Day 10 (part 1) - June 5, 2006: Tamiya HQ.

Today, we're going to Shizuoka City to visit the headquarters of the Tamiya Plastic Model Company. It's an hour away by bullet train.

Along the way, Mt Fuji appeared in our window.

Shizuoka was a huge city. When we got there, we really didn't know left from right, so we got in a taxi, pointed at my T-shirt and said Tamiya. A short ride later, we were there.

Our contact here was "Mister X" (real name obviously omitted for the sake of his sanity). He was caught a little off-guard by our arrival. We got the feeling we were probably the only visitors they'd had for awhile. Anyhow, he was most accomodating and offered to show us around the lobby level. The factory area, however, was off-limits to visitors.

Tamiya's flagship R/C car, the TRF415MSX was on display at the front reception.

	A collection of tiny custom-built plastic models were on display in a glass case. I think they were all creatively made out of Tamiya plastic figurines.

Tamiya's Mini 4WD slot car series.

	Also on display is a collection of cars and motorcycles. Tamiya keeps these as references to design accurate molds for their plastic model kits.

The famous Tyrell P-34 - the only race-winning six-wheeled car in Formula-1 history. The idea was to reduce air resistance by having smaller tires, while maintaining contact area with the ground by having 4 front tires. Tamiya's recently released R/C version of this car is bound to be a future hit among collectors.
	The popular Honda Gorilla minibike. I think I saw a few of these still running around in Kyoto and Tokyo.
A life-size drivable version of a Mini 4WD slot car. A case of life imitating art.
	And if you thought that was novel, check out the life-size version of the Solar-Powered Doraemon car from Tamiya's educational series. Because it really is Solar-powered, it is only driven on sunny days and the driver's cockpit area gets really hot from lack of ventilation.
One of the machines that molds the plastic sprues for the model kits.
	The mold is made out of soft metal and quite easily damaged. When Tamiya re-releases an old kit, sometimes new molds have to be made.
Sprues made out of this mold are given to visitors as souvenirs.

	Some of the bigger dioramas are also displayed at the main lobby area.

Tamiya has released an updated version of their popular Yamato battleship model kit in anticipation of the release of the Yamato movie later this summer. The makers of the film are appealing to censorship boards throughout Asia not to ban the movie.

The Tamiya museum is home to out-of-production models and the winning dioramas of past years. Tamiya holds a series of model building competitions around the world each year, the grand final of which is held in Shizuoka.

Mr Tamiya's father was the owner of a wood mill so the earliest models were made of wood. Unhappy with the limited details, Mr Tamiya decided to try molding them out of plastic.

	The first plastic model was this remote-controlled (remote meaning a set of switches on a control box is linked to the tank with wires). Mr Tamiya was so happy with the results, subsequent models were all molded out of plastic.
Another early model. The box on this one says it's from the "Tamiya S.F. series"
	Other exhibits on display.


The details on some of the 1/350 scale naval dioramas were mind-blowing.




	These antique dolls were not made by Tamiya. They are part of Mr and Mrs Tamiya's personal collection, and included these tea-serving mechanical dolls.

Tamiya's out-of-production R/C cars, many of which are considered collectors' items now. Due of the popularity of R/C car racing, the company actually makes more money from the sale of R/C car kits and parts than from the sale of scale models. (However, Mr Tamiya's personal interest is still in scale models, particularly the military models, so you can expect their line of plastic model kits to keep on expanding).






	Some of the box art from early Tamiya kits. Since modelers started collecting these prints, many books featuring these box art samples have been printed.

The gallery of current model kits.
	Tamiya's educational series. Mr X says this is a big area of growth for the company as there is growing interest among parents in the educational aspects of mechanical model kits, particularly in robotics. These things are very popular in Hong Kong.
The shop was small and unexciting. We bought a T-shirt and a pit towel.

Mr X arranged to meet us after lunch, so we just ate at a cafe nearby.

Day 9 (part 2) <<<

>>> Day 10 (part 2): More of Shizuoka and Tokyo