Cursor Models

Cursor Modell was a German company making models of antique and modern German vehicles. It is best known for its plastic replicas of vehicles mainly of the era 1880 to about 1920, produced for, and sold in, the Daimler-Benz museum in Stuttgart (Sinclair's 1974,4).

Cursor started making ultra detailed 1:40 scale plastic replicas of 1880-1920 era Mercedes-Benzes and Daimlers about 1969. The first models were produced by model maker and then immediately taken over by Cursor (Force 1990, 122). Models produced (sometimes marked with the initials C.R.) were mostly of vehicles on exhibit at the Mercedes-Benz museum, like the 1886 "Dreirad" three-wheeler and Daimler's gas powered horse-buggy style "Motorwagen" of the same year. These were the first gas powered vehicles ever produced. Also made were an 1895 Erster Benz omnibus and an 1896 firewagon, and a 1904 MAN Bussing omnibus (Sinclair's 1977). David Sinclair, an influential dealer to the diecast collecting hobby, imported some of the first Cursor Models to the United States in the mid-1970s; previous to this they were unknown in the United States (Levine 2009).

Cursor also featured several racing models for the museum as well, including the 1903 Mercedes Rennwagen, 1911 Blitzen Benz race car and the Mercedes SSK Kompressor driven by Christian Werner, the winner of the 1924 Targa Florio race in Italy.

Some collectors are critical of plastic for collector's automobiles, but those in-the-know realize that companies like Cursor, Minialuxe of France and Brumm and RIO Models of Italy, all have done their earlier "bicycle" tire vehicles in plastic because the spidery detail necessary for realistic portrayal of wire wheels and roof ties is not possible with diecast zamac (Sinclair's 1976).

A good vehicle for analysis is the 1923 Benz Diesel Lastkraftwagen 5K3. The truck was notable for being Mercedes Benz's first diesel. The model is five and a half inches long, and made of a sturdy, rather heavy styrene type plastic that seems heavier than the styrene plastic used by American companies AMT or Jo-Han, the American promotional model and kit makers. It is also much more solid than most French Minialuxe models or early Brumm carriages and steam vehicles which seemed much more 'spidery' and delicate in the use of their plastic.

This model is very tasteful and authentic in appearance and is molded in three different colors; green cab, brown lipped flat-bed, dark gray fenders and rail frame base. The fenders and frame are diecast metal which lends more weight to the model. It has a realistic gold radiator with black grille and headlights. The headlights are 'lit' with an authentic looking chrome for lenses and higher up, beside the cab on the driver's side, is another light - painted yellow.

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