Which Make Model Car's ?

[theshrew]

I'm looking to start to build a collection. I'm genrally interested in racing cars.

I presume some are better quality, hold value etc better than others. Do you take this into account when buying or do you just buy whatever takes your fancy ?

Also what scale is the best to go for ?

Edited by theshrew on Friday 17th May 21:48

[NismoGT]

Depends on what you want to collect.

1:43 scale will give you a huge choice. 1:18 are of course bigger but more limited in range.

What sort of race cars? GT, Touring, WRC etc...

[g3org3y]

theshrew said:

I'm looking to start to build a collection. I'm genrally interested in racing cars.

I presume some are better quality, hold value etc better than others. Do you take this into account when buying or do you just buy whatever takes your fancy ?

Also what scale is the best to go for ?

Edited by theshrew on Friday 17th May 21:48

Best brands are probably Autoart & Kyosho ime. BMW used to use the latter on their dealer models (now they use Paragon iirc) I've got a couple of very very decent Minichamps models too which are probably their equal in terms of detail/quality.

Further down the scale is UT models (though I think they've been bought out and stopped making models now).

Entry level models are typically by Bburago or Maisto.

1:18 scale is my favourite owing to thee size and the level of detail. Beware of cost however. At a minimum, you'll be looking at £40-50 for good ones. Easily over £100 for more sought after models (especially with original boxes).

[theshrew]

NismoGT said:

Depends on what you want to collect.

1:43 scale will give you a huge choice. 1:18 are of course bigger but more limited in range.

What sort of race cars? GT, Touring, WRC etc...

To start with id love to get some Group C type of stuff but im happy to get anything tbh as long as i like the car

Silly question the size is a 1:43 are the ones a bit bigger than matchbox toy car type size ? and the 1:18 maybe 5 or 6'' or something like that ?

[NismoGT]

theshrew said:

To start with id love to get some Group C type of stuff but im happy to get anything tbh as long as i like the car

Silly question the size is a 1:43 are the ones a bit bigger than matchbox toy car type size ? and the 1:18 maybe 5 or 6'' or something like that ?

Yep. 1:43 are about twice the size of Matchbox

1:18 scale are a lot bigger. You won't find much Group C stuff in that scale. in 1:43 you have a lot more choice.

HPI racing have produced the Porsche 956, Mazda 787B and Sauber C8, so that is a good place to start.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HPI-1-43-Sauber-Mercedes...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1-43-hpi-1983-LeMans-24H...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mazda-787B-1-43-HPI-/350...

I do not mean to write a long, drwan out post but just to help steer you in the direction you want to go.
Try heading to a toy fair and having a good look at what is on offer. Have a look at various scales to see what appeals to you. You can find things a lot cheaper than they are online too. Models shops will rip you off unless they have a sale on.

This is just my opinion on what i perceive to be a good list of manafacturers.

HPI Racing
Minichamps/PMA
AUTOart
Spark
True scale miniatures
Kyosho
J-Collection
Ebbro
Ixo
Neo scale models
Schuco
Redline
Norev
Vitesse
Trofeu
Hot Wheels Elite
Bizzare

There are more, but between them they tend to cover almost everything.

Minichamps are good for F1, DTM, ADAC 24hr etc...
HPI are good for pretty much everything
Spark are good for more obscure race cars
Trofeu, IXO and Vitesse will cover your rally needs.
Ebbro cover Japanese motorsport very well.

Have a look on ebay for the above manafacturers. Hope this helps.

[g3org3y]

^Good post. I'm coming at it from a BMW collector point of view, so my manufacturer suggestions will be a little biased.

Forgot to mention Otto Mobile. They make resin models of very high quality (of some more unusual models). Worth checking out.

Schuco's 1:87 models are really really good. Have a few of their touring car BMWs and the quality/detail is way above anything else I've seen at this scale.

Edited by g3org3y on Sunday 19th May 23:13

[theshrew]

Thanks for the advice fellas great help :-)

[PS2018]

Sorry to bounce an old thread but are there any updated thoughts on the best 1:43 scale brands at the moment? If one compares the same car by Minichamps /Spark or Ixo how are we ranking those? Or significant other brands of similar quality
Thanks for any thoughts - or to point me towards a more recent thread!

[ferrisbueller]

A lot of it comes down to which specific car you'd like a model of as that can determine which manufacturer has the license etc.

For your list I'd go:

Spark
Minichamps
IXO

TSM are high end. Autoart, Hot Wheels, HPI, Brumm, Shuco, Burago, Norev, Corgi and more all do various models.

[marcosgt]

There's a lot more Group C stuff around in 1:18 than there used to be.

Norev do a lot of Porsche 962s (both Group C and IMSA versions) and Minichamps make a lot of 956s (the earlier models, some still available, were opening with detailed interiors and engines. Norev do a couple of versions of Peugeot's 905 Group C car, too.

These are all available new between £35 and £150 if you look around and look pretty decent on display, if not super detailed close-up.

If you have deep pockets, Exoto made Jaguar XJR9s (Group C and IMSA), Sauber C9s and Nissan R89Cs which are gorgeous but expensive - They sometimes have sales on their own site (clearing old stock is the general opinion) or you need to trawl eBay, but that's expensive nowadays.

Spark have made a good number of highly detailed sealed Resin Group C cars (Jaguar XJR14, Lancia LC2, Rondeaus, some sought after 962s, etc) over the years, but you'll probably have to buy used as most are out of production and stock new most places, but it's always worth a look.

AutoArt famously made a Mazda 787B with lots of detail and you can sometimes grab one from eBay at a good price.

Now and then someone else will release something unusual, like Autobarn's resin Jaguar XJR12s and XJR5s, Tecnomodel's Ford C100s and Aston AMR-1, but they tend to be quite costly for the detail they have, so are for the purists.

If you want a big collection in terms of numbers, though, go 1:43, it's much easier to display!

If you want to get poor quick, take a look at https://ck-modelcars.de/en/

M

Edited by marcosgt on Thursday 20th February 20:54

[PS2018]

Thanks for the replies ferris & marcos and the detail and the link - I could get carried away!
The car I want to get is a 1:43 mclaren f1 gtr and a quick search for the same Le Mans spec car threw up those 3 brands plus: ‘Provence moulage’ ‘altaya’ ‘hatchette’ (which is aka Spark is that right?) and HPI. Pretty much all 6 brands approx £15-20 buys it.

Having not seen any of these in the flesh is it worth paying £50 for the TSM model? I am happy to do so if it is noticeably higher quality. Pictures online would suggest it is worth it plus if it is resin.

Edited by PS2018 on Friday 21st February 08:06

Edited by PS2018 on Friday 21st February 08:09

[ferrisbueller]

Is it the LM winning Ueno Clinic car you're after?

[PS2018]

Ideally ferris yes - I can see TSM still do it in 1/18.
Do you happen to know what price this used to be/would be now?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/TrueScale-Miniatures-TSM1...

[ferrisbueller]

http://www.tsm-models.com/product-detail.php?v_by=...

[PS2018]

Ah $190 originally ok so I guess around £150.
Worth paying extra for TSM over the various aforementioned brands I mentioned?
Thanks

[ferrisbueller]

If you can find one then I would guess they'll have gone up in value.

TSM stuff is nice, for sure. If it's going to sit on a shelf and you're looking at it from a few feet then I'm not sure the expense is worth it. You can pick up a 1/18 Minichamps for around £125. You may even find someone willing to sell one for less