Push the Limit

In keeping with the anniversary, there are two special models in the Cars and Trucks range with the anniversary logo: the very modern MAN eTGX tractor unit from MAN and the classic Mini. Both appear in very small editions and are only available in the Herpa online store.

Herpa has always set standards. In each case, the first models presented at the Nuremberg toy fair - 1978 car models, 1980 truck models, and 1992 airplane models - wowed the market and enraptured one and all. Being better than the competition has always been the aim of those responsible in Management, Design, and Product Management. Their high standards certainly paid off. In some areas Herpa became the undisputed market leader - for example in 1:500 scale aircraft models.

Away from the norm

Getting away from the standard rim - Herpa was the first manufacturer to bring different car wheels onto the market. BMW was the first car-maker to specify its own rims, behind which you could see the brake disk. Parallel to these improvements at Herpa, demand from collectors was growing in equal measure. Today, a truck model consists of up to 40 individual parts. The designers try to realize virtually everything. Headlights go without saying, but there is also the wide variety of add-on parts, spoilers, headlights, etc. Other manufacturers of miniature models merely print these details, whereas at Herpa they are represented three-dimensionally - at least everything that is possible and viable. Moreover, the collectors really scrutinize every detail of their treasured models and give feedback accordingly, something which is taken very seriously by Product Management.

Lots of things are technically doable, but these high standards have their price - in the truest sense of the word. Product managers Stefan Blank (Cars & Trucks) and Stephan Külgen (Wings) always have to weigh up exactly what will be realized and at what point the model becomes too expensive to produce. The popular “Herpa World History” show trucks and the famous “Lord of the Rings” aircraft are two examples of what could realistically be produced in past years, but would be unaffordable today. The Air New Zealand 747 model alone, with motifs from the film trilogy “The Lord of the Rings”, had 109 individual prints! This required very high precision, which is why these aircraft were only produced in Dietenhofen.

Everything chrome

The production possibilities kept increasing. For example, Herpa was one of the first the first manufacturers to be able to reproduce chrome parts on truck models true to the original. You can't get a “chrome look” with paint, only silver will suffice. In fact, chrome is embossed at Herpa. The elements are punched out of a very thin metal foil and embossed onto the plastic part at around 200 degrees Celsius. This results in tiny car manufacturer logos on radiator grilles and all the other chrome-plated parts. Even tank trailers can be reproduced using a specially designed machine. Here, the silver foil is embossed in full around the tank in a complex process.

Ultrasonic welding is used to “weld” small parts - such as the air conditioning system onto the roof of a truck. At up to 20,000 vibrations per second, the part to be bonded is put into motion almost undetectably to the naked eye. This heats up the part and bonds it on - in our example, the air conditioning system onto the cabin roof. This is a very strong bond and no adhesive streaks are created.

Anyone can simply

Herpa aimed to show what was technically feasible and developed functional, high-tech models. The result was a series of models in the 1:87 and 1:43 scales, including Ferrari, Porsche, Lamborghini, Audi, and BMW. A major challenge for the design and mold making departments, as it was very difficult to inject fine parts and get them cleanly out of the molds. This was where the limits became apparent. No one else had managed this degree of functionality and attention to detail. The models achieved great popularity. Nevertheless, there were imitators on the market, even with the Herpa logo on the base plate. Herpa was able to identify these cheats by means of special engraving, and had the offending models confiscated.

Excursion to the model railroad

The costs for new molds for model trains are very high. So, Claus Wagener had the idea of developing a common mold together with competitors, each company left to design the electrics on its own. Herpa took over Lilliput as a further mainstay, and a production facility was established in Eisfeld. The time was probably not yet ripe for such a collaborative idea, and models were still selling too well. In any case, the hoped-for cooperation did not materialize. The so-called “Märklin crisis” quickly put an end to model railroading at Herpa. “A company has to come up with something, but not everything will be successful,” says Wagener today.

The production site in Eisfeld in the 1990s.

The greatest challenge

Porsche Individual - this industrial order was one of the biggest challenges for Herpa, because each model was only available as a one-off. Porsche were intent on rewarding their customers with 1:43 scale models - each sports car coming with a miniature copy. It was to be configured exactly like the original - including the license plate. The models were hand-painted by a car detailer in Dietenhofen. All specifications, e.g. the different interiors, were applied by hand. A total of around 2,000 Porsche Individual models were produced.

Partner of DTM

Herpa was also associated with the DTM German Touring Car Championships for a long time. For editor Peter Schmäring, this was the impetus for publishing MASS:STAB. However, interest in this motorsport series has waned among collectors these days, and anyway, the models would now be too expensive to produce, as each sponsor requires their own license agreement for any rendering of their vehicle.