Bob Wills

After the Second World War, Bob Wills’ first job was rebuilding bicycles in his bedroom, but there had to be something else. A friend had talked about getting a shop, and Bob too, thought this might be a good idea.

He found suitable premises in 1946, establishing his credentials with the name “R. Wills Scientific Hobbies” at 92A Brighton Road, Coulsdon. Ron Chipping came to help with the shop-fitting, and on completion he asked Bob if he had any other work, as he had nothing else to go to. Bob was doubtful of finding any further work for him, but suggested he stayed around for a couple more weeks to see what might be available. Fourteen years later, Ron was still Bob’s right-hand man in the shop! By then they were specialising in buying and selling all types of new and second hand models, also gradually acquiring agencies for well known brands.

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After the Second World War, Bob Wills’ first job was rebuilding bicycles in his bedroom, but there had to be something else. A friend had talked about getting a shop, and Bob too, thought this might be a good idea.

He found suitable premises in 1946, establishing his credentials with the name “R. Wills Scientific Hobbies” at 92A Brighton Road, Coulsdon. Ron Chipping came to help with the shop-fitting, and on completion he asked Bob if he had any other work, as he had nothing else to go to. Bob was doubtful of finding any further work for him, but suggested he stayed around for a couple more weeks to see what might be available. Fourteen years later, Ron was still Bob’s right-hand man in the shop! By then they were specialising in buying and selling all types of new and second hand models, also gradually acquiring agencies for well known brands.

Thus was built up a very successful model shop, something fairly new at the time. It became a favourite meeting place for modellers and was always jammed full on a Saturday, with many folk coming long distances! Prices were fortunately static for years and Bob still remembers that a tin of Humbrol enamel cost 4d. Having heard of a new technique for making moulds using vulcanised neoprene rather than steel dies, Bob undertook some experiments in the back of the shop during the early 1950s. No information was available at that time in the form of leaflets, brochures or books on this subject as the few people in the country who knew the technique were very anxious to keep it to themselves.

Not having heard of centrifugal casting, Bob decided to make up a unit himself enabling the metal to be pumped into the mould. Surprisingly this turned out to work well. The drawbacks were that it was a rather slow process involving an element of danger.

The next discovery was spinning the mould to fill it. Bob already owned a machine used for cutting away the surface of the wax cylinders used on old-fashioned dictaphone machines. With a fair amount of ‘butchery’ he turned it into a fairly basic centrifugal casting machine, initially casting components for model railways, followed by small wagon kits. In 1958, now having acquired a proper casting machine, Bob made his first model loco kit. At the time he believed he was one of the first people to do so.

During these early days of manufacturing they continued to do the casting at the back of the shop, which meant that Bob could meet the people who were going to build the models, show them the latest castings and obtain their views. In due course the feedback from those customers was also very helpful in encouraging Bob to produce more models to a higher standard. The manufacturing side soon became an all-absorbing interest and in the early 1960s the shop was sold. Bob concentrated on manufacturing only with a small works at the back of a garage in Thornton Heath. They were very unsatisfactory premises, constructed mainly of corrugated iron, in which the temperature in the winter caused the thermometer to go off the end of the scale on the cold side and in the summer off the end of the scale on the hot side. However, despite the difficulties the business prospered and the sales of the loco kits increased.

On the strength of this it was decided that a stand should be taken at the Model Railway Exhibition in London. In 1961 at one of the first of these exhibitions that Bob exhibited at, he had a chance meeting with Ian Smith, an old friend. Ian was one of the founder members of the British Racing and Sports Car Club. He asked if it would be possible to make a range of plastic car kits on the lines of the Merit models. This was of great interest to Bob who suggested not plastic, but using metal as this had already been at the back of his mind. Following this meeting, Ian set up a company called Autokits at Finsbury Pavement in London to market the range. He introduced Bob to Ron Platt, who produced the master patterns in nickel silver. All the manufacturing and some design work was by Wills Finecast (pics of the early racing cars and picture of Graham Hill receiving a gift from his wife of one of the built-up models in December 1963).

As far as can be ascertained, with the launch of the ‘stack pipe’ BRM in 1962, price 49/6d (£2.50). Wills Finecast was the first company in the world to produce metal car kits, centrifugally cast in 1/24 scale in significant numbers to a quality that is still acceptable nearly fifty years later. The response from the public was amazing, and the quantities sold far exceeded their expectations.

By 1964 Wills Finecast had grown out of their premises in Thornton Heath and decided to move out. After initially considering Crawley, but finding factory space there was only leasehold, Bob finally found suitable premises in Forest Row, Sussex. He had been keen to have freehold premises, having suffered in the past with landlords. The Forest Row building had originally been built as a bus or coach garage and was licensed for coach building, which meant that it was a simple matter to change it to light industrial work. This was fortunate as it was extremely difficult to have a factory of any sort in such pleasant surroundings. Straightaway the premises were turned into a modern factory with all the advantages of more space, including an attractive showroom.

