Category Archives: Tamiya Company

Tamiya supporting the Shizuoka stamp rally to visit plastic monuments

Shizuoka supporting the stamp rally to visit plastic monuments and bridging the plastic model presentation.

The Shizuoka Branch acted as a bridge between the I Love Shizuoka Council and the Shizuoka Model and Teaching Material Cooperative in presenting 1,000 plastic models and other gifts for the stamp rally to visit plastic monuments.
Source in Japanese language: NTT West

Tamiya Japan planning to build a new production plant in Cebu for 1.5 billion PHP


Tamiya has a factory in the Philippines particularly located in the Mactan Process Zone in Cebu. Tamiya of Japan is pouring another P1.5 billion to build a new facility inside the Cebu Light Industrial Park.
The current factory designs, manufacturers, and packages kits inside a 40,000 sq. meter facility and employ more than 1,000 people. However, some sources say that their lease for has now ended prompting the company to move to a new location.
Breaking ground in March 2022, it’s said that the new factory is projected to increase output by 5% over 3 years while expanding overall capacity by 20%.
While most Tamiya boxes say ‘Made in the Philippines’, in reality Tamiya Philippines Inc. does not and cannot sell directly to the local market. It’s production is for export markets only worth US$23 million per year. 65% of that goes to Japan, 12% to America, 10% to Germany, 7% to the UK, 2% to Thailand, 2% to Hong Kong, and the rest of the world taking up the other 4%.
Source: Time Attack Manila

Tamiya RC Live – Tamiya Circuit Off-Road Course Renewal Special and Tamiya RC History 36


Tamiya Circuit Off-Road Course Renewal Special and Tamiya RC History 36!
・ In commemoration of the renewal of the Tamiya Circuit Off-Road Course, we will introduce the driving videos and capture points of the popular RC buggy car. ・ You can see the driving scenes of “Wild One Offloader BLOCKHEAD MOTORS”, “Midnight Pumpkin Black Edition”, “Blackfoot (2016)”, “Astute 2022”, and “Super Avante” on the off-road course with the changed layout. .. ・ Tamiya RC History “36” introduces the items released in 1993 and 1994. Please see the CC-01 chassis “Mitsubishi Pajero Metal Top Wide”, “Jax Civic”, and “Newman Haas K Mart Texaco Lola T93 / 00 Ford” that modeled IndyCar, which adopted a chassis structure close to the actual vehicle. increase.
Cast: Tamiya Satoshi Maezumi, Riku Sunahara, Takayuki Kono

Original drawings by Shigeru Komatsuzaki, the illustrator who created Tamiya’s box art, are on art exhibition display

Special Exhibition
Sci-fi / Adventure / Retrofuturism x Remake – The World of Katsuichi Kabashima and Shigeru Komatsuzaki –

Purpose of the event
A special exhibition reconstructed from the special exhibition “SF / Adventure / Retrofuturism-Our Dreams and Longing-“, which was canceled in March 2nd year of Reiwa due to the prevention of the spread of the new coronavirus infection will be held now. In this special exhibition, Katsuichi Kabashima, an illustrator who was active mainly in the magazine “Shonen Club” and was called “God of Pen Painting”. Shigeru Komatsuzaki aspired to be an illustrator, admiring the beautiful illustrations drawn by Kabashima, and later became a illustrator of science fiction (SF). Focusing on these two illustrators, we will introduce the culture of boys during and after the war and their transitions through their painting work.

Topic Exhibition Box art
The presence of Shigeru Komatsuzaki is indispensable as a spark for the plastic model boom that occurred in the early 1955’s.
Shunsaku Tamiya of Tamiya Model (currently Tamiya Co., Ltd.) writes a long letter to Komatsuzaki, relying on the reader column of “Ships of the World”, and asks him to produce box art. His first work was the wooden model “Aircraft Carrier Taiho” in 1961, followed by the famous “German Medium Tank Panther” as a box art of a plastic model. By adopting Komatsuzaki, which was popular with children, and by inspiring the imagination and purchasing motivation when assembling, many hit products were born from the Tamiya model.

Tamiya model “Aircraft carrier Taiho” original picture (wooden ship model small million series) Picture: Shigeru 　Komatsuzaki Komatsuzaki’s first drawing of Tamiya model ship box art. Wooden models are called solid models and were the mainstream of models until the spread of plastic models. Taiho was Japan’s first heavily armored aircraft carrier completed in March 1945, but only three months after her completion, she sank in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. 1961 Tamiya Kura Co. , Ltd.

