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Visiting Japan as a modeller: My experience

This past January I was lucky enough to have some time off work and made the most of it by visiting Japan. I chose the country for two main reasons, to experience Japanese culture, and to check out the amazing hobby shops. For all the talk about “the hobby is dying” I’d argue that Japan alone could self sustain the hobby, the demand here is insane. Every shop big and small was packed with all ages, It’s such a night and day difference with North America.

To be clear, this post is not going to be an exhaustive guide to the various shops in the country. There are far better guides detailing the pros and cons of each shop along with videos on YouTube of people visiting them. Instead this post will serve a a general overview of the modelling aspect of the trip and my take on how things turned out.

To show the exterior of the Tamiya Headquarters in Shizuoka, Japan.
Tamiya’s Shizuoka Headquarters

To start off, I knew that near the top of my priority list was to visit the Tamiya headquarters in Shizuoka. Tamiya has a small visitors section that requires you to book in advance. Shizuoka is a relatively (compared to Tokyo) small city about a hour and half Shinkansen ride outside of Tokyo and is the home of Tamiya’s main headquarters. I’m not afraid to admit this visit meant a lot to me. I’ve been building Tamiya kits for over ten years now and to be able to visit the inception point carries a certain weight. In terms of what to see there are to main gallery rooms. The first is dedicated to historical Tamiya kits going back years and years to the 1960’s. Of particular note was a section dedicated to remembering Sheperd Paine which caught me by surprise. I grew up reading about Shep’s dioramas and this was the first time I’d ever been able to see them first hand. I can’t think of a higher honour for a modeller than having a entire section dedicated to you in Tamiya’s official showroom and if anybody deserves it, it’s him.

The other Tamiya showroom is dedicated to Tamiya’s current product line and showcases much more modern products. It’s smaller and less interesting but it’s definitely worth mentioning. Tamiya also has various vehicles on display and something that I found particularly interesting is that they have an early lathe that would have been used to make the metal molds for plastic injection, very cool! The headquarters has a small gift shop that’s worth checking out and I picked up a shirt along with some official Tamiya stickers.

“Modern” Tamiya releases

While I really enjoyed my visit to Shizuoka I won’t lie the trip absolutely wiped me out. I had booked my train ticket for pretty late in the morning and did some sightseeing prior to leaving. Looking back now this was a mistake. The Tamiya building is deceptively far the train station in Shizuoka and the city does not have as good pedestrian infrastructure as Tokyo. I was totally wiped out after getting back to the hotel in Tokyo that evening.

Sticking with the Tamiya theme, next on the list was the Tamiya Plamodel Factory which is sort of Tamiya’s factory store in Tokyo. While the gift shop in Shizuoka is good, it doesn’t have the same selection as a dedicated hobby store which Plamodel is. The next day I visited quite a few stores including: Yellow Submarine in Akihabara Radio Kaikan, Volks Hobby Yodobashi Camera, Leonardo ET and LG, and Tam Tam Hobby.

Yellow Submarine Radio Kaikan

Yellow submarine is one of the more well known stores in the Tokyo area and was fairly impressive. I’ll preface this review with the fact that they don’t have a super extensive selection of kits but are definitely well stocked. I was on the lookout for a very specific kit when I came to Japan (Gecko Models 1/35 LCA in British service) and by pure chance it was in the very first row I walked down. Tool selection is good and I picked up some scribing stencils and chisels as well. Good decal selection as well.

Volks Radio Kaikan

There is a Volks hobby store in the same building as Yellow submarine and as the retailer of Zoukei-Mura kits they have excellent selection of them available. I fully expected to be able to pickup their new Fw-190 in person but they didn’t have any for sale and no marketing material on this kit was up either. Considering that the pre-order period of this kit was spring of last year and that they supposedly started to send them to customers in October of 2023 I was very surprised to not find any for sale. Visit wasn’t a complete wash however, there are a lot of neat builds on display and a good tool selection as well. I picked up a 1/700 Akagi and an accompanying photo-etched set.

