Category:ERG Precision Models

Toy Brands and Manufacturers
ERG Precision Models
1944 -

Front cover of Gray's "Cardboard Rolling Stock and How To Build It" (1944-), edition unidentified [image info]

1949: ad for "Cardboard Rolling Stock and How To Build It", by E. Rankine Gray, April 1949 [image info]

1949: ad for new models and "Cardboard Rolling Stock and How To Build It", ERG (Bournemouth) Ltd., June 1949 [image info]

E. Rankine Gray started making card rolling-stock kits in ~1944 under the name ERG / ERG Precision Models, and Gray's initial idea of writing a general instruction guide ended up expanding to become a stand-alone book (Cardboard Rolling Stock and How To Build It, by E. Rankine Gray) by the time that the range was actually launched.

LMS Large Cattle Truck (ERG)

Gray's small book became one of the standard texts on cardboard vehicle modelling, and is supposed to have gone through eight printings.

Brookdale Buildings

ERG also seem to have distributed the Brookdale Buildings range of model buildings, which we don't know much about.

Excerpts

There was a time when no model railway enthusiast would have considered using cardboard for the construction of rolling stock, but few can now doubt that this material has come to stay, as not only passenger and goods vehicles but very fine models of locomotives have been made in cardboard; exhaustive experiments have proved conclusively that such models are strong and durable and that the card, if properly treated, will not become warped even after years of use, while it is easy to work and forms a splendid medium for the production of a high degree of detail. As time goes on, the many advantages of modelling in cardboard must inevitably become more widely recognised and it is felt that a text-book on the subject may be helpful to the ever-increasing number of enthusiasts who are turning their attention in this direction.
— , E Rankine Gray, , Cardboard Rolling Stock and How To Build It, , circa ~1944

Finally, I must mention a new aid to rolling-stock construction, put out by ERG Ltd., of Boscombe: the ERG "Precision" card parts. Many workers find difficulty in drawing out, with due accuracy, the parts for rolling-stock construction, especially for vans having several layers to each side, while even for the experienced, the work of drawing the parts, especially for several identical vehicles, takes up considerable time. ERG parts give fully-detailed sides and ends printed on good quality card of correct thickness, and, where several side layers are needed, each is separately drawn out, ready to cut out and assemble. It will be realised that these parts attain an accuracy which only an experienced draughtsman can achieve by hand drawing, while the time they save can be put into the more interesting work of detailing and finishing.
As all actual construction work is left to the builder, he can feel the same pride in the finished work as if he had built from scratch.
The sheets of ERG parts aso contain useful constructional notes, and, taken in conjunction with E. R. Gray's excellent instruction book ... , they should enable even the beginner to produce good results. A wide range of freight and passenger stock is available and additions are continually being made, all sets being available both in 4mm. and 7mm. scales.

— , P.R. Wickham, , A Book of Model Railways, , 1949