Look for Our Page!
|
1928 in a small Danish town called Vanlose near Copenhagen sees the birth of a famous brand name in European toy production ‘Tekno Dansk Legetojs Industry’ Started by Mr Siegumfeldt a plumber with aspirations in the toy industry. By 1930 he had revealed a range of models to the “Federation of Danish Industries” and Tekno received first prize in the best model award. In 1932 to everything moves to a new factory but by 1935 these premises had been outgrown due to decreases in imported toys. 1940 saw the arrival of the second world war and a prohibition on tin which was used widely in toy production (this ended in1952), still the factory is being outgrown but building restrictions make it impossible to expand. In 1947 after the end of war led to Tekno expanding further with two buildings and over 200 employees, and a foundry in Norway. Expansion further led the way into Sweden in 1950 – 1969 with ‘Svenska Tekno AB’ which became a success , but due to import bans outside Norway the Tekno name was replaced on toys with ” mini cars”, Nikrom or Mecline . Tekno is now present in America Great Britain ,Germany and Holland Unfortunately y in 1969 Siegumfeldt passes away leaving his legacy to son and daughter. The son is not interested on continuing the name but the daughter shows promise. Before long problems arise with the business, and financial problems lead to the sale of Tekno 2 years later. 1970 the new owners move it to Jutland with a new factory in Hjorring producing dolls. The new factory becomes fully up and running by 1971 and again things go wrong, mistakes and targets not met which is not surprising as only four original members of staff from moved with the new company with all the experience needed in model making. Financial problems followed by low production, high costs and a new factory meant the end for Tekno in Denmark 1972. All of the machinery and tools along with the brand name are sold and move to Holland. 1974 sees Tekno Toys in Holland. Dutch management decides to increase the range of model trucks, which was a wise decision. In 1989 the word toys was dropped from the title, today we know it as just “Tekno”. Tekno now currently produces Scania, Volvo Daf , Mercedes and man with past castings of Erf and Pegaso with a wide range of these models from the 70’to the present day. Technology has advanced,dealer network has grown and Tekno continues to be a market leader in Quality diecast Toys. A lot of Tekno's past work can be seen in their museum at www.tekno.nl The History of NZG models
Back in 1986 the company was operated by Inge Ludwig (nee Schmid) and Hannelore Hauer. By 2000, NZG was passed entirely over to the Ludwig family and it is still the same to this present day as Inge and Micheal Ludwig continue to run their thriving NZG model business.
Scales produced by the model manufacturing company include 1:25, 1:50 and 1:87 as well as many commercial vehicle models in scales of 1:43. Scale models that NZG produce requires at least a 300-piece production order. The models produced by NZG are constructed mainly as adult collectible models rather than toys for children.
NZG specializes at creating a vast variety of different heavy equipment types, producing them with high quality paint finishes and decals. Their specialized models of a variety of heavy equipment include products such as hand pallet movers, forklifts, power generators and skid steers to front loaders. Heavy machinery models of excavators, graders and mammoth ore carrying dump trucks have also been produced by the model company. In addition to their wide variety of heavy haulage models, Caterpillar models and other engines and heavy machinery are sometimes also manufactured and displayed freestanding.
Some models like paving profilers, road rollers and large cranes have also been offered to their customers, and NZG seems to dominate the market in promoting many models for a variety of different manufacturers such as toy and model traders at toy fairs.
NZG’s marques that are represented come from a very broad range, and include New Holland, Volvo, Caterpillar, FAUN, Grove, Terex and Liebher, to name just a handful of their vast range. Chinese bulldozers have now begun to be reproduced by the company. Larger truck models, like the Terex and Liebherr ore carriers are reasonably expensive, occasionally costing as much as £300, but most of their models seem to sell for any price between £30 and £90.
NZG offers a wide a range of different automobile promotional models such as cars and trucks. Die cast collectors have become accustomed to NZG’s replica cars including Porches and Mercedes-Benz that were often used as dealer promotion models. These Mercedes- Benz promotional models were recognisable due to their silver box and blue label, but the design and concept seemed to look similar to Conrad models which also had silver boxes, but focused more on manufacturing the Audi car make.
Most of NZG’s model cars ranged from scales of 1:43but some were larger than others like the No. 82 Mercedes 420/500/560 SEC coupes were 1:35 scale in size. The base of the model Cars were stamped reading “ Made in the Federal Republic of Germany”. Also stickers were commonly found with the model which were warnings saying that the models were not toys and not for children.
Most of NZG’s model cars were produced in the 1980’s and 90’s. A variety of different vans including Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen manufactures were also produced in the 1990’s. No cars since 2002 seem to have been produced as the company focused its aims on producing trucks and various construction vehicles. Many car models were manufactured and still today can be found widely available at reasonable prices.
NZG’s very detailed cars rivalled companies like Schuco or Solido that also produce models cars to a high quality detail standard. NZG, when producing cars, focused on making their cars look as realistic as possible with clear plastic lenses used for headlights and taillights. NZG also was a clear expert at chrome plating small emblems such as car badges and grille details that other Die-cast manufacturers have not done as well as on models three times the size. Their aim of creating a realistic model looking car was presented in the smallest details such as in the wheel designs that were unique to each vehicle with Mercedes or Porsche logos in the centre of them. Unlike, Solido and Schuco, however, as well crafted and designed as they were, cars were never NZG’s speciality.
Some NZG models are marketed under the company name Conrad. In about the late 1980’s some dies also sold to the Bulgarian company, Mikro’67 and continued to be produce in the City of Mir.
Click on the link to visit the NZG web page:
|
