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 By the late 1960's collectors were becoming frustrated by the lack of 1/43 scale models of many classic road and race cars. Many had managed to obtain models from the french diecast company Solido which weren't widely available in the UK and the fledgling ranges from Brumm and Rio were also just becoming available but there was still a demand amongst collectors for models of many cars which were unlikely to sell in sufficient numbers to make it viable for the major diecast manufacturers to produce them.

 As a result of this demand the white metal kit industry was born and early pioneers like John Day and Mikansue offered a wide range of cars that had never been modelled before but the early kits tended to be very crude and the builder needed good modelmaking skills to be able to produce a reasonable model.

All this changed in 1973 when Mike Stephens launched Western Models. The kits were designed from the outset to be comparatively easy to assemble and in many cases the entire model was held together by just two screws. The clever design and good quality castings, requiring less cleaning up before painting, meant that it was possible to set up a small production line so that Western could market built models as well as kits.

 The company went from strength to strength expanding their range to include vintage, classic, land speed record cars, and sports racing cars as well as forging strong links with some of the Formula One teams leading to the production of 1/43 kits and built models of the latest grand prix cars and promotional models for the teams in scales from 1/87 to 1/4.

 A move to Taunton saw the launch of a very popular 1/200 scale range of aircraft models.

 Company founder Mike Stephens retired a few years ago. The company name carries on as the aircraft range has been taken over by new owners but the model car ranges are long discontinued although they are still popular with collectors all over the world.