It is with great regret that we have to announce that a fire broke out in the Incheon (South Korea) factory of one of our builders earlier this week. Thank goodness it appears that no one was injured in the fire, but extensive damage was caused.

Although it’s too early to be absolutely certain, it seems that the cause of the fire was a fault in the electrical system. Fire swept through part of building destroying virtually everything in its path. In addition there is water damage from the firemen fighting the fire.

The only Masterpiece Models affected by this are the ex-Kemilway LBSCR and GNR ‘Atlantics’– the build of which we had been hoping to take over subject to assessment – and the Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel hydraulics.

Fortunately the Class 52 ‘Westerns’ were in a part of the factory which mainly suffered from smoke damage rather than the full effects of the fire, so we understand they were not seriously affected. Very sadly, however, all the ex-Kemilway ‘Atlantics’ have been completely destroyed, together with a full set of Gauge 1 German outline coaches being made for one of the builder’s other customers.

Terminal fire damage to the ex-Kemilway 'Atlantics'

Insurance claims are now being filed to recover the losses, but where does this leave us – and more importantly our customers who have placed orders for these models?

Well, the outlook is not as bleak as it may seem. The ‘Western’ diesels will be moved as soon as possible to a new factory where the builder was planning to relocate anyway in February. This may result in a slight delay to the production while the builder gets back on his feet, but barring any complications we are still optimistic that the models can be delivered in 2020.

As regards the ‘Atlantics’, we had already put a considerable amount of work into the programme having received a very positive response from potential customers after we announced the possibility of taking over the Kemilway build. As a result, we are now looking at restarting the ‘Atlantic’ programme from scratch, which means that we would be able to build the models to full Masterpiece Models standards from the outset.

The Halls, Modified Halls, 28XX/38XX and rebuilt BR/LMS 7P 4-6-0s are not affected by the fire as they are being made at a different factory on another site. The Standard Class 5 is also not affected.

These are early days and a full assessment of the fire damage is ongoing. We will continue to update you when and as we receive further news of developments. Our intention is to proceed with all the builds for which we have made commitments.

John Borkowski 17 January 2020

Do come and visut us at the Bristol 0 Gauge Group show on Sunday 26 January.

As well as an extensive display of current Masterpiece Models we hope to bring two interesting dioramas to display the locomotives and demonstrate them working.

The venue is the University of the West of England, Filton Road, Bristol BS34 8QZ, and the show is open 10.00am to 4.00pm. Free parking is available and it is planned to run a half-hourly bus service to the show from Bristol Parkway station.

You will find our stand in the 'Scale7 Village' area of the show (We still very much cater for finescale 0 Gauge as well as Scale 7!)

One of the most exciting projects we have tackled to date at Masterpiece Models is the forthcoming Class 52 ‘Western’ diesel-hydraulic. Without doubt this model will be a technical tour de force, featuring a huge Swiss motor driving all six axles through enclosed gearboxes, working lights for the marker lamps, head code panels, cab and engine room, working fan groups and stereo sound (allowing one engine to be ‘shut down’ for light engine movements etc).

The most challenging aspect, however, has been our determination to capture the complex and elusive body shapes used by designer Misha Black to make these locomotives probably the most distinctive diesels in Britain – if not the world. We were able to perfect the main body shape and louvre detail quite rapidly so the builder has been busy producing the bodies and other components. But, when it came to the cab ends we knew we had more work to do before authorising production.

So much of the character of the ‘Westerns’ comes from the dynamic cab design, which is notoriously difficult to capture in model form. In fact, one of our motivations in producing this model is that we didn’t feel any previous attempt had got it completely right – some were very close, but not quite there. When our builder produced the first pre-production model for assessment we could see immediately that the cab wasn’t quite right; the front windows were too ‘arched’ and the famous ‘widow’s peak’ was not quite right. That wasn’t surprising really as our Korean builder had no experience of the real locomotives and had been working from plans and photographs.

One thing we can say for sure is that no truly accurate drawings of the ‘Western’ cab ends are available. Even comparing photographs of many class members minuscule differences became apparent, suggesting that the originals were fabricated individually by hand, so we went back to the builder with two things: a 3D laser scan of D1015 and full-size tracings we took from D1010 last August. With this information, together with careful measurement of angles across the whole cab, he was able to revise the designs. The poor man was almost tearing his hair out by this stage, but we believe he has cracked the problem now…

Take a look at these photos. This model is our ‘mule’, used solely for perfecting the cab shape, so you can ignore most of the details which are rough and unfinished, but just look at the cab. We think it’s spot-on and as a result we have now authorised production of the cab ends. The long saga of producing this 7mm scale ‘Western’ is finally nearing completion and the finished models will be delivered this year. Thank you to all our patient customers for enduring the wait!

We are considering taking over the production of a series of GNR/LNER and LBSCR/SR ‘Atlantic’ 4-4-2s. These popular and charismatic locomotives are the subject of a build originally commissioned by Kemilway, which is in danger of stalling due to a number of unforeseen factors. We think it would be a great pity if these models were not completed as we believe there are many North Eastern and Southern modellers who would like to have one.

Our final decision on whether to take this forward will rest on a number of factors. First we need to gauge the likely uptake and we need to know which variant(s) of the model and which liveries our customers would prefer, so to read more about the options CLICK HERE. You will then be invited to complete an online form to register your interest, with absolutely no obligation at this stage.

We also need to make a detailed assessment of the changes and technical refinements needed to bring the locomotives up to true Masterpiece Models standards. Many fine details will be added and our latest hornblocks and split-axle pickups will be used.

Finally, we need to make a deeper survey of the progress so far on the project so that we can timetable realistic completion of the build which will be carried out by one of our expert builders in South Korea. We anticipate that the models will be finished in three batches, the first batch being delivered in late summer 2020.

If you are one of the customers who previously ordered an 'Atlantic' from Peter Dawson at Kemilway – and perhaps made a payment – we would be grateful if you could contact us as soon as possible by e-mailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.