model cars - anyone make these?

[bassmansimon]

hi guys,
I'd really like to start getting into making toys, and possibly toy cars (i've seen some of the hot rods on this forum and they're astonishing!).

there's a company in the US which makes mahogany model cars (quite large - about 30cm long i think) for about $150 aus including postage! how can they make them this cheap?

can anybody here shed some light on how they might be making these models, and how i might go about copying the design (it's not their design anyway - it's the car makers)?

http://mahogonymodels.com/main.htm

[AUSSIE]

hi guys,
I'd really like to start getting into making toys, and possibly toy cars (i've seen some of the hot rods on this forum and they're astonishing!).

there's a company in the US which makes mahogany model cars (quite large - about 30cm long i think) for about $150 aus including postage! how can they make them this cheap?

can anybody here shed some light on how they might be making these models, and how i might go about copying the design (it's not their design anyway - it's the car makers)?

http://mahogonymodels.com/main.htm
I would go to the CNC Machines (http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/forumdisplay.php?f=170) and ask these guys

[joe greiner]

Duplicating machinery has been around for eons. Within ten years after the invention of the sewing machine (ca 1840), pattern-tracing embroidery machines were developed, and used until only about 20 years ago when computers got into the act.

In the 1950s, Strombecker sold wooden airplane model kits, for finishing by hobbyists. Probably made with a duplicating lathe tracing a pattern. Duplicarver is a similar machine that guides a router following a pattern. CNC is more appropriate for making something out of thin air, i.e. to produce the master pattern. IMHO, of course.

Starting from scratch is a different game entirely.

Joe

[Papa]

hand carved out of mahogany and imported from Southeast Asia.

Any more questions?