Trip to Tamiya Japan

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Sorry about the uncut video but it's all there. I should have been more thoughtful but in the end we barely made the Shinkansen back to Tokyo. I shot the whole museum minus every plastic model. I included the Senna tribute section, and amazing diorama of the battleship Yamato, and some of the current r/c cars Tamiya produces.

I later received the Open House tour from Mr. Sano (excellent english by the way) that most people attending the Shizuoka Hobby show got to see. This took us downstairs to the mold making department, upstairs to the Art, Design, and Concept departments. All very cool. We also interviewed Mr. Yamamoto from the marketing/promotion department and hopefully there will be an opportunity there for my profession. I spent the whole time thinking of how much Anthony would love to see the process of how Tamiya makes their stuff.

The coolest part was seeing the milled aluminum mold for the creation of their lexan bodies. The craftsmanship is amazing. The center section of the mold pulls out which allows them to have real bumpers, wrap arounds, and details that no one else in the industry can or will take the time to produce.

I also included some video I shot of the new TA05-IFS. The inboard laydown shocks are very sexy and I asked why they didn't put them on both ends. Mr. Sano said they thought of that and a lot of other things but this is what the designers wanted to do. He also mentioned that he would love to see a blazing fast F1 pan car from Tamiya. I said I had 10 guys that would pre-order just to get the ball rolling.

The original Tamiya circuit is included and a small section of Rainbow Ten. The circuit is awesome for being 30+ years old. Rainbow Ten is clean, well organized, and had just about every decal sheet you would ever want to make your ride perfect. I met the man in charge of mail order. Very nice guy and hopefully that will make for even better online service from this renowned company.

I feel I have a real grasp on what Tamiya is, how they work, and what to expect from the company's philosophy. All in all a very worthwhile trip.