 70 years it only accounts for 12 of the overall business but CEO Lyndon Davies wants to get model planes back on everyone's radar he's invested heavily in making new tooling for a very ambitious new model I've been here for about two months the airfix team quietly said they've got a partly developed Hellcat um in the cupboard and I said show me the Hellcat and they showed me the hell can I said we've got to go ahead with that now the f6f Hellcat was an American carrier-based fighter aircraft during World War II it was the United States Navy's dominant fighter in the second half of the Pacific War and Linden hopes it will have a similar effect on their falling market share ethics has been on the decline it's been under decline because it hasn't had the wow product the Hellcat is the wild product and every new WoW product starts with Jim Jim is a model builder who has the best unpaid job in the world when you design a kit you need to give that kit to a modeler independently will go away and build the kid up [Music] and while still is building that kit up he will find problems in how the kit goes together it's part of the development process [Music] Jim has arrived at fighter command having completed his latest Mission another box of joy for you okay and then she plays fantastic a hawker hunter in 1 48 scale assembled and painted by Jim in exacting detail remodeling accuracy and I went with your suggestion that we would go with Justice Valley traditional scheme on it just as it would have been in Squadron service really one hopes so pleasure to work on Hawker Hunter pleasantries done it's time to present Jim with the Hellcat box okay so do you want to Sure fill me in on what you want doing with this so the Hellcat is the 124th model so it's a big model 600 components expensive 100 grams worth of tooling plus and says these are the first test shots they're not perfect the test shots are the first Parts made from the new tooling they have never been assembled before and they may not even fit if this wasn't daunting enough Jim has never built a model in this size over 600 pieces if that wasn't daunting enough the instructions haven't been finished and if that wasn't daunting enough the model needs to be completed in just two months before it's launched at the Telford scale model world the largest model show in the country Jim is breaking it probably the biggest thing I've built in 45 years you know I'm very aware that the the company is sort of investing quite a lot in me really in terms of me bringing this to be the centerpiece of your your display and Telford really as Jim leaves Linden seizes the opportunity to pile on the pressure one more time if that models are available for Telford it's going to be a disaster because we're going to turn we're not going to have much to show words are not good enough here what we need is the actual model and we need it built and it's got to be built on time ethics isn't the only brand that relies on people like Jim Hornby trains also has an army of volunteer modeling enthusiasts they depend on for their big events down in South London the double O gauge Association are meeting up to plan their layout for a model train fare in a week's time that is one of the most important dates in the major model train company's Diaries [Music] the Pinnacle of what modelers call The Hobby is the layout a hyper detailed realization of the world of trains poured over with a steady hand and an Eagle Eye this is the natural habitat of a model rail enthusiast [Music] it's good the layout they're working on is for Exhibition at the great electric train show in Milton Keynes it's called batcom and is a place where imagination and reality collide [Applause] Colleen's done with this look he's based this on a fictitious seaside resort where now I'm sitting wants to go to okay but it's based on what you would normally have at that station so you'd have a good shot you'd have some good traffic because there'd be cold coming in there'll be also say for example hotels Etc yeah foreign [Music] the joy of Railway modeling if I could just paraphrase Walt Disney is that it can portray anything that the mind can conceive anything there's a there's a fishing industry as well the the extremely rare back and smoked mud fish even if the place is um imaginary there's a station that has a station building otherwise how can you how can you sell the tickets [Music] we'll turn up the show with this and the idea for us is to entertain people don't want to stay in front of lafc nothing moving we try to keep this moving on time we have a timetable we have different different types of trains running the hair clip's really important the operator on the front will have a copy of the timetable like that and you just shout to each other right okay so what's the next one then in this case so for example it's the 1711 local push pull from wearing and then you'll just move it down they think they must be potty running to a timetable you know but in actual fact what we do is the time between trains where the train would actually stand there for two hours you just cut that bit out it's not interesting for me let alone somebody watching despite double O gauge being a Hornby Mainstay the double O gauge Association are not too impressed with the direction the company has been taking