| A diecast toy is a toy made of plastic and a | | | | industry. People who own a nice car or have a |
| special metal called Zamak which is a mix of | | | | dream car most of the times want to have it |
| zinc and aluminum. Most of the usual toys | | | | at least at a smaller scale. The usual scales |
| made through the die-casting method are the | | | | are 1:12, 1:18, 1:24 and 1:64. The 1:12 is a |
| scale models of cars, trains, plains and | | | | large model that is usually intended for |
| construction equipment. Most of these toys | | | | collectors. The 1:24 is the most common scale |
| are usually collectible toys like for example | | | | for the models intended for children for |
| the very famous Mach 5 from the Speed racer | | | | playing. Also pretty popular are the 1:64 |
| animated series. Nowadays most of the real | | | | scaled toys though these are not intended for |
| means of transportations as well as some | | | | small children because of the tiny pieces |
| fictional ones are made through this method. | | | | that they are made from. Famous cars like the |
| | | | cars from Need for Speed or the animated |
| The good thing about the diecast toys is that | | | | movie Cars or the animated series Speed Racer |
| they can be identical with the real size | | | | - Mach 5 are usually available in most of the |
| original. They can have all kind of features | | | | existing scales. Of course the price varies |
| to describe the real thing. These kinds of | | | | from a scale to another. Also if a toy was |
| toys became popular as collectibles during | | | | produced in a limited edition its price is |
| the 50s when the detail and quality of the | | | | going to rise over the advertised price |
| toys rose. In the beginning the most popular | | | | especially amongst collectors. |
| diecast toys were the Matchbox series and the | | | | |
| Hot Wheels series. In fact Matchbox was so | | | | You find pretty much any car you can think of |
| successful that when people referred to a toy | | | | at a smaller scale than the real one. All the |
| as a Matchbox toy they meant any toy made of | | | | car producers have their old and new models |
| plastic and Zamak. Since these toys are exact | | | | scaled down. Also military vehicles are more |
| copies of the real thing at a smaller scale a | | | | and more popular both as toys and as |
| lot of companies realized that by reproducing | | | | collectibles. You can even get cars and other |
| a vehicle or piece of equipment at a smaller | | | | vehicles at the 1:87 scale so that you can |
| scale, as a toy, could mean good advertising | | | | have them as a key chain. If you like these |
| for them. Thus nowadays you can find | | | | kinds of toys you have to be careful not to |
| different airline plains at different scales, | | | | become dependent. This hobby can be a very |
| cars, trucks, helicopters, buses and even | | | | expensive one and you might need a lot of |
| construction equipment and agricultural | | | | space for your cars and such. There are |
| machinery. | | | | several websites apart from the toy stores |
| | | | that sell different models and scales of |
| All the car producers have their models | | | | cars. Collectors' sites offer information and |
| reduced at different scales. This 100% | | | | photos of their collections and most of the |
| reproduction at a smaller scale became a very | | | | times the models they buy are still in the |
| successful part of the toy manufacturing | | | | original packaging. |