In the 1970s and 1980s young model makers in Burundi created original miniature replicas of racing cars, motorcycles, planes and helicopters from wire, tin and plastic. As autodidacts they learnt to translate the design idiom of vehicles and brands into their own medium, finding innovative solutions to the technical challenges of model making. 

Above and beyond the ethnographic observations and a summary of Burundi's history, the book focuses on the models from an industrial design perspective. With the aid of reverse engineering the authors digitally recreate the models, dissect them and are thus able to decipher the unique skills of their constructors.