Topic Exhibition Kodansha “Complete Work of Boys and Girls World Science Adventures
In the 30’s of the Showa era, when the mainstay of boys’ magazines changed from picture stories to manga, Shigeru Komatsuzaki began to work on many cover paintings and frontispieces for science fiction, which he is good at. One of the masterpieces is Kodansha’s “Complete Works of Boys and Girls World Science Adventures”. Komatsuzaki was in charge of the cover and frontispieces for 34 volumes, except for one of the 35 volumes, and many children were fascinated by the beautiful works. This complete collection was popular with children as a science fiction book that can be read in school libraries.

Source and more information in Japanese language: Showa-Kan National Showa Memorial Museum

Tamiya models receive more awards from prestigious German magazines


More Awards for Tamiya!
The results of the latest Modell des Jahres (Model of the Year) contest have been announced by German magazine Modell Fan! Tamiya is delighted to report that three of our models – 1/35 U.S Tank Destroyer M18 Hellcat, 1/48 McDonnell Douglas™ F-4B Phantom II™ and 1/12 Team Suzuki ECSTAR GSX-RR ’20 – were honored with the awards, which are chosen by the magazine’s staff and readership.
This great news follows German scale and R/C auto model magazine Modell-Fahrzeug recognizing two Tamiya models in the 2021 Modell-Fahrzeug des Jahres awards: 1/10 R/C 1991 Audi V8 Touring (TT-02 Chassis) and 1/12 Porsche 935 Martini. Tamiya itself was honored with a Premium Brand award.

Tamiya figure remodeling contest 50th prize-winning work announcement


In 2021, there were many topics such as the Tokyo Olympics and the success of Major League Baseball players that made us feel radiant even in the corona, and thanks to you, the “Pachi Remodeling Contest” has reached its 50th anniversary. I am deeply grateful to all the fans for their support over the years. This time, there were many works that expressed the excitement of the Tokyo Olympics from various perspectives, and I think many of them were worried about the conflict with the deadline.

By the way, the memorable 50th gold medal award is a collaboration between Yuji Aoyama ‘s Olympic competition and Sengoku warlords. Not only the unique idea, but also the high reproducibility of the details of the armor helmet and the production of the pedestal that tightens the work shines. The theme of the work of Norio Mushiaki of the Silver Award is the encounter between two legendary major leaguers. Being able to express ideas in 3D instead of 2D is the fun of figure remodeling. And the bronze medal is the work of Naoto Okada , who also conveys the spirit of the gold and silver medalist of the Tokyo Olympics . It is a work that looks exactly like a single body, which can be said to be the basis of figure remodeling that beautifully reproduces the skeleton and movement of the body that can not be deceived. Furthermore, this time, Kunihiko Sato of Iwate, who has been exhibiting continuously since the start of the contest in 1973, was awarded the 50th Anniversary Special Award. Produced 45 pictogram performances representing each competition, which became a hot topic at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics. Take off your hat for the vitality that doesn’t make you feel the age of 75 years old in terms of conception, production speed, and craftsmanship! We are expecting more and more success to further improve the exhibition record.
For the Topic Award and Idea Award, I chose the works that greatly excited the 50th contest. Maruno Yoshiaki’s parade andHidetoshi Shuto ‘s “Human Character” is the origin of the 1 / 35MM series, a fun group of soldiers from all over the world. Mr. Kunihiko Sato, a major figure in the contest, appears in Mr. Shojiro Morio ‘s work. Did Mr. Sato expect that he would be the subject of his work? The above three works won the topic award, and Ms. Minoru Nagayoshi won the idea award for a timely collaboration in which the pictogram performers of the Olympics celebrated the 50th contest. The MM prize is Hiroyuki Kimura . At first glance, it is humorous to see US soldiers inspecting German Goliath tracks. This scene, which you can see in battlefield photos, is well-balanced in a vignette style. The rookie award is for Hidekazu Nomura , a nostalgic idea work for “camel battery” . The pose of the base figure is skillfully used and combined well with Wild Willis. Isn’t it an interesting approach to imagine the subject matter from the pose of the figure? Takakazu Miyagi (15 years old) of the Junior Award is based on a historical graphic novel set in his hometown of Okinawa. It is a heartfelt work that tells the misery of war.

A figure remodeling contest that has reached a memorable milestone. We will take a new step with our fans, hoping that the current heavy days will end. We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Winning works　* Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order)



■ Pamphlet for works participating in the 50th doll remodeling contest If you wish to have a pamphlet for the 50th doll remodeling work, enclose a stamp worth 140 yen in an envelope, and specify your address, name, and the pamphlet for the 50th doll remodeling work. Please apply to the following. (Please contact Customer Service for back numbers) Tamiya Co., Ltd. Customer Service “Puppet Remodeling Brochure 50” Section, 3-7 Ondabara, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka 422-8610
⇒ 50th Doll Remodeling Contest Participating Work Brochure (PDF)
⇒ Click here for details on the “Doll Remodeling Contest (in Japanese language)”

Happy Holiday greetings video from Tamiya


Following on from 2020, 2021 has been another turbulent year but it is now drawing to a close, and Tamiya would like to wish a safe and happy holiday season to all around the world.


