Wiking Post-war
After World War II before starting production of model cars, Wiking experimented with a variety of items and figures such as Noah's ark, some clay models, and plastic combs and buttons. There was also a small series of the Berlin Airlift (1948/49) consisting of five planes and two car models in 1:400 scale.
In 1947, Wiking started to produce simple car models that usually consisted of a single part - with no windows or chassis. These were made of plastic in roughly 1:100 scale.
Vehicle axles were made of wire with flat pinched ends, that when squeezed into the still warm vehicle body plastic, could not rotate. Thus the axles rolled with the wheels. Later models included a chassis. The scale was eventually changed to 1:90.
Since the early 1960s, the models included transparent windows. Interiors were added in the 1970s. For some models even the original paint from the car manufacturers is used. Today the scale has been changed to the more uniform 1:87 (H0).
Since 1969 Wiking has produced car models in 1:160(N) scale which are mostly for N-Scale model train sets. Between 1949/50 and 1974/75 Wiking again produced ship models. The company also tried to sell plane models again in the 1960s but this effort was cancelled.
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