Original subtitles

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 in the last five years,

which is an astronomical amount of money.

In a bid to save the company,

they poached the head of one of their biggest rivals.

Er, because of my good looks.

And he's brought back an old employee of Hornby to help.

Simon Koehler worked for the company for 35 years before leaving

following a fallout with the previous management.

It isn't 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 loco.

"Love what you've done with the Mallard," and you think, "Yeah.

"Yeah, it is good, actually."

FANFARE PLAYS

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 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.

And if that doesn't sound like the premise

for a compelling two-part documentary series,

then I suggest you turn over to BBC One and watch

the Pro Celebrity Boxing.

You're still here?

Yes, good! Right.

Let's get back to the OO guage action.

You join us at a critical moment.

SOUND EFFECTS FROM MODEL TRAIN

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.

MODEL TRAIN SOUND PROTOTYPE CONTINUES

This is amazing.

Signing off the Lord Nelson's chuffing sounds is just one of many

challenges facing Simon Koehler,

back after being let go four years previously.

Full marks, Ken.

Great, brilliant. Thanks very much.

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 centre,

manned by Head of Archives, Peter.

TELEPHONE RINGS

Oh, bloody Jason. Hold on. I'll ring him back.

Jason. Yeah. Yeah, I'll have to bring you back.

I'm being filmed at the moment.

OK. Cheers, bye.

Welcome to Hornby.

Where are you from, actually? Blackpool. Blackpool?!

Yeah. 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.

Are they manufacturing on the premises? No.

No, I'm afraid not.

Made in China? Made in China, I'm afraid.

Oh, really? Yeah. The factory's now been empty

for about, 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 a 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.

They were only here to... TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

..the company.

That's all they were here for.

TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS

And that's what they came for.

WHISTLE BLOWS SHARPLY

He came here and...

TRAIN RUNNING ON TRACKS

I hope this is all going to be edited, innit, eh?

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 had, previous management have 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.

The moulding tools are the key components in manufacturing

the company's fabled plastic and metal dye cast 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 tell you what, there's a lot less here

than there used to be.

..has in fact been scrapped.

We've got no Hornby down here.

There's just one Hornby tool, which is the Hornby tunnel.

Simon is being shown what toolings remain by Dave, a former toolmaker

who had to oversee the scrapping of the very tooling

he'd help to make.

At one stage, there was...

..around about nine, nine and a half thousand tools here,

and there was a comprehensive list of, across the brands,

of what was to be scrapped.

Simon's hopes of using these old tools to produce reruns of some

vintage models are now in disarray.

The stuff that's gone is 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 just need to see how serious this thing is.

Oh, dear!

Four years ago, operations were moved 8.8 miles down the road,

via the A256, to Sandwich and a more suitably corporate HQ.

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.

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 will 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...

COCKEREL CROWS

Working on it in here has been quite interesting,

because I've managed to annoy all the neighbours

out in the main office, many time, 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.

Then as those who are not cat owners will say, "Oh, that's a cat!"

so that's the one you will use.

The cat...

VARIOUS CAT "MEOWS"

And that's what everybody else says a cat sounds like.

But we had to have the dog as well. DOG BARKS

Ken has spent months perfecting his cat and dog sounds.

But it will all be for nothing if it's not approved by Simon Kohler

and Head of Development, Ed.

F5.

This is just people walking about, isn't it? Yeah.

And F7.

People are walking on the platform.

SOUND EFFECT PLAYS

And some wagons just passing by.

With something like this, you're adding a whole sound...

..canopy, if you like, over the whole layout.

There's no limit to the number of sounds we can actually evolve

and put in a chip and have it as part of the layout.

F22.

SOUND EFFECT PLAYS

Which is a road drill.

A bit of fun, F23.

CAT MEOWS, ROAD DRILL RUMBLES

So, we have a cat in the middle of the road...

DOG BARKS Being chased by the dog.

Chased by the dog.

OK, let's go back to silence...

..because that's apparently golden.

Right. So, now I'm really, really...

..I'm not going to say chuffed, but I'm really pleased.

