30 components went in to the construction of this grille pattern for our next model car. The grille (which is just half the size of a thumbnail) is part of our long anticipated 1940 American Bantam Station Wagon at 1:43 scale. The pattern has just been sent away for casting and we hope to start assembling cars early in 2012.

See the American Austin /Bantam page for  more details

The completed model, fitted with Perspex display case and ready for delivery to the customer's marketing suite.

Under construction in our studio in  October 2011 - a 1:500 scale housing sales model. The houses are shown as simple blocks set on the landscaping. plot boundaries are shown and plot numbers will also be added. Tree planting is today's job!

Almost 5 years ago we constructed a large model for a consortium of housebuilders in central Scotland. The model is of modular construction allowing  each phase to be updated remotely, with minimal disruption to the sales office display. We have just completed detailing of 2 new phases and anticipate a third later this year. 

The work coincides with the opening of a new marketing suite by one of the original housing developers.

Always up for a challenge, we have produced this press tool for a customer who manufactures very small numbers of sheet metal components! All the pressure points are machined from hard maple with a supporting base of 60mm MDF.

Not all our models are delicate, this one will need to withstand 8 tons of pressure!

It has been a privilege to work with our client  who is putting together a centre for safety-training young children in the East Midlands. This model shows the dangers of playing on and around railway tracks - both for the children and the train driver. Simple, graphic and hard-hitting without being gruesome. The model was presented in the centre with accompanying videos of the three ficticious characters in the scene.

Our second model for the sfaety centre was deliberately chunky & lacking in detail in order to focus the attention on particular hazards in a typical Leicester street scene. Muted colours were used for the bulk of the model whilst bold primary colours highlighted the danger areas. The people are removable for maintenance reasons. Functional and effective.

Castle Stuart was the venue for this year's Scottish Open Golf Championship, and the subject of two models delivered in June.  The landscape models with larger study models of individual properties were used for marketing purposes. 

Another view of the course.

We welcomed the opportunity to work on such a prestigious scheme for a local client.

A recreation of the pioneering Newcomen engine nears completion in our workshops.

The original steam engine dates from almost 300 years ago and has been faithfully copied as a non-working replica. The London Science museum is it's destination - it will be on permanent exhibition now the original engine has returned to Glasgow. We drew on the skills of local engineer Graham Larrington for the machining & metalwork, whilst all timber work and sheet metalwork have been undertaken by Inver Models. We are grateful to The Network for managing the project at the London end.

Fort Augustus Abbey and its surroundings have in recent years been the subject of an ambitious conversion to residential properties. Anxious to preserve the heritage  and history of the site the property developer approached us earlier this year with a historic model requiring renovation. The model depicts the original fort which previously occupied the site, the maker and age of the model are unknown but we believe it to be over 80 years old. Poor storage had taken its toll and several components had gone missing over the years.  Our work was limited to replacement of the missing parts and a general clean-up rather than a complete restoration. The skill of the original modelmaker is evident in the fact that almost all the model is hand-cut from pine with little evidence of machining. The model seems to pre-date the arrival of plywood as even the wafer thin railings are cut from solid timber. Where possible we were careful to match original paints and materials, though technology has allowed us to take some short-cuts! Some previous repair work to the roofs was of poor quality and had to be re-done. The finished model was mounted on a stained timber base and supplied with a display case ready for exhibition in the impressive cloister area of the Abbey.

Pure indulgence on our part - an Austin Seven pedal car produced purely for our own amusement!

0.45 full size the car has a traditional steel "A frame" chassis with a bodyshell produced from plywood over ash framework. Great efforts were made to overcome the normal peculiarities of pedal-car steering and suspension geometry. The resulting rolling chassis handles well and is strong enough that Peter Naulls was able to test-drive it himself before fitting the bodyshell! 

This 3.5m long Tornado dominated our workshop for several weeks. Commissioned by our neighbours at Black Isle Bronze as a pattern for casting. Once it's purpose was served the pattern came back to our workshops and was assembled for permanent display in the foundry

Chris Poole joined Inver Models in 2009 to help with our increased workload.