for the last few years they withdrew into themselves you know you've got the feeling that they you know changed from Margate to sandwich and they put barbed wire up around the place I think the double O Community felt marginalized as if Hornby weren't really interested if they if they went to the wall it'd be like a bit like the queen dying I mean there's always been Hornby hasn't it [Music] and we're certainly looking forward to Saturday that's for sure so I'll get her back Sunday night I'm going to be you know I'll be wet some sort of like thinking well what I've done this weekend well I've been standing on my feet all day sort of like playing trains not everyone's idea of fun but I've enjoyed myself [Music] in an anonymous looking house in an anonymous suburb of East Sussex the biggest launch in the recent history of Ethics rests in the anonymous hands of Jim be honest I'm not even sure that you'll see this but I'm doing it for completeness all modeling is obsessive you know you have to have you know my partner says that all modelers are on the Spectrum and we all get you know very fixated about our you know our Hobby and how how far we take it to and the lengths we go to and the time and effort we put into and all of that we're all somewhere on the Spectrum and it's just a question of where we are started this about to two days ago and the first thing you do is to wash all the parts down in soapy water quite often there's a sort of film of oil and grease on them from when they've used a release agent to get them out the mold so you wash them all down with soapy water so that you don't hit problems when you come to paint the thing later on [Music] for viewers just joining us Jim is building a 1 24th scale Hellcat that is due to be launched at the big model airplane show in Telford in less than two months that may seem like plenty of time but Jim has over 600 parts to assemble with very few instructions and our director keeps distracting him with pointless questions does Mrs Jim ever come in here no hardly at all he's declared it a sort of you know called on sanitary around it for the rest of the house with him what goes on in here stays in heavy by and large which is probably the way I like it actually Jim's plan is to sub-assemble the model assembling and painting in sections it's a painstaking job and one that retired local government offers a gym isn't being paid for but this is about the glory of being the first person in the entire world to get to fully assemble this model people my age airfix is part of your your heritage and you know that that logo and that that name he's you know it's iconic really and um if that went I think the world would be a poorer place um you know given the situation that hornby's been in financially over the past few years anything that I can do to help make it a successful product I'm more than happy to do that it's giving something back to the Hobby that you know I've you know been involved with for most of my life really as well as constantly building prototype models Jim has also managed to amass a huge collection of his own a welcome to follow me Walk This Way he just hasn't had time to put them together yet right so here we are in the garage and I'll stand back because you need to come in the doorway here these boxes here that's uh where my 20 odd years of Kit collecting now reside so we've got I think it's 15 or 16 boxes of them I can't remember what's in each box no I haven't got a first idea but I have got a computer program upstairs that tells me what's in each box because I do catalog them so if I wanted to build a specific thing I could go to a box and know that that kit was in there so it's it's that organized right up there in that big box there is the Bismarck it's a 1 200 scale model about four feet long basically when you built it this is about I I think about 160 kits in here there's a an expression in the modeling world called Sable stash acquired Beyond life expectancy you think you'll ever build the Bismarck leading question um I hope to build the Bismarck put it that way I need to do less for airfix I need to say to them you know gonna have to put some time aside for myself really I'd have to because I think that would take the best part of a year to do a Justice two run [Music] back at the company's headquarters the engineering team are dealing with a late running locomotive [Music] the model being tested is the hotly anticipated j36 which had already be on the shelves of model shops Across the Nation but there's a major flaw with the sample [Music] we've got a j36 here which is one of our biggest hot potatoes at the moment we've got three liveries of this coming out this year but we can't complete the sound version because we've discovered that on the wheels for modeler looks of this they'll be having kittens because there shouldn't be anything like that slack in the wheels and that's allowing the wheels to do this and it's creating some mechanical issue after months of struggling to create the perfect cat sound Ken has finally met his match he can't sync up a rhythmic chuffing sound to a loco that isn't running smoothly the Prototype will have to be revised in China and we'll see if we can get a sample where the the bearings have been corrected you can't do anything with this we can't prove anything