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Model Cars From Kits

Model car most frequently refers to scale miniatures of real production vehicles, designed as kits for the enthusiast to construct. They can be created in plastic, die-cast metal, resin, even wood. The best kits have incredible levels of detail, even in parts unseen when the finished model is on display.
The model kit car hobby began in the early 1950s, as an outgrowth of promotional models manufactured for automobile dealers. Youngsters would be given the scale models to play with while the parents and the salesman haggled. Collecting and trading these "promos" soon became a popular hobby.
During the 1950s and 1960s, interest in the hobby peaked, as many companies started to profit from the interest in the promo cars. AMT, Revell and Monogram started up during this time, and it was considered a "golden age" for model kit cars.

Interest in model cars began to wane in the mid-1970s as a result of builders growing older and moving on to other pursuits. By the early 1980s, model building had been largely replaced by video gaming as a favorite pastime of American youth. A resurgence was experience in the late 1980s, due to many who been involved in the hobby in past years rediscovering it. Monogram helped spark the revival with a series of replicas of NASCAR race cars, as did AMT with a kit of the 1966 Chevrolet Nova, which modelers had been requesting for years.

Japanese diecast model kit manufacturers - Tamiya, Fujimi and Hasegawa also stepped up their presences in the U.S. market during the 1980s and 1990s. While many of their model car kits have limited appeal to American modelers raised on "Detroit iron," the quality of their products is perhaps the finest in the industry.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Model Cars

History of Diecast Models | Model Car Die-Casting
Model Cars From Kits | Scales | Scale Diecast & Plastic Model Sizes | Model Car