No, I really am.

It's great. Great.

So, this is due, when?

When have 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 modelling companies.

People, in fact, like Gerard.

Welcome to Catford and my garage.

The previous owner of the house

built his garage himself back in the 1970s.

He was interested in cars, you see, so when I first viewed the house

I came in here and there was, like, two cars in here.

Well, there was half of a car and one car.

And I thought it'd be a great place for a railway,

cos you can get the car in middle, have a railway around the edge.

Did you choose this house, then, because of the garage?

Er, yes.

Basically! Honest to God.

For modellers like Gerard, detail matters nearly

as much as plausibility.

I'll show you something that's not plausible.

I can run this engine to here and then stop and go back.

If I do that...

CLICKING

..and then do that...

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 you wait.

And then you wait a bit more.

And now you go, right?

Because what's happening in that critical five seconds or six seconds

kind of like reversing your car, when reverse your car,

handbrake up - donk - into neutral, look over your shoulder.

Can I reverse?

Into gear, release handbrake, off you go.

That takes about three or four seconds.

That is correct running, you see.

And that's really important.

And when you do that, people go,

"Well, yeah, that's good," because you get a little bit

of sense of anticipation, "Oh, it's stopped.

"What's it going to do now?

"Oh, I'll wait, I'll wait, I'll wait..."

And then it goes, you see?

All is well in my world.

Hornsby - pause for plausibility -

were once the dominant force in model train production.

Today they have several competitors like Bachmann, Peco and Dapol,

all eating into their market share.

When I first got a railway, I reckon it was '68,

it would have been entirely Hornby.

But then there was a time when they were the only player in town.

So I have a kind of a sort of emotional attachment to Hornby.

But I have an emotional attachment to other manufacturers too, actually,

because this track is not Hornby.

The signals aren't Hornby.

The brickwork isn't Hornby,

the flock is not Hornby.

The switches are not Hornby.

The controller's not Hornby.

So, most of this is not Hornby.

In fact, the only Hornby thing here I can see is that engine.

It's not looking good for Hornby on this, is it?

You've got that shunter.

I think that is it, actually.

Sorry, Hornby. You done very well, but it is the only thing.

HE LAUGHS

If the likes of Gerard, brought up on Hornby,

are turning their backs on the company, what hope for Lyndon

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.

Hornby also owns Airfix - makers of mainly 1:72 scale aeroplanes

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'd been here for about two months.

The Airfix team quietly said

they'd got a partly developed Hellcat...

..in the cupboard.

I said, "Show me the Hellcat",

and they showed me the Hellcat and I said

"Well, 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 Lyndon hopes it will have a similar effect

on their falling market share.

Airfix has been on the decline.

It's been on the decline because it hasn't had

the wow product, the Hellcat is the wow 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 modeller independently, who'll go away and build the kit up.

And whilst he's building that kit up, he will find problems

in how the kit goes together.

It's part of the development process.

Jim has arrived at Fighter Command having completed his latest mission.

Another box of joy for you.

OK.

There she blows. Fantastic!

A Hawker Hunter in 1:48 scale, assembled and painted by Jim

in exacting detail.

Modelling accuracy, really.

And I went with your suggestion that we would go

with just a fairly traditional scheme on it, just as it would

have been in squadron service, really. One hopes. So...

A pleasure to work on, as I said.

Hawker Hunter pleasantries done,

it's time to present Jim with the Hellcat.

It's a very large, innocent box. OK.

So, do you want to... Sure.

..fill me in on what you want doing with this?

So, the Hellcat is a 1:24th model.

So, it's a big model, 600 components.

Expensive.

Hundred grand worth of tooling, plus.

And it says these are 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 was daunting enough, the model needs to be completed

in just two months before it's launched

at the Telford Scale Model World -

the largest models show in the country.

Jim is bricking it.

It's probably the biggest thing I've built in 45 years.

You know, I'm very aware that the company is sort of investing

quite a lot in me, really, in terms of me bringing

this to be the centrepiece of your display at Telford, really.

As Jim leaves, Lyndon seizes the opportunity to pile

on the pressure one more time.

