Cartoon sets, Action Man money boxes, limited edition DVD cases, demonstration models of new houses, TV props and Olympic ceremony models. You name it, modelmakers Gary Thwaites and Will Sumpter have made it.

Having worked separately for several years for large companies in London, the pair decided to go it alone and launch their own company -ST Modelmakers in Nailsworth.

Reporter Sian Davies visited their studio to talk business, careers and future plans.

ALTHOUGH to date Will and Gary - whose company is named after the initials of their surnames - have only worked on two projects together, both have gained a great deal of experience working for other companies.

Will, who recently created the sets for Tim Burton's the Corpse Bride, said: "I worked for Aardman animations in Bristol for a while making the sets and scenery and have worked for Warner Brothers.

"I went more towards film and television projects while Gary worked on product prototypes - such as making the first model of a toy, which would then be reproduced thousands of times over.

"A lot of companies will only work in one area but because of our different expertise we can do both."

Thirty-two-year-old Will, who lives in Bristol with is wife Zoe and daughters, Rhianna, two and Amber, one, grew up in Nailsworth and attended Sir William Romney's School in Tetbury.

When Will's parents offered them a block of unused stables in their garden in Barton End, near Nailsworth for a workshop they jumped at the chance.

"All our spare time at the moment is spent bringing our workshop up to scratch," said Will.

ST Modelmakers first project was to produce four different specialised laptop models for a computer company to use in its advertising.

Gary, 32, who is originally from Sunderland but currently lives in a flat next to the studio with girlfriend Lisa, said: "One of them was for a surfer so we made a surfboard laptop and another one was for a punk so we decorated it with symbols and zips.

"We were really up against it so we had Will's dad and my girlfriend painting images and sowing zips on for us."

But every job the pair work on is different and their most recent project involved creating a prison cell with a card-playing rat for a poker advert. Both Will and Gary, who studied art at school before going to university to study model-making, said they really enjoy working for themselves and are keen to build the business up.

"I was always clock watching when I worked for someone else but now it's our business we're doing it for ourselves and it's good to be doing something creative," said Will.

And Gary added: "As far as the future of ST Modelmakers is concerned we want to build it up to the point where we are able to employ people and maybe get apprentices in that we can train up but in the short term we need to just keep the company going."