About us

Fourdees Limited was founded by the Wells family in 1990 to provide specialist engineering solutions to the automotive and rail industry. This included work on production machines for Ford and Land Rover vehicles, equipment for Sellafield Power Station and proposals for vehicles for Euro-Tunnel.

The company was passed onto the next generation in 2014, and taken in a completely new direction by Dani. They had a long standing passion for narrow gauge railways, and wanted to help the newfound interest in 009 modelling to grow.

At the time, PECO had announced and released the first ever ready-to-run 009 model rolling stock, but there was nothing to pull them. Heljan and Bachmann had announced locomotives, but these were still over 3 years way from the shelves. With a little bit of luck on the way, Dani produced a small selection of hand-painted and assembled models that were comparable with products from the established manufacturers.

By 2022, the ready-to-run range had expanded to over 30 products. However, being a small independent manufacturer always meant that Dani was reliant on purchasing many of the components at retail prices. The custom printed parts were also produced by a third party with cutting-edge industrial machines, that had high unit prices to match. So with the increasing availability of high-quality ready-to-run models from larger manufacturers, this area of the business was no longer sustainable.

At the same time, the progression of 3D printer technology had reached a level where domestic machines could mimic the quality once restricted to high value industries. So Dani literally brought manufacturing of components 'in house' and began to look at creating a range of kits to supplement the ready-to-run models on the shelves.

Since then, the range has now expanded to over 150 products in multiple scales. Dani works full time for the company, with a key vision for the business to keep as many products in stock as possible. Whilst it is common for retailers and manufacturers to have a restricted selection of items available to buy 'off the shelf' at a given time, they want modellers to always be able to join the hobby and buy items they've seen in pictures or at shows, without having to wait.

2025 has seen a new collaboration with Rapido Trains UK, and we are an exclusive sales partner for their Sirdar chassis. We hope this is the first of many mechanisms, and we are keen to expand this area of our catalogue so that like our kits, various chassis are much more readily available.

Sky Marmot Limited was setup in 2024 in order to distribute Fourdees products to the retail sector. The first products Fourdees created specifically for this market are the Engineering Miniatures range of collectable souvenirs. So far the company has managed to develop good relationships with many narrow gauge railways, including the Ffestiniog, Talyllyn, Bala Lake and Vale of Rheidol.

This company has now taken over the running of the Fourdees website ready for its expansion with our first ready-to-run chassis from Rapido Trains UK. If you are a retailer (be it an independent model shop or linked to a heritage railway) and would also be interested in stocking our products, we would be more than happy to hear from you.

Both Fourdees and Sky Marmot are currently Cottage Industries. Whilst we are at the lower end of the model manufacturing and retail heirarchy, this sector plays a vital role in filling the gaps in the market for niche products that are not necessarily suited to mass production and nationwide retail. We rely on direct-sales to be viable, with what used to be "mail-order" now taken over by online market places. We are independent and run by a family with genuine love and passion for the industry. It is not uncommon for similar such companies to be held up by individuals working 12 hour days, 6 days a week, in order to make ends meet.

But who knows what the future may bring, and should narrow gauge modelling continue to grow, there could be a place to take the companies to the next level to bring more products to the market and to your local high street model shop.

Highly detailed

Produced with care

For the enthusiasts

A 3D printing journey

3D printing is a new and exciting tool that has created a wealth of new model railway products. Our range of over 150 items is only possible with this technology, but there are a lot more steps in production than you may realise. Here we follow the journey of one kit from the print-file to the box...

Step 1 - Printing

The machines take several hours to print the components within the kit. A small component, such as the coupling, is made on a dedicated machine in black resin, and takes approximately 1 hour to produce a batch. Other machines in our standard kit resin can take between 3 and 6 hours to produce their parts. Smaller kits and statics can fit on the machine in batches between 2 and 8, whilst larger kits (such as carriages) can take several different runs on the machine to create all the necessary components.

Step 2 - Drain

Once the printer is finished, the parts are carefully removed from the build plate and the resin is left to drain from the components. This resin is later recycled back into the machine. The draining process helps to remove the resin that has been captured in (and on) the print in various cavities.

Step 3 - Wash

A lot of wet resin is still attached to the model, and this needs some pursuassion to be removed. The models are dunked and spiritidly shaken in isopropyl alcohol, which attacks the resin and (in effect) dilutes it so it is not as 'clingy' to the model surface.

The parts are then left to drain the mixture of alcohol and resin from the surfaces, before being washed again in isoprorpyl. Typically, two cycles are needed, in different washing stations until the parts can be seen clearly through the cleaning solution.

Step 8 - Boxing

All the components for a complete kit are then lined up and counted for boxing, it is at this point additional parts (such as wheels and brass etches) are brought todather. A final quality control check is undertaken to ensure parts are still dimensionally accurate before being boxed up and added to the stock shelves.