This month I will describe to you how miniature cars are created.

First, the model manufacturers have to determine which cars to model. They have to decide what will sell well enough and what won’t. There are some that are well known to be popular sure bets but amongst them are some that have become somewhat overdone. In fact, it has become a hobby joke to say “Oh no, not another ’57 Chevy! In their search for new cars to model they want to at least try to have some unique subjects but they can’t be too obscure.

One way they utilize to choose which cars to model is to go to car clubs and find out what people want modeled most. A newer modern method is to tally up to the E-mailed suggestions of car enthusiasts.  Yet another interesting way is for the Model Company to be influenced on what to model is for a vehicle to appear in a movie or TV show. That is the best way for the more obscure cars and trucks to be made in miniature.  I have a 1942 Lincoln Zephyr coupe by Zee Toys only because it appeared in some British show.

Part of the decision comes from what market they specialize in, too. A company that builds models out of white metal can choose the more obscure vehicle because they do not spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in the creation of their tooling. Instead the tooling is very low cost but wears out quickly so only a few hundred may get produced. This way, models, such as, say, a 1953 Checker cab, can be affordably tooled up for, because the model is an instant "limited edition,” for which the tool maker can charge up to several hundred dollars for each model, inspite of not having any moving parts or engine detail and will find an eager audience from enthusiasts that want the exclusivity and can afford it.

Those guys wouldn’t do a commonly modeled car such as a ’57 Chevy unless it had a unique body, or something! The companies that create popular car and truck subjects with extensive and expensive detail know they are not appealing to the mass market. They know they are serving a limited market.  What they do is fill the wish for very detailed models for those who can afford it. The old saying, you get what you pay for applies here! If you happen to feel that a particular model has, say, insufficient engine detail, then you can either look for that vehicle in a larger scale in which more detail is less expensive to miniaturize or pay more money for a more intricately detailed model in the same scale.   

Then, there are the manufactures of mass-market models that have to be priced at affordable prices. Their company “bean counters” have to look at what level of detail can be tooled up for in terms of how expensive the tooling will be in consideration of how well the miniatures will sell. They have to consider what is feasible for a reasonably marketable price. They, at that point, can decide whether they want to sell a lot for a little or a little for a lot, too!. I’ve said before that I believe more money will be made choosing the former!

Nowadays the hot competition between the mass marketers has, happily, generated an ever better level of technology that is allowing the tooling to be less expensive and yet be able to create ever better detail at popular prices. The models of just ten years ago don’t come close to what is coming out now! You will soon be able compare the far superior detailing of the upcoming 1/18^th scale Johnny Lightning Herbie VW Beetle with the older 1/18^th scale Solido 1949 Beetles that lacked engine and trunk detail.

Once they have decided what they will model they go out and find a nice example of the real vehicle to photograph and measure. They could model with just blue prints and old photos and do so if the subject was no longer around, but using a real vehicle allows for a more accurately correct detailed model.  Then a large-scale master model is created to be a design guide. From that master, several different scales can be tooled. In each chosen scale pattern makers have to create the individual parts designs.

They hand build a test model for analysis. It is often this model that gets photographed for upcoming packaging. Of course the chosen scale of the model determines the complexity and number of working parts and separate assembly pieces. After the molds, dies, paint masks, etc. have been created they run of a few “first shot” trial models to test fit and finish. It those that are taken to model car trade shows and sent to the editors of model car magazines for introduction.