Wishing a happy holiday season to all Tamiya fans across the globe!
楽しいクリスマスをお過ごしください！

Another nice Tamiya headquarters insight for the 50th Anniversary of Tamiya Educational Construction Series


Information from the designer that the “printing out” of the “No2 Powerful Gear Box” package was unearthed in the warehouse!
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find “No1 High Speed Gear Box”.
Of course, it was manual work at that time. It was a block copy made by pasting phototypesetting. The handwritten line drawing is also very tasty.

See more here

Radio-controlled model popularity, revived by Covid-19? Boom due to demand for nesting, background information from Tamiya

Tamiya Chairman Shunsaku Tamiya = Shizuoka Hobby Square, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka City, November 8, 2020


The popularity of “RC models” is increasing, driven by the demand for nesting due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection.
What made the shrinking RC car (radio control car = radio control) model market “revive”? We interviewed Tamiya (Shizuoka City), one of the largest manufacturers.

Tamiya Chairman “Production is not in time”
RC cars that can be played by remotely controlling a model car can be enjoyed by adults and children alike. Even adults, there are enthusiastic players like former Chunichi Dragons pitcher Masahiro Yamamoto, but although there was a big boom in the 1980s, it has been shrinking due to the ageing of the players since then.

The person in charge of Tamiya Public Relations Office explains that the demand is higher than before the expansion of the new corona.

“Demand for RC cars and other hobby products in general is higher than before Corona due to the prolonged stay home period.”
One of the factors supporting its popularity is that the number of followers on its RC-related SNS accounts has increased significantly.

The number of followers of the “Tamiya RC Models (@TAMIYAGP_STAFF)” (opened in June 2010) account, which disseminates RC car-related information on Twitter, has doubled from about 6,000 to 12,600 in the past year, and YouTube subscribers. The number has also increased significantly from about 70,000 to 130,000.

As Chairman Shunsaku Tamiya said, “Production is not in time and there are not enough products worldwide” (from the article delivered on December 27, 2020 in the Asahi Shimbun), we can see that it is a solid success.

Lively on SNS even if the event is cancelled
On the other hand, there are cases where the RC car competition event has been forced to be cancelled due to the corona damage. The industry’s largest exhibition “Shizuoka Hobby Show”, which is held in May every year, was cancelled in 2020, and in 2021, the acceptance of general customers was stopped and it was held only by distributors.

However, “the longer I spend at home, the more attention I have to the model hobby in general, has had a positive effect” (Tamiya public relations), and I am interested in RC cars via SNS and word of mouth. It seems that the number of users is increasing.

“(In response to rising demand for nesting), we will use YouTube and Twitter to send out product information and RC car driving videos, and actively carry out user-participation-type planning to increase the number of new customers, especially off-road buggies. Model RC cars such as “Glass Hopper”, “Hornet”, “Neo Mighty Frog”, and “Neo Scorcher” are performing well, and sales of reprinted models of RC, which were popular in the 1980s, are also increasing steadily. RC cars that you can drive and enjoy are also compatible with SNS, and by uploading images and driving videos of your car to Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube, your share is expanding and the entire market is revitalised.”

Being able to share works on SNS also seems to be a tailwind.

Cooperate with real car makers
RC cars boomed in the 1980s, but the market has been declining since then.

“A major factor is that men in their 30s and 40s, who are the most voluminous zone of users, can no longer afford to spend on their hobbies, both in terms of time and money, and young people in their teens and 20s. One of the reasons is that we weren’t able to acquire a certain number of users” says a Tamiya representative, but the company is now trying to encourage middle-aged and its children, who know the boom of yesteryear, to enjoy RC cars.

“We are focusing on measures to encourage the resumption of RC hobbies for fathers who experienced the boom of the 1980s. Furthermore, automobile manufacturers (Toyota, Mazda, Subaru, Nissan, Honda, etc.) aiming to acquire younger users. We are constantly planning RC cars for families in cooperation with us, and as a result, the number of cases where families enjoy RC cars is increasing in recent years.”

Both have analysed the recent situation and are trying to break again as a hobby that parents and children can enjoy.

Source of original article in Japanese language: J-CAST News