can we really until it's until you get a good runner so you've got a lot I'll keep you in the loop anyway head of development Ed rushes from Ken's audio research lab to his weekly catch-up with Simon where he has to confess that the sound versions of the j36 won't be ready for Christmas okay so I'll go through the the list and then at the end if you've got anything that we need to yeah talk about specifically we can yeah okay um Lord Nelson um no change to that is still the at the moment it's the 30th of November inspection day um the next one flavor of the month j36 yeah um we found quite a big mechanical issue um you might have seen my emails with the bearings and the and the excessive size of the actual boxes in the chassis you know this this is looking if even with all clear this is late December isn't it well to be honest with you you're not going to see this until um January February realistically this delay isn't just a blow for Simon and his team it's also a big problem for the small model shops up and down the country like this one in Edinburgh run by Bob and Jill you get a base that you can put on that's what I'm saying yes yep we use plaster card for that so it's over here who were banking on the j36 a Scottish locomotive no less to be a Christmas best seller there's a solid Market enthusiasts as long as the product's correct they don't mind paying a specific amount of money they're not for kids these ones they are definitely for adults enthusiasts yeah yes but the laughter doesn't last long [Music] good afternoon harp and hobbies so I'll just let's go and get him a minute good night um Simon has to break the news to Bob that whilst the regular j36 will be ready for Christmas the more sought after version with realistic chuffing sounds won't be the digital mod because it's got its own chip and all the rest and it's taking longer to do and that won't be out until March but I've got lots of orders I think I'll believe it when I see it I'm sure that's happened before yes well there's been promises because that's been the great hasn't it that's the problem that so many people have said you know where are the things coming out of the factory and the thing we have to make up excuses we also need new product because everybody wants to see a new item until it actually comes in and we unpack it out the box I'll believe it when I see it yeah thank you that I'm a very doubting Thomas aren't I [Music] the problems with the j36 will have to take a back seat as Simon has bigger concerns the great electric train show at Milton Keynes his first big model show since his return to the company I didn't believe for a moment I'd be walking back through the doors in 2013 he was let go by the previous management the week before Christmas the left doors open I walked out and I got a round of applause from the Hornby team which was very touching pretty touchy it was a question rolling your sleazer you know it's nice to be back there's a job to be done let's go on and do it the only thing it would be stressful didn't even enter my mind because you know I can control that side of life there were in the early days a couple of times when I was sort of doing things from the seat of my pants a bit but no I mean you keep it you know I can keep it under control got me tablets took me tablets I'm fine if I don't put them out I forget and then I sort of wonder am I feeling a bit heady they are um uh gosh what are they blood pressure cholesterol um thinners blood thinners Etc and it's nothing at all to do with all me it's to do with the jeans my family has been very good at dying of heart failure but this is fine you know I'm fine I am fine Milton Keynes one day until the third biggest show in the railway modelers calendar [Music] Paul from the double O gauge Association is first through the doors thank you very much cheers thank you to find the room where their fictitious Village of batcomb will be laid out stop like Association [Music] I'm back up this is where our layout will be once we've unloaded it yeah plenty of room that's what I'd like to see [Music] I'm excited about the light I getting laid out and then let's get named from the public because that's before we put a shovel for the public that's all I like to do [Music] so now near to the balcony looking over at the main hall for the great electric train show Milton Keynes this is a big arena just gonna play a really big show so it's one of those shows you want to be at the hole soon fills up with models of fanciful towns and villages all built to scale down Perfection but upstairs the village of batcomb is nowhere to be seen um Colleen has just realized that he's left the buildings at home which is great um so he's nearly started jumping the van and make their way back to South London and pick them up and bring them back later on so yeah he says we're just now talking Vision now sitting on the bookcase he's here whilst Colin races back to South London to collect all the buildings the rest of the team work on the layout of the track but they too soon run into difficulties the isolation box has been badly damaged on the journey up what does that matter I hear you ask here's Paul to explain on an analog layout as soon as you turn a power on all the locomots will move unless you've got them isolated so this basically these