Thermoelastic stress analysis (TSA) is one of the methods in experimental mechanics used for qualitative and quantitative estimation of the stress. state on the surface of cyclically loaded structures which can be either models or actual structures in their operating environment. In this paper critical remarks are given on two different theoretical approaches to derive the main TSA equation of isotropic materials. The main TSA equation of generally anisotropic and orthotropic materials is also shown. Furthermore, the influence of temperature on thermomechanical features of the materials is investigated. By comparing several construction and model materials it is shown that makrolon is the most suitable material for model making in the thermoelastic stress analysis.