While the car industry is suffering a sharp decline, the model car industry appears unaffected by the downturn, with collectors anxiously awaiting new products.
To keep up with developments, the model car manufacturers maintain close ties with car makers such as Mercedes and Opel.
Car makers themselves have a keen interest in seeing a model car of their new vehicle on the shelf and normally hand over secret construction plans under strict conditions.
“The model car makers in principle manufacture their products based on the same data that is used to assemble body panels and axles,” said Daniel Stiegler, spokesman of the model car manufacturer Herpa.
The model car manufacturers are normally allowed to take a closer look at the prototypes early in the development process.
It is a little more difficult when it comes to building models of vintage and classic cars.
“Research of the original documentation is difficult. Hundreds of photographs have to be taken and calculated down to the model size,” said Udo Plichta, a developer at Schuco.
To simplify the production process, Schuco is now using a mobile laser scanner that compiles a 3D image of the vehicle.
Once all the data is ready it is scaled down to model size with the respective parts. A model car of say the VW Eos in a 1/87 scale consists of 20 parts. But the fire engine truck Schlingmann HLF 20/16 which Revell offers as a model kit with a 1/24 scale has exactly 257 parts.
It takes Revell about a year to measure and to develop the model kit. But at least the manufacturer does not need to worry about the assembly, which is most of the fun.
Wiking & Co has a much more complicated production process. Wiking manager Andreas Kroeber said fluid plastic heated to a temperature of more than 200°C is pressed between two metal parts cut down exactly to 0.01mm.
The parts coming out of the machine are painted individually while the alloys and front grille are covered with metal foil. Racing car models bear the same sponsor stickers as the real thing.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)