Joseph DiTomaso

I have been a diecast car collector since the age of 10. Collecting all different scales and Brands of Die-cast cars. I actually started with plastic model kits. The first plastic model kit I assembled was a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette. It was circa 1965 also. At that time the model came split into 2 halfs which I had to glue together. Needless to say it was a disaster. But as I got older and wiser I became pretty proficient at building plastic model kits! In the 1980's I acquired quite a collection of at least 300 plastic kits. I would just purchase them when I saw them whether it was in a local Model Shop or at a model and Train Show. I would build each one carefully and spay paint the bodies on them. Most of the knowledge I received from building the plastic kits I acquired from doing body work that I had learned as a trade in High School. So it had become second nature. Though by the early 1990's I decided to sell the collection of unbuilt kits to a vendor, and decided to collect die-cast model cars particuarly 1/18 scale. I found the detail to be close to realism as possible. But depending upon the model Companies generally the expensive die-cast models the same type of detailing was available just as good or better with the smaller scales. Now again as a young child I did go thru the phase of collecting 1/64 scale which were less expensive generally than the larger scales and were play toys to me at the age of 6-7 and 8 yrs. old