An army background brought this next pioneer into our story. Denzil Skinner was born in 1908, led a military childhood and career progressing through Sandhurst, and commissioned into the Royal Tank Corps. His interest in tanks began when he was employed designing them, and subsequently specialised in tank track design.
After the war he became the first Chief Instructor at the School of Tank Technology. He left the Army in December 1948, and after spending his first three years working on selling Lloyd tractors, in 1951 he set up his company Denzil Skinner & Co Ltd, making scale models of a wide range of armoured fighting vehicles, together with regimental badges. The military model vehicles were mostly to a constant 1/100th scale, fully finished, and to our knowledge not on general sale to the public, as the primary outlet was the Ministry of Defence, for use as tactical and recognition training. An exception to this was at the Bovingdon Tank Museum.
Subject ID: 82169
MoreAn army background brought this next pioneer into our story. Denzil Skinner was born in 1908, led a military childhood and career progressing through Sandhurst, and commissioned into the Royal Tank Corps. His interest in tanks began when he was employed designing them, and subsequently specialised in tank track design.
After the war he became the first Chief Instructor at the School of Tank Technology. He left the Army in December 1948, and after spending his first three years working on selling Lloyd tractors, in 1951 he set up his company Denzil Skinner & Co Ltd, making scale models of a wide range of armoured fighting vehicles, together with regimental badges. The military model vehicles were mostly to a constant 1/100th scale, fully finished, and to our knowledge not on general sale to the public, as the primary outlet was the Ministry of Defence, for use as tactical and recognition training. An exception to this was at the Bovingdon Tank Museum.
His first premises were in London Road Camberley, and in 1957 he moved to the Phoenix Works, at Phoenix Green, Hartley Whitney. These were behind the Phoenix Public House which from 1934 had previously been the base for the Vintage Sports Car Club, and the premises at the rear, formally a run-down garage, became a repair and maintenance business managed by some of its members. Such was its prowess in attending to many machines, that the pub became known as the “Home of the Vauxhall 30/98”.
During this time Denzil Skinner took on David Shepherd as a part-time backdrop painter for his dioramas, and in due course David moved onto his own wonderful career as a successful artist.
Another of his employees, taken on as an assembler straight from school at 15 years of age, was Anthony Molay, who later went on to found Hart models. Tony recalls building the Vickers tractor models, and undertaking finishing and casting too. The Phoenix Works was originally the paint shed for painting wooden horse-drawn coaches, and opposite stood the forge, where the wheels were made for the coaches. All Denzil Skinner’s design work and the full manufacturing process were in house, and at the height of production, when tractors were a big part of the model output, he employed 30 people.
In addition to the model tractors, the portfolio of his production was very broad, encompassing, regimental and club badges, trophies, a small range of pre-war European sports cars, cast for the Rev. Paddy Stanley, a wide range of war games vehicles and scenery pieces of varying scales, aircraft, boats, figures, both military and civilian, and a comprehensive “tanks of all nations” range.
He was proud of his military life, and his two younger sons continued his links, both serving in the Royal Armoured Corps.
Single sheet leaflets were available for his products until at least 1980, but sadly, he died in September 1987. However, the ranges he produced were continued in the new name of Hart models, and the next chapter in that story was made available to us by Anthony Molay, who bought the company from Denzil Skinner’s widow.
Subject ID: 82169
Subject ID: 82169