SBt Developments is the 21st Century reincarnation of Steve Beattie Diesel Kits. A specialist manufacturer of adult orientated multi-media hobby kits specifically for the model railway field.
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Originally started in 1995, the business aims were to cover what was back then a very poorly represented genre of available models in Gauge 0. The first product to be released was a one-piece resin body kit with etch brass and white metal detail. The masters and artwork where all hand made and hand drawn.
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This kit revolutionised the Gauge 0 modern image scene overnight and it can be claimed that today's ready to run models and high end resin kits are a direct result of this success.
Going forward to the 21st century, in 2002 investment was made in CAD and a new range of brass based kits were developed. The artwork was designed using Auto Cad however the masters for resin and white metal components were still hand made. Then in 2014 a 3d printer was purchased and now ancillary castings are developed using 3d CAD programs such as Autodesk 123 and Blender. Currently Solidworks training is also underway. Kits now include Lost wax and 3d printed parts.
An example of CAD drawn artwork for photo etching and the end result.
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This model is an NBL Class 16
One of the original one-piece resin body based kits made up and detailed to represent a Class 24 in BR Blue.
Early on it was realised kit sales alone would not support a business and a peripheral range would be required. This led to the introduction of Resin Cab interior kits designed to enhance models released by other manufacturers. Again the masters for these were hand built. This range was expanded over a ten-year period before being sold to Peter Clarke Models in 2013 and are still available today.
Built up example of a Hymek Cab interior kit now sold by Peter Clarke Models.
At that time an experimental kit has lead to today's very much admired Diesel Engine kit range. All of these modern kits are designed and developed using 3d design and printing technology.
CAD drawn model of a railcare engine kit and a fully built model of a Class 15/16 Engine.
Of course no kit can be developed without plans and drawings. Most NBL models are designed from actual works drawings. The history of these is detailed elsewhere on this site. Others are measurements taken from actual prototypes. Translating imperial drawings to metric scale is quite a challenge but after over 20 years of doing exactly that, it's now almost second nature.
10800 built from a kit designed using NBL works drawings as shown on the right.
Some loco's as previously released
