Realistic toy cars

[hamlet]

I want to explore some new territory for me in photography and try some interesting things. I am looking for miniature replicas of cars for some shoots, can you recommend a specific brand that looks believable?

 

[tecboy]

Go to hobby store. They have some very detail cars.

 

[hamlet]

Good idea, I just cant think of any locally. We've got toy stores, but their cars are crudely painted 'made in whatever' plastic crap with sloppy paint jobs.

 

[Kendall9991]

Look at the nicer "toy" cars like Johnny lightning etc

 

[molested_cow]

Diecasts have gone up in price way too much over the past 10 years. When I started collecting them(1:18), a typical AutoArt diecast would sell between US$50~$75. Now you can't get one for less than $150 I think. That said, here are some brands that I know of for decent to good quality.

Auto Art, MiniChamps, Exoto, Kyosho.

AutoArt has the most variety to choose from, whereas Exoto have the most detailed and most expensive ones.

 

[hamlet]

Love some of the cars in those brands. Now to look for some 50s americana and some sports cars throughout the ages. Hopefully they have the Aston Martin DB5, i want to recreate some of the scenes in Goldfinger.

 

[JoeW]

I'm getting to this thread VERY late so my response may be way past any value.

I used to be a scale modeler (mostly armor). My advice would be to NOT look for models/cars from a store (unless you intend to do a lot of finish work yourself on them). Instead, find a local model building society (most local hobby shops will have a display case with information on the modelers or they'll even host a local modeling club). Go to those folks and ask to shoot their stuff. Most of them are proud and happy to cooperate and may even have dioramas already built for you to shoot the vehicles in as a setting.

Depending upon what you want to shoot, a stock purchase usually isn't going to be adequate. It won't show weathering and fine details and really needs to have the right setting. It will just be a nice toy car.

Here are a couple of websites to check out that may provide some help and/or inspiration:

Michael Paul Smith's Flickr site, the guy who's model car photography impresses me the most: Flickr: Michael Paul Smith's Photostream and also here: Model Maker Turns Toy Cars Into Nostalgic Life-Like Images - On A $200 Point And Shoot | Fstoppers

Outstanding backdrops by Matt Albenese: A Behind-the-Scenes Glimpse of Matthew Albanese's Magical Miniature Worlds

Nice micro worlds by Lori Nix: Lori Nix