If that model's not available for Telford,

it's going to be a disaster, because...

..we're going to turn our, 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.

Airfix isn't the only brand that relies on people like Jim.

Hornby trains also has an army of volunteer modelling 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 fair in a week's time,

that is one of the most important dates in the major model

train companies' diaries.

The pinnacle of what modellers call "the hobby" is the layout -

a hyper-detailed realisation of the world of trains

pored over with a steady hand and an eagle eye.

This is the natural habitat of a model rail enthusiast.

Yeah, it's good.

The layout they're working on is for exhibition

at the Great Electric Train Show, in Milton Keynes.

It's called Batcombe and is a place where imagination

and reality collide.

What Coddy's done with this, he's based this on a fictitious

seaside resort where no-one particularly wants to go to, OK?

But it's based on what you would normally have at that station.

So, you'd have a goods... you'd have some goods traffic,

because there'd be coal coming in, there will be also...

So, for example, the food... Perishables for the hotel.

Perishables for the hotels, yeah.

Here you go. Brilliant.

The joy of railway modelling, if I could just paraphrase Walt Disney,

is that it can portray anything that the mind can conceive.

Anything.

There's a fishing industry as well.

The extremely rare Batcombe smoked mud fish.

Even if the place is imaginary, there's a station,

it has a station building.

Otherwise, how can you sell the tickets?

We'll turn up at the show with this and the idea is for us

is to entertain people.

People don't want to stand in front of a layout with nothing moving.

We try to keep these on time, we have a timetable

we have different track, 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. OK.

"So, what's the next one in, then?" In this case...

So, for example, it's the 17.11 local push-pull from Wareham,

and then you'll just move it down.

They think, "They must be potty running to a timetable."

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.

I mean, it's not interesting for me let alone somebody watching.

Despite OO 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 got the feeling that they had changed from Margate

to Sandwich and they put barbed wire around the place.

I think the OO community

felt marginalized, as if Hornby weren't really interested.

If they, if they went to the wall, it would be like...

..a bit like the Queen dying.

I mean, there's always been Hornby hasn't there?

I'm certainly looking forward to Saturday, that's for sure.

When I get back Sunday night, I'm going to be, you know, I'll be wacked.

I'm sort of like thinking, "Well, what have I done this weekend?"

Well, I've been standing on my feet all day,

sort of like playing trains.

It's not everyone's idea of fun, but I've enjoyed myself.

In an anonymous-looking house, in an anonymous suburb of East Sussex,

the biggest launch in the recent history of Airfix rests

in the anonymous hands of Jim.

To be honest, I'm not even sure that you'll see this, but I'm doing

it for completeness.

All modelling is obsessive.

You know, you have to have, you know,

my partner says that all modellers

are on the spectrum and we all get very fixated about our, you know,

our hobby and have how far we take it to

and the lengths we go to,

and in the time and effort we put into it and all of that.

We're all somewhere on the spectrum and it's just a question

of where we are.

I started this about two, two days ago.

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 mould,

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.

For viewers just joining us, Jim is building a 1:24 scale Hellcat

that is due to be launched at the Big Model Aeroplanes 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.

No. Hardly at all.

She's declared it a sort of, you know, cordon sanitaire

around it for the rest of the house.

What goes on in here stays in here, really, 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 officer Jim

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.

For people my age,

Airfix is part of your heritage.

And, you know, that, that logo and that name is,

you know, it's iconic, really.

And if that went, I think the world would be a poorer place.

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 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.

You're 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'd need to come in the doorway here.

These boxes here...

That's where my 20-odd years of kit collecting now resides.

So we've got, I think, it's 15 or 16 boxes of them.

I can't remember what is in each box.

No, I haven't got the first idea.

But I have got a computer program upstairs that tells me what's

in each box, because I do catalogue 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 there, that big box there, is the Bismarck.

It's a 1:200 scale model.

About four feet long, basically when you've built it.

This is about, I think, about 160 kits in here.

There's an expression in the modelling world called SABLE -

Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy.

JIM LAUGHS

It's a leading question.

