Nick Metcalfe’s a winner at cards. His miniature model kits for railway lay-outs have turned up trumps. He and wife Judy run Metcalfe Models and Toys in Bell Busk and the couple have created a niche market by manufacturing ready-cut card kits of buildings, which add realism to the world of model railways.

And the firm has just completed a £250,000 building project which will provide a state-of-the-art factory, design studio and office as demand for the products keeps on growing.

The pair started the firm as a part-time venture in 1991 and it has steamed ahead ever since.

All Nick’s designs are loosely based on real buildings, including a parish church modelled on St Michael the Archangel in Kirkby Malham, a version of a Hellifield petrol station and a cinema looking remarkably like Skipton’s Regal.

The kits have proved very popular across the globe and Metcalfe Models even has wholesalers in Australia and New Zealand. Model constructors, though, tend to be perfectionist by nature and although complaints are few and far between, Nick does get some nit-picking.

“We had one customer who was the world’s leading authority on ‘scale’,” said Nick. “They wrote me a four-page letter criticising one of our kits and explaining that we had got a measurement wrong by one half of a millimetre.

“Another customer advised us on the thickness of the card paving slabs. He arrived at the factory one day with a micrometer to prove his point. We also had an architect criticise the type of bond used on the red-brick kits.

“However, we are very proud of what we do and the feedback we get is usually very positive. We receive daily phone calls from customers to say how impressed they are with the finished product.

“We had a phone call last week from a man suffering from cancer. He rang up to thank us for the kits as they had helped him to keep positive. We have also had many orders in the past from occupational therapists, who use the models for rehabilitation.”

The company employs 11 people and will officially open its new building later this month. It sits opposite the original Grade II listed house and barn which was converted into the Metcalfe HQ just over 10 years ago. The business quickly outgrew the barn, prompting the new build.

It incorporates a steel structure, hidden by a glass and wood cladding design. Nick came up with the concept of the building and passed his idea to architect John Wharton as he wanted it to look different from any other in the Dales.

The building project started in August and was completed last month by Sutcliffe Construction of Hellifield.

Nick said: “We are extremely proud of our new building. We now have the space and machinery to extend our kit range without having to worry about limited room.

“I didn’t want the building to look like another farm barn, which is what the planners were pushing for. I came up with the idea of the steel structure and designed the shape. My architect suggested cladding it with wood to blend in with the existing building without compromising its integrity.”