switches on the top here when isolate those sections of track to stop the trains from moving we just need to make sure we get it right desperate times call for Gerard who unsurprisingly has come prepared this is modeling in the field so to speak I mean there's an idea only sold if you can't glue folks don't don't cut wire this way either it's this is a this is a needs must get your teeth to put it on that no give it to me and I'll do it all right if you'll try to see it on it watch the master there you go now you've got to get your spit off it it's all right it's going to work and it's clean 1968 that's 50 years ago um that Christmas my parents bought me my first trying it won't be around the way set up 29 pounds 10 Shillings and six months I've got the receipt from BTS of Southgate but since then I've been continuously modeling I didn't do the university I drew a line there I know some people have had layouts in the University rooms to participate that's going a bit far I think Gerard didn't waste his time at University with trains but luckily for the double O gauge Association he has spent many an hour since preparing for just this sort of model train emergency I'm just attaching solar which is the process of attaching metal to metal to create an electrical or other sort of joint I believe it's kind of mixture of tin and [Music] Gerard has saved the day [Music] happy at least we're not unhappy no we're not unhappy I'm not interested of them considerable contentment actually wants is this has been finished all they need now are the buildings what's the owner of the layout of the owner of the layout decides to bring the buildings back [Laughter] um this 70 mile trip will be even happier [Music] the struggles of the double O gauge Association are nothing though compared with the stresses faced by Jim he's now on day 52 of his attempt to assemble the much anticipated Hellcat 124th scale model it's fallen way behind schedule [Music] the engine as a whole has taken me way longer then I thought it was going to all planned for so I'm kind of a bit behind on the rest of the thing now [Music] I've got a personal stake in this now you know it's become my baby you know these things do they they they become part of your uh part of your life you live with them for several weeks I've lived with this for two months now you know this is a bit of me you know the way I built it the way I've finished it [Music] Jim desperately needs a break from constant modeling he jumps in his car and heads off to the weekly meeting of the hailshaman district scale model Club I think the general population just a bit confused about what it is that you get up to and what it's all about really [Music] nothing Sinister about it it's just that like-minded guys really together to exchange tips and ideas they may like to gossip but Jim knows the Hellcat is a category a industrial secret some of them know have an idea that I'm working on something which is going to be revealed at Telford so yeah they'll be curious eating all right can I come across next to you for some reason our cameraman missed the other table full of young women [Music] I bought some gingerbread for everybody help yourself that's all good all home produced that's it there you go did you like it yeah yeah of course I did let's go [Music] the topic of conversation after much prompting from our director turns to the future of Hornby kids but they were just churning out all the old kids old division into the 60s 70s even 50s some of them was compared to their competitors they weren't kind of Masters in the last 10 15 years come on the market the top has got to be somebody like tamio hassegawa Japanese companies well if Hornby and airfix will under it would be a tragedy really because that's all they're all the things that we used to play with as kids unbeknownst to the members of the hailshaman district scale model Club one of their very own could be responsible for the revitalization of the company they love shame you can't tell anyone I can't tell you it's all secret you've got a piece well I could tell you but I'd have to kill you [Music] ladies and gentlemen well mainly Gentlemen The Wait is over the great electric train show at Milton Keynes is open thank you the holes quickly fill up and at the Hornby stand there is one obvious attraction well that's very nice of you to say so Simon Kohler back for his first modeling show since being re-employed by the company hello no that's right Yarmouth good to see you yeah yes it is John yes I know how are you doing I'm fine yeah thank you last place for you yeah it's nice to be back nice to see you I can't believe you're with us oh yeah how good yeah it's nice to see you again yeah thanks for remembering me this business is to do with as people's enjoyment and part of that is being friendly with people talking they're all friends at the end of the day they're very good friends because quite frankly they buy half brother and they pay the rent and put food on my table so I think they're wonderful also marking out their territory in Milton Keynes are the batcomb boys representing the double O gauge Association or dogger for short [Music] what place the way it's all happening a lot of people here have been interested in seeing the layout as well which is what we're here for Paul like fellow