I hope to build the Bismarck.

Put it that way. I need to do less for Airfix.

I'll need to say to them, you know,

I'm going to have to put some time aside from myself. I'd have to.

Because I think that would take the best part of a year to do it

justice to, really.

Back at the company's headquarters, the engineering team are dealing

with a late-running locomotive.

The model being tested is the hotly anticipated J36, which should

already be on the shelves of model shops across the nation.

But there's a major flaw with the sample.

We've got a J36 here which is one of our biggest hot potatoes

at the moment.

We've got three deliveries of this coming out this year,

but we can't complete the sound version, because we've discovered

that on the wheels, if a modeller looks at 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 synch 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 bearings have been corrected.

You can't do anything with this.

We can't prove anything, really, until it's...

Until you get a good runner.

But 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.

OK, so, I go through the list and then at the end if you've got

anything that we need to talk about specifically, we can.

Yeah, OK.

Lord Nelson...

No change to that.

It's still... At the moment it's the 30th November inspection day.

The next one, flavour of the month, J36. Yeah.

We found quite a big mechanical issue.

You'll have seen my e-mails with the bearings...

..and the excessive size of the axle boxes in the chassis.

You know... Again, this is looking...

Even with all clear, this is late December, isn't it?

Well, to be honest with you, you're going to see this until

January, February.

Realistically.

This delay isn't just a blow for Simon and his team.

It's also a big problem for the small models 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 bestseller.

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 adult enthusiasts.

Yeah. Yes.

But the laughter doesn't last long.

PHONE RINGS

Good afternoon, Harburn Hobbies.

So, I'll just... I'll go and get him.

Bob, excuse me a little minute.

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 sound chip and all the rest of it,

is taking longer to do, and that won't be out until March.

But, we've got lots of orders for the new one...

Yes.

I think I'll believe it when I see it, actually!

Well, I'm sure... That's happened before. Yes.

Well, there's been promises...

That's been the gripe, hasn't it?

That's been the problem, that so many people have said, you know,

"Where are the things coming out of the factory?"

And we have to make up excuses, which doesn't look good.

We also need new products, because everybody wants to see a new item.

Until it actually comes in and we unpack it out of the box,

I'll believe it when I see it, yeah.

But I'm a very Doubting Thomas, aren't I?

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 lift doors opened, I walked out.

And I got a round of applause from the Hornby team,

which was very touching. Very touching.

It was a question of rolling your sleeves up,

you know, it's nice to be back,

there's a job to be done, let's go on and do it.

Did I think it would be stressful?

No. 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, you keep it...

You know, I can keep it under control.

I've got me tablets. Take me tablets, I'm fine.

If I don't put them out, I forget.

And then I sort of wonder why I feel a bit heady.

They are, er... Gosh, what are they?

Blood pressure, cholesterol,

um, thinners, blood thinners etc.

It's nothing at all to do with Hornby, it's to do with the genes.

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 modellers calendar.

Paul from the OO Gauge Association...

Hiya. Hello!

..is first through the doors...

Brilliant. Thank you very much. OK. Cheers. Thank you.

..to find the room where their fictitious village of Batcombe

will be laid out.

OO Gauge Association.

Batcombe.

This is where our layout will be once we've unloaded it.

Yeah, plenty of room.

That's what I like to see.

I'm excited about the layout, getting the layout out,

and getting this out in front of the public.

We put a show on for the public. That's what I like to do.

So, I'm at the edge of the balcony, looking over at the main hall

of the Great Electric Train Show at Milton Keynes.

This is a big arena.

It's going to be a really big show, so

it's one of those shows you want to be at.

The hall soon fills up with models of fanciful towns and villages...

..all built to scaled down perfection.

But, upstairs, the village of Batcombe is nowhere to be seen.

Colin has just realised that he's left the buildings at home.

Which is great.

So, they've jumped in the van and made their way back to South London

to pick them up and bring them back later on, so...

Yeah, he said to me just now,

"I can visualise them there, sitting on the bookcase."

