| In the 9 years I worked for Tyco Toys and Mattel Toys my time spent in the Matchbox Collectibles Design Group was the more fun and gratifying. Because of the high markup of the collectible business, we were relatively free of the cost limitations of regular toy product development. Our job was to make our series as good looking as possible.
Matchbox Direct Collectible items were priced at $29.95 for a 1:43rd scale die-cast car or truck. We had a very large collection of cars to work with from our existing tooling catalog. We also did a lot of new tooling of vintage cars, trucks, pop culture cars, and muscle cars. Our business position was such that for the same price of one, highly detailed Franklin Mint die-cast car, our customer could have six highly detailed and decorated vehicles.
I was assigned to work with brands that Mattel had license to work with. They would give me a style guide or reference books and tell me, "Come up with some series." So I would review the material and look for patterns that we could apply to our cars and trucks. I was the only one in our design group with rendering skills, so when I came up with my ideas, I would render them for presentation.
After a concept was approved and plugged into the official line up, copies of the renderings were sent to the licensor for approval. As soon as a design was approved, I had to have photo sample pieces created. I had to prepare the graphics for rub-down transfers and have the cars and trucks painted in our model shop or by an outside vendor. One of the finished samples was sent to the licensor for final approval. Of course, at every stage of licensor approval, any requested changes had to be made. A turnover package was then prepared for the engineering department that would then work with the manufacturing plant in China. F.E.P.s (first engineering prototypes) were then sent to me for review. This was our chance to adjust or change anything before the final sign off for production.
To review some of the programs I created, just click on the graphic images below.
Contact Scott HERE.
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