Towards the end of the 1960s the Autokits company ran into grave difficulties finally seeking bankruptcy. Bob purchased the Autokits name and master patterns, which then became part of the Wills Finecast range. Bob had already introduced a range of 1/24 kits to an even higher standard of details, complete with engine and transmission, the first being the 4½ litre Bentley, which was reviewed in Miniature Auto of May 1968.

The Bentley was a great success and undoubtedly one of the finest models that had ever been put on the market.

W.O Bentley himself gave the model his unqualified approval, and was so interested in the quality of the finished product that he particularly wanted to visit the factory. Unfortunately however, he was never well enough to do so, and died without achieving this wish.

After the success of the Bentley, the Bugatti Type 59 was introduced, followed by the Vauxhall 30/98, the SS Jaguar 100 and the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. Gradually, more were introduced, the last being an M.G. TF. In 1973/4, 1/43 scale kits were introduced. In addition Wills released a unique etched nickel silver spoked wheel which no-one had made before, as on such a small scale it had previously been impossible to cast the spokes.

However, some time before this they chose to embark on something else that no-one had done before, and with the ever growing interest in steam road vehicles they decided to develop a high quality 1/43 model of a Traction Engine, sparing no expense, trying not to omit any detail. Fortunately with many other models in production, they had plenty of time to develop this idea, and were not too concerned about the cost of development as it was financed by the regular sales of the other models. They finally picked on the Alchin Agricultural Engine as it was easy to get to see an original example at Horsmonden in Kent.

As there was no precedent the pattern making was very difficult. They were unable to examine how anybody had tackled this field before, so each difficulty had to be worked out as it arose, including the spokes which took a long time to perfect, before they found the right way to achieve the best result. When the model came on the market it was, to their knowledge, the very first of its kind in the world. They followed this with a Road Engine, a Showman’s Engine, Foden Steam Wagon and Road Roller.

In 1987, H.M. Queen Elizabeth spent a day at Rolls Royce in Derby. She had a ride in the Silver Ghost and evidently enjoyed her time there very much. For Bob, the highlight of her visit was the presentation of his model Silver Ghost as she left.

Rolls Royce was also very pleased and wrote and thanked Wills Finecast. Rolls Royce had been very particular about the model, making sure it was accurate in every respect. For example, the valve push rods, which are visible on the engine, are seen to be in the correct firing order and the Dunlop lettering on the tyres in the correct type face. The patterns had taken nearly two years to complete.

That same year, when Philip Gibbs retired after 25 years with the company, the time had come for Bob to part with the cast metal side. Good links existed with Dave Ellis, a toy and model retailer in nearby Felbridge, who already stocked the Wills Finecast range. As a result, the entire business was passed over to Dave, with the birth of the new name of South Eastern Finecast. To this day Dave produces all Wills models and many more, in another location in Forest Row.

One of the most important considerations with this type of work is the people involved in the preparation of master patterns, and casting, with their particular skills and abilities. It was extremely difficult to find such craftsmen in the early days as there were very few around who had the skills ,knowledge, and the artistic talent that was required when reducing from the full size example to creating a realistic model. Bob says that he has always been extremely fortunate in this respect.

In the early days many of the models for the Autokits range were made by Ron Platt, who later, with his wife Shirley joined Bob in Forest Row, staying for many years. A great asset to the firm, Ron’s skills and design abilities were quite exceptional and thus started a friendship continuing to this day.

He also employed Ray Watson who was a particularly fine pattern maker, and the kind of dedicated person who would chase all over the country getting information on the models.

On one occasion, he travelled to London to check once again on details for the Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, but found that the original had been taken back to Derby the day before. He set off from London straight away in his car, arriving at Derby in the middle of the night. He slept in the car, in the morning visiting the factory to get the details he wanted and then returning to his home to continue with his work on the pattern making.

Not all the pattern making was done in the factory, as Bob had found from experience that the craftsmen with these skills and abilities often like to work in their own workshops.

Philip Gibbs joined the company in 1962 at the Thornton Heath premises. He ran the casting development side, paying great attention to the quality of the product and was renowned for giving a good service to the customers.

Bob had always had the ambition in life to support his staff in enjoying and achieving in their chosen work. In addition, bearing in mind that the customer making the model would find it very frustrating if a part was missing or deformed, he instigated a production process whereby the person casting the parts also did the packing, taking the finished item to the store. This produced a feeling of personal responsibility and satisfaction, and worked well. Bob recalls hearing his staff often singing whilst they worked!

Bob was very fortunate in finding agents throughout the world, including Spielwaren Danhausen in Germany, and the ‘Make Up Company’ in Japan, the owner of which, Mr Uemoto, wrote many articles in magazines showing the construction of the kits. He even said that the Japanese should look to their laurels as the quality of work coming from England was superior at that time to anything being produced in Japan. Mr Gerd Winkelman, an enthusiastic builder of the Wills kits, wrote on one occasion to compliment the firm’s craftsmen, saying, ‘Your kits are absolutely the best white metal kits all over the world.’

Subject ID: 81144

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