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 analogue layout, as soon as you turn the power on,

the locomotives will move unless you've got them isolated,

so this basically, these switches on the top here,

will isolate those sections of track to stop the trains from moving.

We need to make sure we get it right.

Desperate times call for...Gerard...

..who, unsurprisingly, has come prepared.

That's the soldering box.

This is modelling in the field, so to speak.

I mean, there is an idea in modelling

that you only solder it if you can't glue.

And, folks, don't cut wire this way either.

This is needs must!

Get it in your teeth and pull like that. Give it to me, I'll do it.

See, like that.

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, it's clean!

1968, that's 50 years ago, that Christmas,

my parents bought me my first Tri-ang Hornby railway set-up.

29 pounds, ten shillings, and sixpence.

I've got the receipt, from Beatty's of Southgate.

But, since then, I've been continuously modelling.

I didn't do it at university, I must admit. I drew a line there.

I know some people have had layouts in their university rooms,

but that's going a bit far, I think.

Gerard didn't waste his time at university with trains,

but luckily for the OO Gauge Association, he has spent many hours

since preparing for just this sort of model train emergency.

I'm just attaching solder, which is the process of attaching

metal to metal to create an electrical or other sort of joint.

I believe it's a kind of mixture of tin and lead,

and sort of things like that.

Right.

Gerard has saved the day.

Happy. At least we're not unhappy. No, we're not unhappy.

I'm in a state of considerable contentment, actually, once this..

..this has been finished.

All they need now are the buildings.

Once the owner of the layout...

..the owner of the layout decides to bring the buildings back...

It's a 70-mile trip. Then we'll be even happier.

The struggles of the OO 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 1:24 scale model,

and he's fallen way behind schedule.

The engine as a whole has taken me way longer than I had thought

it was going to, or planned for,

so I'm kind of a bit behind on the rest of the thing now.

I've got a personal stake in this now.

You know, it's become my baby.

These things do, they... They become part of your...

You know, 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, the way I built it, the way I've finished it.

Jim desperately needs a break from constant modelling.

So, he jumps in his car and heads off to the weekly meeting

of the Hailsham and District Scale Model Club.

I think the general population are just a bit confused

about what you get up to, and what it's all about, really.

But there's nothing sinister about it,

it's just like-minded guys, really.

Getting together to exchange tips and ideas,

you know, and have a cup of tea and a gossip.

They may like to gossip,

but Jim knows the Hellcat is a Category A industrial secret.

Some of them have an idea that I'm working on something

which is going to be revealed at Telford.

Yeah, they'll be curious.

Evening, all.

Right. Can I come and crouch next to you?

For some reason,

our cameraman missed the other table full of young women.

THEY LAUGH AND CHAT

I brought some gingerbread for everybody. Help yourselves.

There you go. That's all good.

All home produced.

There you go.

Did you make it? Yeah, course I did.

LAUGHTER

The topic of conversation, after much prompting from our director,

turns to the future of Hornby.

I was brought up on Airfix, like a lot of kids.

They were just churning out all the old kits,

originally from the '60s, '70s, even the '50s, some of them.

Compared to their competitors, they weren't cutting the mustard.

In the last 10, 15 years, you've got probably 50 or 60

different kit manufacturers come on the market.

Your top has got to be something like Hasegawa, Japanese companies.

Well, if Hornby and Airfix went under,

that would be a tragedy, really,

because they're all the things that we used to play with as kids.

Unbeknownst to the members

of the Hailsham and District Scale Model Club,

one of their very own could be responsible

for the revitalisation of the company they love.

Distribute the ginger cake.

Shame he can't tell anyone!

So, what are you making at the moment? I can't tell you.

It's all secret. You've got a feast.

Well, I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you.

Ladies and gentlemen, well, maybe gentlemen, the wait is over.

The Great Electric Train Show at Milton Keynes is open.

The halls quickly fill up, and at the Hornby stand,

there is one obvious attraction.

Simon is a legend in the industry... Legend!

LAUGHTER

Well, that's very nice of you to say.

Simon Koehler, back for his first modelling show

since being re-employed by the company.

