We often feature, here at Small Scale World, the output of Gem, Gemodels, Gem Models, the cake-decoration and novelty figures of George Musgrave's 'Gem' and Festival (as also supplied to and copied by Culpitt et al), he who also sculpted for Britains, among others, and I have mentioned from time to time the name change from Gem, to Gemodels, due to the threat (or veiled threat?) of legal intervention from the other Gem.
This GEM stands for George E. Mellor, a very well known name in the model railway world. Manufacturing a range of railway parts from the late 1920s onwards (I'll see if I can get a more accurate date from my old magazines stash). Loco kits appeared in 1964. He was still trading in the 1990s,and died in 1994. I met him at a model railway event in Camborne about 35 years ago, he was propped up by two attractive women (his daughters?) and waxing lyrical about modelmaking, I wish I had stopped to listen, There are so many questions that I didn't know to ask at the time.
ReplyDeleteI have built a couple of GEM chassis kits and can confirm that they are well engineered, go together easily and produce a smooth running model.
J
That's very useful Jon, as the 'other' Gem is George E Musgrave! And I'm not sure if that detail has been in previous explanations, Cheers!
ReplyDeleteH