Russian Die-Cast Cars

In the West, especially during the cold war, it was common to make jokes regarding the unrefined nature of Soviet goods. Everything from cars to clothes and busses to bombers were assumed to be crude and unrefined, almost, in some cases, to the point of being laughable or even dangerous.  In hindsight, we can see that these criticisms and witicisms were not always legitimate (although some were surprisingly close). One area, in particular, that the Soviet State seemed to take pride in was that of die cast toys and replicas.

While 1/43 is not a scale that received much love in the West, some of the finest replicas in that scale that I’ve ever seen came out of the Soviet Union. That means it’s possible to get beautiful replicas of all kinds of vehicles that are not only visually interesting and unusual stylistically, but that are also interesting culturally because they’re so foreign (literally and figuratively).

I’ve been lucky enough to stumble upon a few Russian/Soviet Die Cast replicas in recent years, and I’m hoping to continue to do so. In this section, you’ll find a listing for any of the Russian Die Cast replicas I can come across.

1/43 VAZ 2101: A police version of the Lada, straight from the Soviet Union to the Lagoon by way of a Flea Market. Beware, with the Lada, road forks you!

1/43 Lada 2121 Niva with “Skif” Trailer: The ugly and awkward Russian forerunner of today’s SUV’s, straight from the Motherland to you! (Don’t eat the foam!)