P G Models, N gauge pewter models are made to exactly 2mm:1ft (1/152nd). They are designed to compliment both 1/144th scale Aircraft models and 'N' gauge model Railways (1/148th in the UK, or 1/160th in the US and Europe). These models may also be of interest to 12mm scale wargamers

The models are of vehicles used by the British Army and Royal Air Force (and some by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines) from the 1950s to the present. Many can also be easily adapted for use as civilian vehicles. The range includes both wheeled and tracked armoured vehicles as well as different types of trucks from Land Rovers to tank transporters.

I briefly started P G Models  in 1990 when I made a few models in 1/152nd scale just for myself.  The scale was chosen as it was exactly half of 1/76th scale (OO gauge), which was the scale of most of the vehicle plans that I had, and was about half way between the Continental and US ‘N’ gauge of 1/160th scale and the UK ‘N’ of 1/148th, as well as not far off 1/144th scale used for model aircraft.  They were cast for me in polyurethane resin by Gordon Brown of Cromwell Models who did some superb quality castings.

However, my work as a Trading Standards Officer took up increasingly more time as I progressed up the grades and so my little venture into the world of business had to stop.

Ending up in the position of Chief Trading Standards Officer for seven years, I was made redundant in a Departmental reorganisation in 2003.  After 30 years in Trading Standards I wanted to do something different and decided to re-launch P G Models, but this time with me doing the casting in pewter. So now with P G Models I make the master patterns, make moulds of them, cast them in pewter, package them, and sell them at shows and by mail order.

So, let me explain how I started military modelling.  I had a Triang OO train set in the 1960s, which is where I started military modelling, by making up a few Airfix kits as loads for the train.  Gradually the military vehicles took over from the trains until in the late 1960s I moved from Cardiff to Pembroke and the train set was left behind.  It was in Pembroke where I met German soldiers for the first time Panzers based at the nearby Castlemartin tank ranges during the summer months.  I suppose that it is because of those few years that I regard Germans as allies rather than former ‘enemy’ and so have never been particularly interested in WWII modelling.

Over the years I progressed from basic kit building to conversions, and then on to completely scratch built models using polystyrene sheet, strip and rod.  I joined the Miniature Armoured Fighting Vehicle Association (MAFVA) whilst living in Croydon and initially just received their magazine Tankette, and did little else with them. I moved back to South Wales in 1979 and soon developed a friendship with Ken Woodruff, the joint owner of a local model shop in Bridgend who also ran the South Wales Model and Craft Show. This was primarily a model railway show which Ken persuaded me to take part in as an exhibitor. From this I started the South Wales Branch of the MAFVA.  One of the exhibitors at that show, Peter Lee, loaned me an album of photos that he took during his National Service in Malaya. This resulted in me making my first scratch built 1/35th scale model of an armoured Bedford RL ’Pig’

I put models into the MAFVA national competitions for the first time the following year in 1983.  I entered several 1/76th scale models into the competition that got nowhere, but the 1/35th scale model of the Bedford ‘Pig’ much to my surprise, won an award as the best Post War model at the show.  That got me hooked on military modelling! I  made several contacts at that show that eventually led me into making master patterns of models for casting by various cottage industries.  I started with a number of 1/76th scale armoured vehicles that were cast in resin by Cromwell Models in Scotland.

I then went on to make several 1/35th scale models for them, such as a Conqueror that won an award from the German company, Model Fan.  I also made a 1/35th scale Spartan, Combat Engineer Vehicle, and Centaur Dozer for Cromwell Models and also made a Challenger Armoured Repair and Recovery Vehicle for Accurate Armour.  I also made master patterns of several 1/76 trucks for casting in white metal by B W Models, as well as others in 1/76th and 1/50th scales for a few other manufacturers.

Having seen many large railway layouts at the Bridgend show, I decided to do the same as a military layout of a British Army Battlegroup set in Germany.  This used many of the models that I had made as masters for both Cromwell Models and B W Models and I am very grateful for the help given to me by Gordon Brown of Cromwell Models and Barry Wright of BW Models.

Over the years I’ve made a number of small dioramas to show tank transporters in action in a variety of scenarios from the 1950s to the present.  An extension from this was to consider the rail transport of armoured vehicles. I had an interesting conversation with Ron Weatherall (a very talented truck modeller from Pembrokeshire) at the British Model Soldier Society’s Bristol model show at Bath in November 2000.  This lead to me meeting up with Ron again at the South Wales Model Show in the Rhondda Sports Centre a month later where Ron loaned me an album of 100 photos of different train loads of vehicles being loaded/off-loaded at the sidings next to Haverfordwest railway station.  From this, the idea grew into perhaps moving sideways from being a purely military modeller to being a military railway modeller, and to make a layout of Haverfordwest goods yard with military trains loading/unloading.