Who is IHP?

Imperial Hobby Productions has been manufacturing and supplying hobby kits and models for the model railroading and ship modeling markets since 1993. We began with 1/700 resin ship model kits. In 1995 we entered the model railroad market with a series of resin kits and body shells for the craftsman niche modeler.

Our choice of ship model kit subjects has ranged from famous ships of various navies to odd and obscure ship designs that were never built, for which we have established a reputation in the business. Some of the latter were designs cancelled on the slipways, others never made it to the slipways, while others were simply design studies perhaps never intended for actual construction. IHP has produced many of these subjects in resin and, more recently, using 3D resin printing. In 2019, we introduced our first injection-molded plastic ship kit of the British Colossus-class light fleet carriers. We are currently building a small series of 3D-printed ship kits based on these two scopes of interest.

Our model railroad subject choices have focused on commuter, rapid transit and traction (streetcar/light rail) models and kits. We have produced body shells and body kits for various railroad commuter cars, transit/subway cars, vintage streetcars and recent light rail vehicles, some of them licensed by their operators. We have been producing models of Philadelphia's SEPTA Kawasaki LRVs since 1996, and we did a mass-produced plastic/die cast version in 2013. We have produced commuter models not produced by larger manufacturers, and are continuing to produce these using 3D-printing. Our kits feature additional parts for wheelsets, power pickup wipers and wire grabirons in many cases, adding to the realism and sophistication of our products.

We have used an eye for detail and accuracy not always seen in other competing small manufacturers' products. We try to exploit details as far as possible within the manufacturing processes used while maintaining an ease of construction that makes them pleasant to build. Our target market has always been the niche craftsman modeler that doesn't mind doing some of their own work to build or finish the models. We've specialized in serving the small market since our founding. We've tried to adapt to changing times, changing technologies, trends in the hobby and adversity from inside and outside the business. When you've been around continuously since 1993, you must be doing something right. It's a passion as well as a career.

Recently, we lost our longtime website server and started to build this new website in 2026. It will show you everything that we currently produce. We don't have a 'shadow' or 'secret' product range that we don't tell anyone about, so if you don't see it here, we don't make it and don't plan to make it.

We do all correspondence by email or messaging through our social media pages. We’re based just outside Philadelphia, a great historically railroad and transit city that inspires many of our model railroad subject choices.

Imperial Hobby Productions
319 Copley Rd.
Upper Darby, PA
19082 USA

Our Facebook page is very active and this is where we now make all announcements for new products and status reports for everything we’re doing. Our Facebook page is public, so you don’t need to be on Facebook to view it.

We have some ordering links on this website and we take preorders for many items through this website.

For items in stock, we have come to rely on our eBay Store as it allows for calculation of shipping for both domestic and international orders. We do NOT use eBay’s International Shipping Program as we have found it to be less than reliable in some cases and expensive in import fees for others.