About Us

CMA Models was established in 1982 by Marshall Buck, along with the generous help and urging of a patron – fellow enthusiast. In addition to the CMA name, we have also produced models under the name Creative Miniature Associates, and Tipo Models by CMA.  And, for a brief time we produced various automobilia items under the name of The Loring Collection. 

The idea from the the start was to specialize and cater to serious collectors by offering a combination of select services under one roof.

The services offered:

• The finest highly detailed custom built to order models in various scales which are built by Marshall Buck and just a few other craftsmen working under his direction.
• Producing our own line of extremely limited edition hand built models and kits.
• Consulting service covering a broad range of topics related to model collecting and manufacturing.
• Representing other top level craftsman/artist(s) as we did for 10 years with the late Manuel Olive Sans, and a few others.
• Brokering/selling some of the rarest one-of-a-kind scratch built models.

The philosophy:

This is simple. Do it right or don’t do it at all, and quality is paramount. We have always built, produced, and represented the finest quality limited edition hand built models and custom built to order pieces; not cut corners nor over produced any of our editions. For each individual model or edition we place an extremely strong emphasis on historical accuracy, and we always strive to improve. Most models from other companies clearly miss one or all of those areas. 

Our level of quality can best be described in a one sentence quote from the late Victor Gauntlett, former Chairman of Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd. This conversation took place at the Aston Martin showroom in London in 1988 between Marshall and Victor when Marshall was hand delivering a few models to Victor (who was a regular CMA customer).

“……quality always sells; and what you do Marshall is superb quality.”

The edition sizes of built models on the average are now limited to a series of as few as 10 to 25 with an occasional stretch to 50.  Some previous editions were higher.

The expertise and knowledge you receive as a customer at CMA is the most comprehensive to be found anywhere. In the field of model collecting there is unfortunately a great deal of misinformation as well as so many blatant oversights, and if you will pardon the pun; so many so-called ‘professionals’ steering customers in the wrong direction all in the name of making a quick dollar.  That does not happen here.  We can say with complete confidence that our range of knowledge in this field is unsurpassed and customers always receive honest and thorough information, which is the same that we would want for ourselves being a serious collectors too. CMA is the only specialist in the world that have sold numerous one-of-a-kind scratch built models by so many of the best artisans such as Manuel Olive Sans, Gerald Wingrove, Michelle Conti, Sean McKenna, Bob Hine, Jacques Brauer, Stephen Barnett, Jim Ison, David Hayward, Alistair Brookman, Giuseppe Da Corte, Marshall Buck, and many others. 

Some of you may also know….. for 11 years Marshall wrote a featured review and information column on models of all types for every issue of Vintage Motorsport magazine.  His last column in VM was published in early 1999, and he took a hiatus from writing until 2007 when he was asked by Sports Car Market magazine to write for them for every issue, which he did for 12 years. Since then a number of other automotive publications have asked as well. He has accepted only some of the requests and offers. He has been a regulator contributor to Sports Car Market, American Car Collector, Cavallino, Mesh New England, The Chase, and Prancing Horse. Marshall is also Co-founder and Editor of AutoMobilia Resource magazine.

The shameless self-promotion continues.:

CMA’s first large scale (meaning larger than 1:20th scale) model was of the 1949 Le Mans winning Ferrari 166  MM Barchetta which received rave reviews and was hailed by Prancing Horse Magazine as “the next best thing to owning the full sized car.”  This particular edition was the first 1:14th scale limited edition model produced by anyone to feature full chassis detail. There was so much detail there, that we also produced an edition of separate Rolling Chassis models.  Our Barchetta model was also personally selected by Tim Allen, the star of the hit T.V. series “Home Improvement” to be part of the main house set shown in many episodes, and was briefly featured in one scene with him. This edition of models was personally autographed by Luigi Chinetti, Sr., and was also approved by Touring Superleggera who designed and built the original Barchetta bodies. This model had to be great from the start since as they say: you only get one chance to make a first impression.

Another first was offering models personally autographed by famous racing drivers and automotive personalities. We have been very fortunate to have plaques autographed specifically for our editions by Chris Amon, Luigi Chinetti Sr., Jack Brabham, George Follmer, Juan Manuel Fangio, Dan Gurney, Denny Hulme, Jacky Ickx, Lloyd Ruby, Stirling Moss, Jacques Swaters, and Augie Pabst.

Over the years CMA has been selected to produce special display and award models and limited editions for Aston Martin Lagonda Ltd., Chrysler Corporation, Monterey Historic Automobile Races, Ferrari North America, Lime Rock Historic Festival, Honda Performance Development, Toyota Motor Sales, and others.

In 1998  Marshall L. Buck was assigned the task of guest curating a museum exhibition of over 80 of some of the best models in the world for an exhibit titled “The Art of The Automotive Model.”  This ran for a few months at the Stamford Museum (Stamford, CT.) and we have been told that it was one of the most highly attended exhibits they had ever had.

Several years later Marshall was again contacted by the Museum, and was asked to guest curate another model exhibition, which opened in 2006.  This time it was for an exhibit titled “Built To Scale.”  This exhibit incorporated Automobiles, Aircraft, and Ships & Boats. This show ran again for a few months, and once again broke all previous attendance records! 

A big thank you for publicity we’ve received over the years goes out to: AutoWeek, Car Collector, Autosport, AMOC Quarterly, Prancing Horse, Auto Aficionado, Sportscar International, Classic and Sportscar, Greenwich Time, Robb Report, Automobiles Classiques, Octane, Makes & Models, Model Auto Review, Scale Auto Enthusiast, Four Small Wheels, Quattororuotine and more.