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A Model Maker Responds - Thoughts from Autocult Co-founder Thomas Roschmann

Randy Rusk · 2026-08-14T14:29:19Z

For collectors, a scale model may look like a relatively simple product. It's a carefully researched miniature, produced in limited quantities, and shipped to enthusiasts around the world. Behind each model, however, is an increasingly complicated manufacturing process shaped by scarce specialist skills, rising costs, shifting trade policies, and a growing administrative burden. For small manufacturers such as AutoCult, those pressures are becoming harder to absorb. The challenge is not any single problem. It is the accumulation of many of them, all affecting businesses that operate in a very narrow market and have little room to spread additional costs across large production volumes. AutoCult co-founder Thomas Roschmann says that reality is important to understand—not as an excuse for higher prices or longer development times, but as an explanation of what it now takes to produce highly specialized collector models. Moving production closer to home is not as simple as it sounds One suggestion frequently raised by collectors is to move production from China to Europe. On the surface, the idea has obvious appeal. Shorter supply chains could reduce transportation concerns, provide manufacturers with more direct oversight and potentially lessen exposure to geopolitical uncertainty. The difficulty is that the European manufacturing infrastructure needed for this particular type of product largely does not exist. Europe certainly has a long history of model car production, but much of that history was rooted in toys rather than the highly detailed, limited-production collector models made by companies such as AutoCult today. As manufacturing migrated to Asia, the network of specialized suppliers, craftspeople, and production expertise developed there as well. That creates a practical obstacle for a company the size of AutoCult. “You cannot simply decide to produce somewhere in Europe if the people, skills, and suppliers for this kind of product are not already there,” Roschmann says. Countries in Eastern Europe or the Baltic region may offer competitive manufacturing costs, but establishing production would require considerably more than finding factory space. Workers would have to be trained in specialized mold-making, resin casting, painting, assembly, and quality-control processes. For a small company, building that capability virtually from scratch is difficult to justify financially. AutoCult has experimented with European production and has begun having some prototypes developed closer to home. That has produced encouraging results. European-made prototypes can give the company greater flexibility during development, while manufacturers in China can use those prototypes as the basis for production. But even prototype work illustrates another problem facing the industry. Experienced model makers are increasingly difficult to find. Highly skilled prototype builders are a limited resource, and their availability can become a bottleneck long before a model reaches the production line. Cost and quality remain inseparable AutoCult has also examined what full European production might look like. The economics, at least today, remain difficult. Based on the company's experience, producing a comparable model in Europe could result in a retail price roughly 50 percent higher while potentially delivering somewhat lower quality than the established Chinese production network. One experimental project reached that point and was ultimately abandoned. The question then becomes one every manufacturer has to ask. Would collectors accept a dramatically higher price for a model that does not represent an improvement in quality? Roschmann does not believe they would and he does not think manufacturers should expect them to. That illustrates the balancing act confronting small model companies. Collectors understandably expect increasingly sophisticated models, but manufacturers must deliver that quality at prices enthusiasts are still willing and able to pay. Unlike food, housing or transportation, collector models are discretionary purchases. Manufacturers know they are competing for money that customers do not have to spend. “We make products nobody needs,” Roschmann says. “But for some people, they mean the world.” That distinction matters. Passion creates the market, but passion does not make collectors insensitive to price. There is little room left to simply raise prices Manufacturers are being hit by many of the same inflationary pressures affecting other businesses, but small-volume producers have fewer ways to absorb them. Transportation costs remain unpredictable. Trade and tariff policies can change quickly. Political uncertainty affects manufacturing and logistics. Meanwhile, new regulatory requirements continue to add costs that have little to do with designing or building a model. Roschmann is particularly concerned about the industry's ability to continue passing those costs on to collectors. In his view, stabi...

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D Crowe

(@d-crowe)

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Joined: 6 years ago

Posts: 1473

17/08/2026 9:25 am

Thank you, Randy Rusk, for sharing this information. Some of the replies indicate a complete lack of understanding of how the industry works. Sort of like the "old days" when Franklin and Danbury were going strong in the 1/24 scale market. Everyone had ideas that they could do a better job.

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Harv Goranson

(@mg-harv)

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Joined: 30 years ago

Posts: 13701

17/08/2026 8:45 pm

@joop They are taking advantage of our greed and produce what they want, not what we want and under their rules.

Disagree - they are making a lot of what we want. And many times with US input. GLM/Stamp, for example.

GLM 165004 Studebaker Gran Turismo Hawk pic3

GLM 102009 and 102010 Lincoln Capri CPA pic2

Stamp STM74602 Cadillac Coupe Deville 1974 pic3

Stamp STM691021 Chevrolet Camaro Pace 1969 pic1

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Joop

(@joop)

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Posts: 1335

18/08/2026 1:18 pm

@mg-harv Ok. could be true, but haven't we seen these models been done a million times before ?

That's why Autocult (and Matrix) is my favorite.

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Fred Eliseeff

(@fred-eliseeff)

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Posts: 361

18/08/2026 2:09 pm

@mg-harv Superb 1952- 54 Lincolns Capri Carrera Panamericana were reproduced by BBR. One of the best 1969 Camaro- by Buby.

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Fred Eliseeff

(@fred-eliseeff)

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18/08/2026 2:13 pm

@d-crowe There are many opinions and everybody has a personal point of view. I'll buy resin models from China with a great pleasure when its price is 50 dollars. Unfortunately, most of manufacturers invest in advertisement but not in quality.

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Harv Goranson

(@mg-harv)

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Joined: 30 years ago

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18/08/2026 3:03 pm

@fred-eliseeff The Buby is inferior to the Stamp. Of course, you get what you pay for. Then again, the Road Champs was pretty good at a fraction of the Buby/CC's cost.

And I expect Chinese resin will be less than $50 when new Brooklins are under $175. Them days is gone.

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