dogger Gerard is a big fan of plausibility and that applies to the trains coming in and out of batcomb so what we've got at the moment is we've got a push-pull train that's that's arrived from Bournemouth and soon I am Jews I believe I am due to receive the Royal Wessex you are indeed it's coming from London what just arrive at 1952 it is on time I believe I've been told further down the line it is on time is that correct it is on time so I've got to check that the signals are are you know in favor of the Loco so it can actually the train can actually run through and I've just looked and apparently the signals are against us so the train is gonna have to stop on the bridge until the signal decides the coast is clear I'm just looking at yes the signalman has actually given us the the signal to pursue into the station so it's going to happen and a royal Wessex from London is now making its approach into Beckham station yep okay lovely we're on so we're running at the time the show is a big success for the double O gauge Association as it has been for Simon Kohler back where he belongs what wagon hasn't been done and what wagon should we do that that is a thing and that's one of the reasons we're here we're here to help and to listen to advise to pick up what we're doing wrong so we can put it right I think you just wants to wash around right yeah it does well yeah not your washer we've designed a special washer no it don't cost you anything no I promise you it won't cost you anything all companies need somebody who stands out the the maitre d if you know when you go in a restaurant that's who you meet first Simon's that person you've got Simon he smiles at you he gives you the information you're always going to buy all new products but a reminder of how tough a job Simon faces turning the company around soon presents itself hi guys it's two of the dogger team pop down to check out the latest models from one of hornby's Rivals some class 66s made and sold by hattons in Liverpool yeah yeah just looking at your prototypes you're 66. yeah yeah when's that joke March March okay runs well very very good yeah yeah you've got just over 700 grams aloko there yeah all-wheel drive patterns are Britain's biggest model retailers with a turnover of over 15 million pounds last year but the fact that they're now making their own trains as well makes them both a customer of Simon's but also a competitor really nice really nice indeed that is gorgeous isn't it it's going to be good looking forward to that Simon is watching on with interest I have to keep my eye on anybody who makes model Railway models locomotives coaches or wagons anybody remember this moment viewers as it leads to a rather dramatic denouement in episode 2 where Simon takes on two key Rivals as they are all competition at the end of the day but we're not finished with this episode yet and neither is Jim still finishing the f6f Hellcat [Music] right I said test this front part of the engine has got to fit onto those three intakes there and it's also got to clip into all of these little locating brackets [Music] [Music] well the thing that's going to cause me difficulty is these bits here I might have to get my file out and take a bit off that that millimeter is huge I mean if you've got to sound a millimeter I'll take you five minutes so you people think A millimeter is you know tiny tiny tiny it's not in a millimeter of plastic takes you a long time to grind through we're talking a tenth of a millimeter that that can be that could be enough to screw your tolerances on Sunday I was completely at my wit's end with this I was on the point of on Monday morning saying sorry you won't be getting it but I'm not a quitter so I decided to stick with it I like all models are a bit obsessive about detailing and they're just desperate to have it right really I had all up my sandwich like this that that's not something you obsess about making a sandwich because there's you know there isn't a right way or a wrong way really about that a sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich and you've seen one you've seen them all so you could say the same about planes you could say the same about place but you'd be wrong tomorrow I'm going to finish it it can't go on any longer than that all the time is not finished it's it's just a wait on your mind it's probably the most common reaction is why do you do it what's the motivation I just find it satisfying you know and it's completely absorbing so when you're doing it your mind hasn't got time for any other cares or worries you know you're just completely focused on what you're doing time to get back to it [Music] Jim isn't the only person struggling with the fast approaching deadline for the Hellcat unveiling back at company HQ the model plane team are about to test their new 100 pound Banner designed for the big event we're going to do we're going to let you drop off that balcony just outside the door the banner and the Hellcat model itself are the responsibility of head of brand Daryl we want to just obviously make sure that it's right and also that we can do what we're going to do at the show which is roll it and let it fall over the top of our stand under previous management Daryl was moved to the role of subsidiary and events manager whatever that means but now