. wiking s czechoslovakian tatra 87 shows the company s propensity for creative model choices . wiking modellbau is a german manufacturer of scale models in h0 scale and n scale originally made as accessories for model train sets . founded in 1932 traditionally the company was based in berlin . now owned by german siku toys the company specializes in models of cars and trucks dating from the 1950s to the present day . contents 1 pre war history 1.1 war years 2 wiking post war 3 contemporary wiking 4 references 5 external links pre war history edit wiking was founded in 1932 by freidrich karl peltzer who had built ships from cigar boxes in his youth van de beck 2010 . wiking s beginnings were in producing ship models in 1 1 250 scale see mcgeachy 2012 . before and during world war ii these models made of lead based zamac were used by the german military for training and tactical planning van de beck 2010 . they were usually marked wiking modell on their bases . the ships were accompanied by modell hafen model harbors which were wood representations of piers buildings and oil facilities to assist in attack training . the military also used new plane models in 1 200 scale beginning in 1934 35 and the so called wehrmachtsmodelle 1937 38 of military vehicles and artillery were issued in 1 200 scale . beginning in 1938 the planes and some of the ships were made of plastic . based on the wehrmachtsmodelle wiking also made some civilian vehicles whose production ceased at the beginning of world war ii . war years edit during the war wiking mostly produced models for the military as it was considered important for the war effort . reportedly the company employed forced labor for example ; workers from russia . citation needed wiking post war edit after world war ii but before starting production of model cars wiking experimented with a variety of plastics such as for a noah s ark model and for the molding of plastic combs and buttons . some clay was also used in production . there was a small series of the berlin airlift 1948 1949 that consisted of five planes and two car models in 1 400 scale . at this time wiking opened several workshops including those in buer and kiel . simple all business wiking h0 scale model fire vehicles volkswagen s wolfsburg plant also commissioned vehicles in a larger 1 40 scale soon after the war was over . these are rather rare today particularly interesting was a wiking beetle promotional fabricated with a clear plastic body . it was labeled das gl serne auto and available in a special red and blue display box with body wheels interior and seats displayed separately from each other wiking no date . in 1947 wiking started to produce simple car models that usually consisted of a single part with no windows or chassis . these were made of plastic in roughly 1 100 scale . vehicle axles were made of wire with flat pinched ends that when squeezed into the still warm vehicle body plastic could not rotate . thus the axles rolled with the wheels . later models included a chassis . the scale was eventually changed to 1 90 . wiking began to expand its line of vehicles during the 1950s offering both trucks and cars . some offerings were henschel stake and cement trucks magirus trucks the borgward arabella and dkw two door sedan . many of these were offered in packs of five trucks or ten cars model descriptions 2000 2013 . 1962 thyssen tanker truck that achieved a record price at auction . around the early 1960s transparent windows were added to models . interiors were added in the 1970s . for some models even the original paint from the car manufacturers is used . today the scale has been changed to the more uniform 1 87 ho . though this scale matches ho train scale van de beck 2010 various scales have been produced and wiking models today are collected in their own right . the company website refers to the delightful yet robust toy cars that fit in a trouser pocket indicating their play value independent of other toys all about no date . since 1969 wiking has produced car models in 1 160 n scale mostly for n scale model train sets . between 1949 50 and 1974 75 wiking again produced ship models . the company also tried to sell plane models again in the 1960s but this effort was cancelled . some of these models were made for ferrero the austrian chocolate company scaled down from 1 87 scale to fit inside kinder surprise chocolate eggs . most of these vehicles though nicely done like the vw bug convertible and the nsu ro80 were made in hong kong . some were apparently original models not copies of previously existing wiking cars . citation needed today old wiking models are often collector items which can be very expensive . the most expensive wiking model ever sold is a mercedes tank truck from 1962 which was produced as an advertising article for the thyssen company . in june 2006 one of these tank truck models shown above sold for 10 100 at an auction in cologne . citation needed contemporary wiking edit in 1953 the workshops in buer were closed followed by the kiel workshops in 1982 . peltzer died in 1981 at the age of 78 february 5 1903 november 20 1981 . some collectors consider this to be the end of a golden era leaving behind an era of many less expensive and unique stylized models while a new era began of the mass production of expensive models in fewer liveries . in 1984 wiking was sold to the sieper l denscheid known as siku model cars . today s wiking models try be perfectly detailed miniatures in a similar manner to their competitors e.g. herpa and brekina . this is different from the earlier philosophy of being a line with a wide and interesting variety of vehicles more oriented toward ho scale railroad sets . another big change for the company came in september 2008 when it was announced the traditional berlin home of the factory would be closed and all production would be transferred to the siku sieper works in l denscheid wiking no date . references edit all about your favorite wiking collectables . no date . company webpage advertising book on wiking toy models . 1 mcgeachy ian . 2012 . wiking page . blueyonder shipmodels website . 2 model descriptions . 2000 2013 . wikingmania model website original page in german . 3 van de beck conny . 2010 . wiking modellbau . entry in berlin 88 infotech website . 4 wiking . no date . wiking page . 87th scale info website . 5 external links edit wiking s official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wiking modellbau & oldid 743285135 categories model railroad manufacturersscale modelingcompanies of germanymodel manufacturershidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2014 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom 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