Popular Model Cars

There are many popular brands of model cars and also many popular types of models on the market today. It's not just cars and trucks any more, though; many collectors branch out into other model collectibles, such as trains, planes, buses and double-decker buses, NASCAR-themed vehicles, agricultural implements, military models, and construction equipment.

There's also a host of restaurants and filling stations that collectors buy to complete "scenes" or "playsets" to go along with the vehicles. Toy raceways are also popular and are sold with or separately from die-cast cars; many involve loops, twists, and crazy turns for cars to zip over, under, and through.

Newer on the market are special bags for collectors to travel with their collections, mostly used for car or truck model showcase dealers. Because some vintage kits have become so rare in today's market, a new segment of the market, resin cars, has made it easier for young collectors to get their hands on a reproduction of an original. The resin kits are more expensive, but much cheaper when compared with the vintage originals.

Though most cars are static display models, sometimes they can be powered in some way, through rubber bands, springs, inside mechanisms, electric motors, or other sorts of motors. Uncontrolled power models, popular in the 1930s until the 1960s, ran on a rail between the wheels and used an inside engine to move. Electrically powered slot cars became popular in the 60s and are still popular today.

Spring-powered, or "clockwork," models work with a key or front winding mechanism and were common until the 60s.