Protofour and Scalefour Society Historical Aspects

Hard to believe now but Protofour originally burst upon the modelling world in 1966.

 
The first magazine articles to introduce the new standard appeared in the Model Railway News in August and September of that year. This introduction was followed up by a seminal 13 part series in the Model Railway Constructor starting in 1967.

 
The 'Model Railway Study Group' initiated the Protofour concept and wrote those articles. They provided inspiration to many of us, took a lot of flak, but had the drive to see Protofour established as the standard to aspire to in 4mm modelling. We owe them our thanks. Bernard Weller and Malcolm Cross were members of that study group and as the proprietors of Exactoscale continued to actively promote P4 for the rest of their lives. They kindly agreed to our reproduction of these historic documents.

 
Thanks are also due to the editors of the MRN and MRC who made their publication possible.

 

Publications & Articles

Protofour Timeline Protofour Manual (Facsimile)

 

Personnel

Scalefour Presidents Scalefour Chairmen

 
 

Competitions & Awards

Chairman's Cup Deputy Chairman's Cup Armchair Modellers Challenge Beth Evans' Award MRJ Chalice Brook Smith Award Cumberland Bowl Irwell Novice Shield Branchline Award York Trophy Walton-Evans' Trophy

Model Railway News/Model Railways (Facsimile)

MRN - Aug 1966 - PROTOFOUR A New
Approach to Modelling Standards MRN - Sept 1966 - A New Approach
to Modelling Standards, concluded.

 

Model Railway Constructor (Facsimile)

Jan 67 - A new scale modelling standard Feb 67 - Concerning wheels March 67 - How tight the curve April 67 - Protofour 4 May 67 - Protofour 5 June 67 - Track laying July 67 - Protofour 7 Aug 67 - Constructing turnouts Sept 67 - Switches, crossings and junction layouts April 68 - Templates Nov 68 - Template jigs April 69 - Templates & turnouts Aug 70 - Track finish and operation and wiring of turnouts

 

Unfortunately some photographs and line drawings in these facsimiles have been omitted due their poor quality during scanning. Where necessary and if possible, line drawings have been redrawn