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Minichamps
Paul's Model Fine art GmbH

Type	Privately held company
Industry	Diecast, toys
Founded	May 1, 1990
Founder	Paul G. Lang
Headquarters	Aachen , (Germany)
Key people	Paul Thousand. Lang, Romy Crombach-Lang
Products	Model die-bandage
Number of employees	45
Website	minichamps.de

A highly detailed Volkswagen 1600 by Minichamps.

Minichamps is a die-bandage car producer founded as Paul'south Model Fine art GmbH in 1990 in Aachen, (Germany), best known for its 1:43 scale models. The visitor grew out of the Danhausen trade itemize of miniature vehicles and peculiarly made Danhausen diecast releases during the 1970s.

The Danhausen legacy [edit]

Danhausen was a trade company established in 1921 which sold a multifariousness of products similar bicycles and motorscooters. As fourth dimension passed it focused more on toys and by 1971 the company was owned by the Grandsons of Emma Danhausen, Hans Peter and Paul Gunter Lang.^[1] At this fourth dimension the Langs moved into selling model cars both over-the-counter and by mail social club.^[ii] The brothers distributed many unlike marques of mainly i:43 scale models and began to publish the famous Danhausen Earth Model Car Book annually from 1971 to 1993, which was the last word in bachelor one:43 calibration models worldwide. The last edition of the catalog in 1993 was 350 pages and listed 15,000 models.

During the mid-1970s, the Langs contracted with several companies, including Tin Wizard, Western Models and AMR (André Marie Ruf) as suppliers of the models they desired. These were almost exclusively white metal and the cars provided were given several different names; one was 'SD Modelle', another 'Metallic 43', 'Plumbies' and 'Plumbies Inter'.^[3] Nevertheless another was to go along to become the permanent name for the company – Minichamps by Danhausen, at first mainly a range of racing cars.^[1] Reportedly, the showtime model offered to Danhausen by Western Models was a Mercedes-Benz 540K^[2]. Though using other companies' miniatures, Danhausen became a model name unto itself and equally time passed the brothers tried to cement the relationship as Western Models had supplied Danhausen for almost a decade. The Langs wanted to buy Western Models, but owner Mike Stephens declined. Eventually they purchased AMR and Danhausen was finally a de facto producer.^[4]

During the 1980s, Danhausen moved into HO scale, producing many white metal models in either kit or fully finished form. These models were chosen 'Metal 87' and included at least 33 different vehicles^[3].

In the late 1980s, the Lang brothers disputed the management of the company and Hans Peter departed to found his own hobby shop.^[5] From this time on, the Danhausen name was minimized (though you tin still find the Danhausen website, similar to that of Minichamps)^[1] as Paul Gunter and his wife, Romy, took over and formed Paul's Model Art in the late 1990s, which is a name all the same used alongside the master line of Minichamps^[2]. Paul's Model Art started a tendency of moving production to China – as labor costs made models too expensive to fabricate in Europe. By and large, diecast models were increasingly made for developed clientele – and then the manufacture was entering a new era when models would not be played with by younger folk, so the question of cars property their value (that is, with more surviving for longer periods of time) became a fundamental question.^[half-dozen]

Some of the earliest cars to deport the Minichamps name were fabricated in the tardily 1970s and were kits.^[7] One case was the BMW 320 Turbo with xl parts. The models were not hard to assemble with some accelerate training.^[8]

Paul'due south Model Art [edit]

The first Paul'due south Model Art diecast machine made by Minichamps was created in 1990; a i:43 scale GTC Audi V8 driven past Hans-Joachim Stuck. Information technology was the German Touring Automobile Champion in 1990. By 1995 Minichamps was manufacturing more than 110 different castings in several hundred dissimilar racing liveries and three different scales – and sponsoring real racing cars.^[9] The company was officially named Minichamps GmbH in 1996. Minichamps produces die-cast models of Formula One cars and other racing cars, street cars, 1:12 scale motorcycles, trucks & buses, and armed forces vehicles. Cars in 1:43 scale take exceptional detail including items like badges in the centre of steering wheels and hubcaps, and separately molded parts for windshield visors, door handles, air vents, headlight lamp lenses, and hood badges.^[10] Again, most models are manufactured in China.

Minichamps ane:18 calibration Vodafone McLaren Mercedes MP4-22 Formula 1 racing motorcar.

The excellent quality of Minichamps dice-bandage models has been appreciated by car manufacturers, many of whom, like Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, Volkswagen, Opel and BMW, have licensed information technology to produce official promotional replicas. Additionally, model machine collectors have sought out some of the company's one/43 scale models paying very high prices. Mayhap the best case is the McLaren F1 GTR West Promotion model made for the West cigarette company which trades for well over Us$thou on eBay. Another rare detail was the Michael Schumacher Benetton B195 #17 which was recalled after an error was found: it has been known to fetch over Britain £yard.

UT Models and lawsuit [edit]

Before, in collaboration with Kelvin Kwan of Unique Toys (UT Models), Hong Kong, a line of ane:eighteen scale models besides appeared^[2]. Kwan had obviously pushed for development of almost of the pick for the UT series. A small line of ane:64 models chosen "MicroChamps" was as well introduced in 1994 just discontinued in 1999. Information technology included a serial Michael Schumacher McLaren cars. In 2009, a new line of 1:64 models was introduced chosen "MiniChamps 64".

Related to UT Models, in 2004, a lawsuit in Hong Kong courts was initiated by Paul's Model Art equally the plaintiff. UT Models and Gateway Global and Gateway Hong Kong was accused of selling certain models in Germany to which Paul's Model Art claimed to have sole distribution rights. It claimed that UT Models had used Gateway for new offerings to circumvent Paul's Model Art's marketing deal.^[11] At this fourth dimension the lawsuit between Paul's Model Fine art and AUTOArt's parent company, Gateway Global, is still ongoing.

References [edit]

Footnotes [edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c} Danhausen 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "Minichamps website".
3. ^ ^{a b} "Metal 87 - Danhausen". 87thScale.Info.
4. ^ Ward 2004.
5. ^ Meador 2008.
6. ^ Rixon 2005, p. 62.
7. ^ Smeed 1980, pp. 44, 49.
8. ^ Smeed 1980, p. 44.
9. ^ Paul's Model Art 1995.
10. ^ Rixon 2005, p. 63.
11. ^ For more on UT Models' relationship with Paul's Model Art run into Johnson 1998, p. 241.

Works cited [edit]

• "Danhausen Model Machine - Minichamps". ModellAuto. 2009. Archived from the original on March 30, 2012.
• Paul's Model Art Finest Quality Models - Edition 1. Kager Edition. 1995. Company brochure.
• Johnson, Dana (1998). Collector's Guide to Diecast Toys and Scale Models (2nd ed.). Padukah KY: Collector Books.
• Meador, Craig (2008). "Modelcar Danhausen 1:43rd 1959 DKW Inferior". Cyberspace Modeler.
• Rixon, Peter (2005). Miller'south Collecting Diecast Vehicles. London: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN9781845330309.
• Smeed, Vic, ed. (1980). The World of Model Cars. London: Volume Sales. ISBN978-0890093245.
• Ward, Rod (August 7, 2004). "Occidental Survivor". Model Auto Review. No. 184. Archived from the original on August 31, 2011.

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Minichamps.

• Official Minichamps website

martinezfricul.blogspot.com

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minichamps

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