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Wiking is a German manufacturer of Scale Model s in HO Scale and N Scale for Model Train s. They specialize in models of cars and trucks dating from the 50s to the present day. Wiking startet to build ship models in the 1930s. These metal ships were made in the scale of 1:1250. Before and during WW II they were used by the German army for training purposes. The Army also used the new plane models (from 1934/35) and the so called Wehrmachtsmodelle (from 1937/38), models of military vehicles and artillery, both in the scale of 1:200. Since 1938 the planes and some of the ships were made from plastic. Based on the Wehrmachtsmodelle Wiking also made some civil traffic models whose production was stopped at the beginning of WW II. During the war Wiking mostly produced for the army because it was considered to be important for the war. Due to that Wiking employed forced labourer, e.g. from Russia. After WW II there were some experiments with a model of Noah's ark, some clay models and some more things before Wiking started to build model cars. At the beginning also combs and buttons were produced. Beside that there was a small series with models of the Berlin Airlift (1948/49) consisting of five planes and two car models in the scale of 1:400. In 1947 Wiking started to produce simple car models that mostly consisted only of one part, having no windows and no chassis. They were made of plastic and roughly in the scale of 1:100. The axles were made of wire with flat pinched ends, they were squeezed into the still warm plastic and not able to rotate, only the wheels rolled on the axles. Later the models were added a chassis and rolling axles, the scale was changed to 1:90. Since the early 1960s the models have got transparent windows and in the 1970s the interior was added. Today sometimes even the original paint of the car manufacturers, the scale was changed to 1:87 (HO). Since 1969 Wiking also produces car models in the scale of 1:160(N) which are mostly for decoration purpose for model trains. Since 1949/50 Wiking again produced ship model but stopped their production in 1974/75. They also tried to sell plane models again in the 1960s but this was stopped again, too.
In 1984 Wiking was sold to the Sieper Group (Siku). The current models of Wiking represent a different philosophy and try to be a perfect miniature just like the competitives e.g. Herpa or Brekina. By now old Wiking models are often rare collectors items which can be very expensive. The most expensive Wiking model ever sold is a Mercedes tank truck from 1962 which was build as an advertising article for the Thyssen company. In June 2006 one of this models was sold for 10,100 Euro at an auction in cologne. EXTERNAL LINKS |
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