Modelguns are Japanese replica or toy guns, which are usually made of zinc alloys or plastic materials. Most modelguns commonly available today are designed to highly replicate the physical appearance (some bear the authentic trademarks and markings too) and in full scale of the real gun counterpart. Many are even made to highly replicate the internal mechanisms so that they are able to strip-down exactly and imitate closely the functionalities of the real counterparts. They operate exactly like a cap gun, using a small plastic percussion cap to produce gunfire sound, spark and blowback operation (for automatic models), but strictly not able to shoot any projectiles.
There are very strict gun control laws in Japan to restrict the mechanisms and material of modelguns so that modelguns appearing in the Japanese market are safe and cannot be converted into anything that can shoot live cartridges or projectiles. Their high resemblance to the real guns and complete safeness make them very attractive to many gun enthusiasts, especially in those countries with very strict gun control. Best of all, they are only a fraction of cost to the real ones and some even replicate the very rare out-of-reach original models. Modelguns are legal to own in many countries and don't require license for ownership. Having said that, it is recommended that the respective law regarding imitated firearms of individual country should be consulted. Modelguns are not illegal in some countries but it is very hard to pass their Customs. Whilst they are free to import and own in some other countries but the cap is illegal to sell and own there. They may also have trademark infringement issues in some countries.
Besides private collection by hobbyists, they are often used in movie production, re-enactment, authority training and museum display purposes. On the other hand, even the airsoft guns look very close to the real guns, their internal design is very different from the respective real ones. Therefore, airsoft is generally not regarded as modelgun.
History
Modelguns were developed after the Second World War due to tight restrictions on firearm ownership by civilians in Japan. As a result, toy guns became popular with many Japanese gun enthusiasts. The early toy guns were imported cap guns (mainly Mattel, Hubley and Nichols) from the United States from late 1950s. Some of the agencies or shops notably Japan Model Gun Collection Association (later MGC), Nakata store, Ehara store (later Tokyo CMC), International Gun Club (later International Industry (Kokusai)) importing or retailing the cap guns later transformed to key modelgun makers and played a key role in modelgun history. These cap guns were fairly crude approximations of actual firearms and with very few operational features. Strictly speaking they are not classified as modelguns as their design / markings and even size is very different from the real counterparts. Nevertheless, these imported cap guns formed the foundation for further modelgun development and gave designers insight for producing new modelgun designs in Japan.
From 1960, the retail shops / import agencies started some modifications (e.g. surface finish from silver to black color) on the imported cap guns locally to make them more realistic and attractive. In 1960–61, MGC (ModelGuns Corporation) released modified Mattel Snub Nose and Hubley Automatic (from a normal cap gun to a cartridge ejection model) which is one step closer to Japanese originated modelgun.
The imported cap guns were eventually replaced with more realistic Japanese indigenous designed and elegantly produced modelguns. The first Japanese designed modelgun is believed to be the Mauser Military Model M1896 (non-ignition model) released by Yamada Plating Industry (later Hudson Industry) in late 1962. Shortly after, MGC released the Walther VP-2 (ignition model with an innovative Slide action design) in early 1963. While there is still no unanimous consensus on the first Japanese modelgun, these 2 models are unarguably one of the pioneers in modelgun history.