he's back and ready to put his stamp on the future of the company once he's secured the banner he's not tied under this that's why I gotta try and work it out I don't have a degree in this you see well we want it to be tight so we never get it off again looking at the barrier at Telford isn't got quite thick about a bar on it so we shouldn't have such a problem there should we get the uh the team to do the grand countdown brilliant he's gonna make a statement about the stand didn't it yeah yeah we've got to get it off [Music] this is the 19th Telford scale model World exhibition the mecca the manufacturers modelers and collectors from all over the world it is here the Gym's painstakingly assembled Hellcat will be revealed to the masses yeah it's huge this is fun if you haven't been before you don't realize how big modeling is you think it's a little cool thing and then you'll see all of this it's enormous [Music] the venue filling up and hundreds more queuing to get in there are plenty of curious collectors desperate for a sneak preview of what is about to be unveiled so Daryl and his team have to keep a low profile the red uniforms are actually a ruse to detract from Martin tasked with sneaking the Hellcat in unnoticed uh the plan is to get it onto the stand without anybody seeing it which is going to be fun but between the lobby and the stand lie thousands of prying eyes all desperate to see the mystery model so Daryl has deployed a squadron of decoy cardboard box operatives to keep any potential snoopers off the scent people will ask us and try to Weedle some kind of information out of us but um we'll try not to give anything away yeah which box is it in spoiler alert it's in the Box being followed by our camera crew time for the Final Phase in Daryl's plan get the Hellcat out of the box without being noticed [Music] missing guys at least one person standing here from now on all the time of the scheduled announcement approaches the air inside the exhibition Hall is crackling with anticipation there are literally hundreds of suggestions about what this model might be or suggestions about what people would like this model to be we're all hoping for a 148 Vulcan but I don't expect it hope is one thing expecting is another well as the old saying goes who needs a 148 scale Vulcan when you can have a 124th scale Hellcat instead but no one ever said that yeah and it's all thanks in part to this man Jim happy to stay anonymously in the cube before his imminent date with plastic Destiny a bit nervous you know just a bit of natural trepidation about how people might react to whether they like it or not I've not done anything like this at a show like this the biggest thing I've been involved with really intensive big Pizzazz announcement here we go with minutes to go Jim just has time to change into his hailshaman district models Club t-shirt before miraculously appearing at the front of the crowd in time for the big unveiling [Music] we've blurred the teenagers in the front row to give them a Fighting Chance of one day meeting a woman [Music] I'm not going to pump the air because they're modelers aren't they reserved people this is also a big moment for Daryl working okay we're just getting ready here to do a um major airfix announcement for 2019 so we hope this is the start of something um really exciting for yourselves buying it and taking it home and enjoying building it if we do the uh the countdown my glamorous assistant the other end here and I will let go and then you can see what it is three two one finally after more than two years of design and development hundreds of hours of Jim's time assembling over 600 intricate pieces the 124 scale f6f Hellcat is a secret no more [Music] spectacular absolutely spectacular beautiful kit detail is very good exceptional really these Rhymes that's right not that I'm biased he said absolutely stunning yeah [Music] the hellcat's first run of 5 000 models sold out within a month the fastest selling new release in five years the public acknowledge that ethics is back in business AFX is rediscovering some of its past and also on the public excited for the future [Music] but for Jim this was never really about business this was a model plane assembler tasked with the biggest job in his modeling life he's right there were no fist pumps to accompany his Hellcat but there were enough looks of grudging respect to make all the weeks of toil worthwhile I'll see you later [Music] thank you art is its own reward [Music] whoa whoa well that hour flew by like a 462 princess class locomotive with the Transformer cranked up to 11. and wait until you see part two there's a fight in that good night [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Naked Science

Views: 392,795

Keywords: hornby trains, hornby roadshow, hornby club, train sets, locomotives, locomotive, diesel locomotive, electric locomotive, loco, steam locomotive, flying scotsman, train enthusiast, Railways, Railroad, Express, doc, documentary film, documentaries, HD documentary, top gear, the grand tour, jeremy clarkson, richard hammond, james may, toy stories, james may's toy stories, 2009, bbc, cars, airfix, plasticine, meccano, scalextric, lego, hornby, special

Id: DZReWg7_Lho

Length: 58min 42sec (3522 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 13 2023