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RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

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Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#41

Post by mediumsmart »

rightbyte wrote: post #10
JKCalhoun wrote: post #4

When I grew up I would spend hours looking through all the plastic model kits at the local hobby store. I just loved building plastic models. I never mastered painting them. The most advanced I got was rattle-can style spray paints — maybe masking a bit for a camouflage or what-have-you. Only when I got older and got back into plastic model building did I make the leap to air-brushing and really finishing models corr…

> I never mastered painting them. It was really hard to paint with these old oil based paints if you are as old as me or older. I struggled with that too. The water based one sold by e.g. Games Workshop I bought years later was way easier to work with.

I used to make the ww2 models as a teenager and loved painting them with the oil paints (you need the right brand but I can’t remember the name).

I got really good at weathering them using the watered down paint cleaner/thinner that runs into the folds and produced tiny cracks in the paint and then drybrushing lighter colors over areas.

I know I got it right because a shop in England selling those Tamiya models would give me a few of the kits for one painted and showcased them. good times

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#42

Post by fuzzfactor »

>Rotor Nutcase says:

>July 24, 2025 at 5:39 pm

>My first Tamiya model…nothing to do with cars or aircraft. Apollo Lunar Lander with base and astronauts. Super impressive back in early 1970s. Need to find one again

My grandmother got me one of these before the first moon landing. I carefully put it together and she proudly displayed it for all her visitors.

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#43

Post by hakfoo »

billforsternz wrote: post #18

I find it strangely pleasing how a bunch of boutique(ish) companies from the UK, France, USA, Japan (others maybe?) all make plastic model kits of a variety of classic aeroplanes, WW2 planes in particular, in a series of scales. When I was a kid I was quite interested and I could have reeled off the manufacturer names easily (um... Airfix, Revell, Heller, Frog, Tamiya, I want to say Haya-something-or-other, others).…

I was always sort of curious how they determine which prototypes to go after-- it seems like some classes are much more widely produced than others. It seems like in WWII aircraft, Japanese and Soviet designs are underrepresented compared to US/UK/DE ones. Ship models seem aligned towards ones that sunk famously over ones that survived and were retired after long service.

With railway models, there's a selection bias because people tend to model a coherent scene. If you've decided to model Quebec in 1952, you probably can't find a way to fit in a British Rail class 66. But most other model hobbies don't have that restraint going on.

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#44

Post by pjmlp »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #4

When I grew up I would spend hours looking through all the plastic model kits at the local hobby store. I just loved building plastic models. I never mastered painting them. The most advanced I got was rattle-can style spray paints — maybe masking a bit for a camouflage or what-have-you. Only when I got older and got back into plastic model building did I make the leap to air-brushing and really finishing models corr…

Yes, a 1970's child, I built quite a few airplane and helicopter models during my teenage years, painting skills were lousy though. :)

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#45

Post by secdeal »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #24
whartung wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh boy, yea. I tried to put together a helicopter (probably an Apache) a few years ago, and got a couple of those classic Testor paint bottles to help finish it. I had to put it all away. The fumes from the paint, my reaction to it was nothing like I remembered. I had no issues with them as a boy. But, today, yea they were making me loopy. I’m surprised the AQMD in California still allows these. I’d like to try again…

If you don't have anything near you, I would look for acrylics designed for models online. Games Workshop sells them, but there are other brands (Vallejo, Reaper, etc) which are also quite good and generally cheaper. And they will, as a rule, be more pleasant to work with than the acrylics you get at Michael's/Hobby Lobby.

Generally I would recommend Vallejo or Army Painter paints over GW ones. They are cheaper, better quality coming with a much better bottle.

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#46

Post by lmpdev »

jumpingMullet wrote: post #27
louthy wrote: post #25

In the 80s I had the Tamiya Grasshopper [1], which was the greatest remote control car ever (opinion). I remember attaching three battery packs (instead of the standard one)—to make it drive at roughly 8 billion miles per hour, in the process ripping the tyres to shreds and pretty much ruining the car—because it couldn’t turn without flipping several thousand times. Still, for those initial few seconds, it was glorio…

The Grasshopper was good. An underpowered version of the hornet with a 380 instead of 540 motor. The longer run time on the old 7.2 battery was a benefit. Watching YouTube of the current cars, they are actually overpowered and in a way unusable. Many videos degenerate into how high can I jump this thing before it breaks.

I sell modern Chinese ones

I have to often explain to customers after a certain price point (for me ~$200+ AUD) you have to turn the speed trim pot down for it to be enjoyable at all

Similar to what Gran Turismo 7 players have realised with EV “Vision” Cars - car enjoyment greatly diminishes with speed after a certain point - instead of plateauing

No-name Chinese build quality is actually a lot higher than I’d’ve anticipated though - brushed thick aluminium and even steel chassis are pretty common now

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#48

Post by eleveriven »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #4

When I grew up I would spend hours looking through all the plastic model kits at the local hobby store. I just loved building plastic models. I never mastered painting them. The most advanced I got was rattle-can style spray paints — maybe masking a bit for a camouflage or what-have-you. Only when I got older and got back into plastic model building did I make the leap to air-brushing and really finishing models corr…

There's something almost meditative about the process

Re: RIP Shunsaku Tamiya, the man who made plastic model kits a global obsession

#49

Post by eleveriven »

firefax wrote: post #34

It makes me feel bad when I see an obituary like this. I had no idea he existed, but reading I can't question he had an impact on the world. Other corners of the internet people would shit on the hobby just because they don't share it -- me, personally, being on the autistic spectrum came with a side of fine motor issues, so I could never do the painting and prodding that the more complex kits required... it's an art…

Totally agree that model building is an art form, one that doesn't get enough credit
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