Time Machine was stated in 1995 as an attempt to produce white metal figures in 54mm to the high standards found in the wonderful miniatures of Europe. Rendall Patton, the Newcastle UK Sculptor was contacted. His work had always been a favorite of mine. With his help plans were made for our first figures. As fate would have it my next door neighbor was a graphic designer and with his help Time Machine was born. Kevin Ullrich would go on to design some figures for TM and all of our kits were produced with his computer wizardry and graphic knowhow.

Our first pieces were inspired by the celtic illustrations of Angus McBride. Many from illustrations found in Osprey Publication. Once we began to produce the celtic figures, they proved to be extremely popular. Rendall's fine detail and our superb castings combined with enthusiastic popular support spurred us on to do a series of celtic figures which culminated with the extremely popular Vercingetorix and "Celtic Fury" Piece.

After our first seven release we thought it a good idea to try a few other subjects and Rendall produced two Medieval pieces as well as a World War One Pilot figure based on a painting by American Aviation artist Jim Deitz. Following these successes Rendall created an American Civil War vignette featuring seven wonderfully crafted New York Zouaves. Our boxed set "They Rushed Like Demons" sold out in less than a year.

With such initial success we did not know what direction to take next. The Ancient Period seemed a good direction to explore. The conflict between Ancient Greece and Persia became a strong possibility and Rendall Patton again went to work with amazing energy and produced what many consider to be his best work, Leonidas at Thermopylae. He follow this up with a companion piece, "Enemy at the Gates"

As a sculptor Rendall's work was deeply appreciated and he was offered work for many of the firms in Europe. In order to keep up our production Brian Stewart filled the gap and produced many of the Barbarian figures. His Burgundian Standard Bearer quickly became one of our most popular figures. Brian went on to do a lot of work for Time Machine. He designed a Celtic Chariot and a number of other Barbarian figures. Unfortunately we were never able to produce the Chariot and some of the Barbarian figures would eventually become part of the Teuroburger Wald Series.

Rendall returned to Time Machine again in 1999 and 2000 and produced some of the most incredible figure we ever produced. Alexander the Great Crossing the Granicus, Saladin at the Seige of Jerusalem, and two beautiful Napoleonic Figures. Our focus on single figure portrait figures had always been a strong point in the TM kit catalogue.

The idea of producing a series of vignette depicting historical events had always intrigued me but it proved to be very difficult to find a sculptor who was willing to commit to large projects. Chris Tubb another UK sculptor was referred to me American Sculptor Bill Merklein. Although unknown to me at the time Chris was well known to Tolkien Fans as the creator of Prince August Miniatures Mithril Line of 32mm Lord of the Rings Figures. Chris was interested in doing exactly what I was interested in. Chris designed the first of the Teutoburger vignettes in 1998. This piece later to become " Surrounded DS-TW1" was in the works for two years. With Chris' help the Teutoburger Series of figures was born.

The first five vignettes in the Teutoburger Series I were releases in the 2000 -2002 period. The days following the attack on the World Trade Center in September of 2001 were a bleak time for Time Machine and our sales plummeted. Left with many projects in the planning stage and many half produced we could not complete anything until 2004. Left with aging molds, lower sales, higher energy, increasing metal costs and shipping costs we began to discontinue figures. A switch to resin figures with metal parts and different boxing were measures instituted to lower our operating costs and increase productivity. It was at this time that we were approached by Il Modellismo of Italy to act as a selling agent for our kits. After some negotiations a decision was made to sell the master of our older figures to them. As of this writing they are still currently being sold .

Since 2004 we have enbarked on several new fronts continuing figure production in resin with white metal parts.
Our older discontinued kits follow. All kits are currently available from IL Modellismo
Jim Corless 2009