Hello! How are you?

That's right, Yarmouth!

Good to see you. How are you? John. Yes, I know! How are you doing?

I'm fine, yes, thank you. Back on the circuit! Yeah, I know!

I'm pleased for you.

Yeah. It's nice to be back.

Nice to see you. I'll can't believe you're with us!

Yes! I'm really pleased. Are you?

Oh, good!

Well, it's nice to see you again.

Thanks for remembering me!

This business is to do with people's enjoyment,

and part of that is being friendly with people,

talking, they're our friends.

At the end of the day, they're very good friends

because they buy a lot of products and they pay the rent,

they put food on my table, so I think they're wonderful.

Also marking out their territory in Milton Keynes

are the Batcombe boys,

representing the OO Gauge Association, or DOGA for short.

We are quite pleased with the way it's all happening.

A lot of people are interested in seeing the layout as well,

which is what we're here for.

Paul, like fellow DOGA Gerard,

is a big fan of plausibility,

and that applies to the trains coming in and out of Batcombe.

So, what we've got at the moment is,

we've got a push-pull train that's arrived from Bournemouth.

And soon I am due, I believe, I'm due to receive

the Royal Wessex. You are indeed. It's coming from London.

Its due to arrive at 19:52. It is on time, I believe.

I've been told further down the line it is on time, is that correct?

Yes. It is on time. I've got to check that the signals are

in favour of the loco, so the train can actually run through,

and I've just looked and apparently, the signals are against us,

so the train will have to stop on the bridge...

..until the signalman decides the coast is clear.

I'm just looking at... Yes, the signalman has actually given us

the signal to pursue into the station, so it's going to happen.

And the Royal Wessex from London...

..is now making its approach into Batcombe Station.

Yeah, OK. Lovely.

We're on, so, we're running to time.

The show is a big success for the OO 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 is the thing, 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.

It just wants a washer under it.

Yeah, it does. Well, not your washer.

We've designed a special washer...

That costs 50 quid? No, that doesn't cost you anything!

No, I promise you, it won't cost you anything.

All companies need somebody who stands out

as the maitre d', like when you go into a restaurant,

that's who you meet first.

Simon's that person.

You go to Simon,

he smiles at you.

He gives you the information,

you're always going to buy Hornby products.

But a reminder of how tough a job Simon faces

turning the company round soon presents itself...

See you later, guys. See you later.

..as two of the DOGA team pop down to check out the latest models

from one of Hornby's rivals.

This is what I want to see.

Some Class 66s made and sold by Hattons in Liverpool.

All right? Yeah, yeah.

Just looking at your prototype of your 66.

Yeah, yeah.

When's that due? March. March, OK.

Runs well? Very, very well. Yeah?

You've got just over 700g of loco there... Yeah.

All wheel drive...

Hattons are Britain's biggest model retailers, with a turnover

of over £15 million 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. That is gorgeous.

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 two,

where Simon takes on two key rivals.

They're 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.

Right. Test.

This 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.

Well, the thing that's going to cause me difficulties,

these bits here.

I might have to get my file out and take a bit off that.

That millimetre is huge.

If you've got to sand a millimetre, it'll take you five minutes,

people think a millimetre is, you know, tiny, tiny, tiny. It's not.

A millimetre of plastic takes you a long time to grind through.

We're talking a tenth of a millimetre,

that can be enough to screw your tolerances.

On Sunday, I was completely at my wits' 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 think all modellers are a bit obsessive about detailing.

They're just desperate to have it right, really.

How do I like my sandwich? Like this!

That's not something you obsess about, making a sandwich.

There isn't a right way or a wrong way, really,

about that - a sandwich is a sandwich is a sandwich.

You've seen one, you've seen them all, so...

You could say the same about planes.

You could say the same about planes, but you'd be wrong.

Tomorrow I'm going to finish it.

It can't go on any longer than that.

All the time it's not finished, it's just a weight on your mind.

Probably the most common reaction is "Why do you do it?

"What's the motivation?"

I just find it satisfying.

And it's completely absorbing, so when you're doing it,

your mind hasn't got time for any other cares or worries.

