Category:Bilteezi

1958: Bilteezi Constructional Cards [image info]

1958: Notes on Bilteezi Construction [image info]

1975: Catalogue image, E5 Fire Station and Hose Tower [image info]

The Hamblings-produced Bilteezi range of card kits allowed modelmakers to build a range of models for 00-gauge and N gauge model railway layouts. Printed on quite thin card, some additional reinforcement was recommended for many of the models, but since the kits weren't pre-cut, the thinner card arguably made it easier to cut out the shapes.

1958 description

A new and very attractive series of constructional sheets, introduced by Hamblings, that help to complete the scenic picture. These are printed in full colour and are suitable for both those who wish to construct quickly perfect lineside buildings that give a correct appearance of villages, or for those who wish to build super detailed lineside buildings at a very moderate cost.

All the sheets are printed in full colour, strictly designed to 4 mm. scale. The printing and reproduction is splendid and, with the great wealth of detail included in the designs, the finished models are extremely realistic. They are suitable both for the quick construction of ordinary lineside buildings, such as signal boxes, water tanks, etc., all of correct appearance, of for more fully detailed buildings of complete villages, farms, etc.

"Bilteezi" models can be used on all kinds of proprietary layouts as well as scale ones, including Hornby-Dublo, Trix, Triang, etc.

— , -, , Walkers and Holtzapffel catalogue, , February 1958

1958/1975 ranges:

Series A

• No.1 Semi-detached Houses
• No.2 Garage and Petrol Pumps
• No.3 Church
• No.4 Public House
• No.5 Village School
• No.6 Accessories, Walls, Pavements, etc.

Series B

• No.1 Country Station
• No.2 Model Dairy and Factory
• No.3 Locomotive Shed
• No.4 Platform Brickwork, Gates, etc.
• No.5 Signal Cabin and Watchman's Hut
• No.6 Tunnel Faces
• No.7 Viaduct and Lock-up Shops

Series C

• No.1 Coaling Stage
• No.2 Oil Tank
• No.3 Goods Shed
• No.4 Gas Holder and Buildings

Series D

• No.1 Thatched Cottage
• No.2 Farm Buildings
• No.3 Large Barn
• No.4 Tudor House or Hotel
• No.5 Public Buildings, Library or Shops
• No.6 Town House, Shops or Post Office

Series E

• No.1 Modern Suburban House
• No.2 Modern Suburban Bungalow
• No.3 Modern Flats
• No.4 Police Station
• No.5 Fire Station and Hose Tower
• No.6 Block of Flats in Low Relief

Series F

• No.1 Stone Built Cottages
• No.2 Stone Smithy with Attached House
• No.3 Stone Chapel
• No.4 Stone Country Public House
• No.5 Stone School
• No.6 Accessories and Conversions for Stone Buildings

Series G

• No.2 Houses or Shops in low relief
• No.2 Shopfronts in low relief

Scenic Background Sheets

• Nos.1-4 Varied range of hill, fields, shrubs, etc.
• No.5 Seascape with coastline
• No.6 Seaside including Promenade
• No.7 Village Square
• No.11 Saw Mills
• No.12 Gas Works
• Nos.13-16 Canal Scenes

Bilteezi in the Twenty-first Century

As with some other contemporary card kit ranges, the Bilteezi range is still in production more than half a century later, partly due to railway modelmakers' desire to have access to as wide a range of alternative buildings from different suppliers as possible, and partly because, since Bilteezee kits aren't pre-cut and are printed off by the manufacturers in batches as needed without requiring special die-cutting tools, the kits are ridiculously cheap (some cost around two pounds and fifty pence!). Anyone considering finding a way to download and print these designs themselves is advised to forget about it and simply buy the real thing.