The Basics…

SRMW kits are "multi-media". They rely on a variety of materials to bring the design together. The core three are: urethane wall castings, wood walls and white metal details. Masters for the original urethane wall and masonry castings are tooled and hand carved in-house. Wood walls are laser cut from weathered Northeastern Scale Lumber siding. Every kit comes with a jewelry box filled with an extensive assortment of white metal casting made from our own patterns. The kit, however, is not just the simple sum of the three core elements...

A Kit Manufacturer's Policy…

Recently, we went to the grocery store to buy a half-gallon of Ice cream. For the second time in as many years, the "half-gallon" has shrunk while the price has increased. Over the years, part of our philosophy of kit manufacturing has been to eliminate the first part of this equation, while doing our best to keep prices under control. No one wants to pay more for less. So, every year we do a new kit, we always ask ourselves – what can we improve or add?

Some New Things…

Well, we finally purchased our own laser last year and in addition to laser cutting our own wood walls, we are cutting all the templates. In addition, we are supplying laser cut, weathered sidewalk sections. Another new item this year is our own metal chain link fence system. The white metal detail section is as extensive as ever; with all the details you will need to bring character and life to your scene. Color and black and white signs are supplied along with a pre-weathered sign selection for Tedeschi's. Those of you who have struggled with getting that desirable "painted-over-brick " look will have to fuss no more. Top of the line parts from vendors such as Mt. Albert Scale Lumber and Grandt Line also add value to the kit.

The kit includes everything seen in the diorama with the exception of the figures and vehicles. All the stone retaining walls shown are part of the kit.

Though we have been making kits for almost 18 years, we have been in the hobby for over 40 years.  From the day we started our business, we based our product on what would make us happy from the minute we opened the box to the final completion. We know that your expectations are just as high and we do all we can to meet them.

How to put it together…

At SRMW, in addition to the design and tooling, the directions are also done in house. The foundation of the instructions is an extensive book. This is spiral-bound, has large clear print and over 150 photos and diagrams. This year there will be a color center section in addition to plan cards and color posters. This instruction set is not just a litany of "attach Part A to Part B". As much as possible, we attempt to de-mystify the entire craftsman kit building process by documenting the entire process as we build our diorama, sharing with you the nuances and discoveries we encounter during the construction process.  The history, diorama planning process, setting up your workbench, a full scenery section –these are all contained in the instructions

DESIGNED TO BE BUILT THE WAY YOU WANT IT.…

No scratchbuilding is necessary to separate the buildings and arrange them as you would like on a flat or sloped site. As an example of this flexibility, when we built our, we couldn't resist putting the bend (sometimes called a "banana") into the attachment of Spencer's and Tedeschi's and mirroring this change in the layout of the retaining walls by the river. It's any easy modification to make and we show you how. Equally simple is converting the design to work all at one level, or to attach the buildings in different ways.