You're just completely focused on what you're doing.

Time to get back to it.

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 banner, designed for the big event.

What we're going to do, we'll let it drop off that balcony,

just outside the door. Oh, wow.

The banner, and the Hellcat model itself,

are the responsibility of head of brand Darrell.

You want to just 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, Darrell 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.

You've got to tie it onto this. And then that...?

No, no, no. I've got to try to work it out as we go along!

I don't have a degree in this, you see. Oh, crikey!

That one? We want it to be tight, so... Yeah.

We'll never get it off again!

Luckily enough, the barrier at Telford isn't quite such a thick...

..bar on it, so we shouldn't have such a problem there.

Shall we get the team to do the grand countdown?

Three, two, one!

Hurray!

That isn't bad, is it? I love it, that's brilliant!

It's going to make a statement above the stand, isn't it? Yeah!

We've got to get it off!

This is the 19th Telford Scale ModelWorld Exhibition,

the Mecca for manufacturers, modellers, and collectors

from all over the world.

It is here that Jim's painstakingly assembled Hellcat

will be revealed to the masses.

Yeah, it's huge, this.

If you haven't been before, you don't realise how big modelling is.

You think it's a little cult thing, and then you see all of this,

and then you realise that it's enormous.

With the venue filling up, and hundreds more queuing to get in,

there are lots of curious collectors desperate for a sneak preview

of what is about to be unveiled.

So, Darrell 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.

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, Darrell has deployed a squadron of decoy cardboard box operatives

to keep any potential snoopers off the scent.

People will ask us, and try to wheedle some kind of

information out of us.

But we're trying 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 Darrell's plan.

Get the Hellcat out of the box without being noticed.

Listen, guys, there's going to have to be

at least one person standing here from now on, all the time.

As 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.

Within the modelling world, a new Airfix kit is always

an opportunity for celebration.

I'm hoping for a Vulcan. Hoping.

But, yeah, we'll see. I'm quite excited.

I think we're all hoping for 1:48 Vulcan,

but I don't expect it.

Hope is one thing, expecting is another.

Well, as the old saying goes, who needs a 1:48 scale Vulcan

when you can have a 1:24 scale Hellcat instead?

No-one ever said that.

And it's all thanks, in part, to this man, Jim.

Happy to stay anonymously in the queue

before his imminent date with plastic destiny.

Bit nervous, you know.

Just a bit of natural trepidation about how people might react

to this thing, whether they'll like it or not,

I've not done anything like this at a show like this, no.

This is the biggest thing I've been involved with,

in terms of a, you know, big pizzazz announcement.

Here we go.

With minutes to go, Jim just has time to change into his

Hailsham and District Modellers Club T-shirt,

before miraculously appearing at the front of the crowd

in time for the big unveiling.

We've blurred the teenagers in the front row

to give them a fighting chance of one day meeting a woman.

Will it be something that grabs them, or will they go, "Ohh?"

I don't know.

They're probably not going to pump the air, because they're modellers!

You know, they're reserved people.

Oh, my God.

This is also a big moment for Darrell.

Is it working?

OK, we're just getting ready here to do

a major Airfix announcement for 2019.

So, we hope this is the start of something

really exciting for yourselves.

Buying it and taking it home and enjoying building it.

If we do the countdown,

my glamorous assistant at 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 1:24 scale F6F Hellcat is a secret no more.

I think it looks absolutely spectacular.

Absolutely spectacular.

Beautiful kit, beautiful kit.

Detail's very good.

Exceptional, really.

He's right. He's right.

Not that I'm biased, or anything!

That's a compliment. I'll take that one.

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 Airfix is back in business.

Airfix is rediscovering some of its past.

And also, I want the public excited for the future.

But, for Jim, this was never really about business.

This was a model plane assembler,

tasked with the biggest job in his modelling 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.

See you later.

Art is its own reward.

Whoa!

Well, that hour flew by like a 462 Princess Class locomotive

with the transformer cranked up to 11!

Wait until you see part two!

There's a fight in that.

Goodnight.