Yodobashi Camera

To start, Yodobashi Camera is a big department store of which one section of one floor is dedicated to scale models. Despite this, Yodobashi Camera has the most extensive selection of tools I have ever seen. The entire back wall of the store is filled with a wide variety of modelling tools that I didn’t know I needed until now. Yodobashi Camera is a cut above the other stores because in addition to the great tool selection, the kit selection is fantastic as well with a lot of brands available for purchase. My favourite store in Tokyo by far.

Leonardo ET and LG

I don’t know what the history is between these two stores but supposedly they come from the same person (people?). While the prior mentions were big box stores, Leonardo ET and LG exemplify the mom-and-pop shop. Very small area to move around in and absolutely packed to the ceiling with kits. I liked the atmosphere and selection but to be honest with both of them, it’s kind of too difficult to move about and see the entirety of the selection available.

Leonardo ET on the left.
Tam Tam Hobby

This one is close to the Leonardos’ and besides that was utterly forgettable. Some Tamiya selection and a few tools but nothing of substance here, won’t visit again on a repeat visit to Japan.

Hobby Land Osaka

And last but certainly not least is Hobby Land in Osaka. Out of all the hobby stores I saw in Japan Hobby Land was by far my favourite and did the most to bankrupt me. The store is not large by any means, but has a *insane* selection of aftermarket accessories. Virtually every AM brand is represented in this store. A huge quantity of Eduard and Aires resin sets were available along with Voyager, Legend, T-rex and many other AFV detail sets were also available. Hobby Land does not stock these brands in limited numbers either with a large number of products per brand available. Also available was a large number of reference books for modelling as well as modelling how-to books showcasing various builds. Really great selection of books to choose from and I picked up a few.

Pricing

before my trip I was having issues nailing down how much exactly to expect kits to go for. Typically people will say that kits in Japan are X or Y percent cheaper but no actual prices. It’s dependent on the store you visit as well and boxes with a little damage will be discounted. Here’s what I picked up and what I paid on my trip:

  • Tamiya 1/48 F-14A Tomcat (Late) – 8,223 JPY / 56.76 USD / 76.17 CAD
  • Tamiya 1/35 S35 Somua – 3,553 JPY / 24.53 USD / 32.91 CAD
  • Tamiya 1/35 German Infantry Set (Late WW2) – 1,496 JPY / 10.33 USD / 13.82 CAD
  • Dragon 1/35 Panther G Late – 5,800 JPY / 40.04 USD / 53.59 CAD
  • Dragon 1/35 Tiger I “131” Early – 5,500 JPY / 37.97 USD / 50.82 CAD
  • Gecko Models 1/35 British landing craft – 8,900 JPY / 61.44 USD / 82.24 CAD
  • Tasca/Asuka model M4A1 Sherman – 5,000 JPY / 33.70 USD / 45.37 CAD

Overall I’m pretty happy with what the kits cost and I’m happy I went with some extra room in my suitcase. I was particularly satisfied with the selection and prices of the Dragon Armor kits as here in Canada they can easily go for $100+ especially for the German stuff.

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2023: Year in review

With the completion of my Cf-18 build, It’s safe to say that that’ll be it for my model building year, and what a year it’s been! 2023 has been my most productive year so far in terms of builds completed, with seven total completions since January.

When I started Tamiya’s P-38 in February, I wanted to commit myself to build as many models as a could over the coming year. I had a few personal reasons for setting this goal. The first was that I was now five years removed from my next most prolific year of building, 2017, with four builds completed that year. A lot has happened in those five years, I moved out of the home I grew up in, graduated from University, and moved on to starting a new career.

These changes in my life are seen in my build progress since 2017, I only completed three builds between 2018-2022 and didn’t do any building at all while on lockdown in 2020. Looking back, I wish I had used that time to develop my skills further and gain more experience. With this in mind I was committed to maintain a steady build pace throughout the year and set some pretty aggressive deadlines as to when I wanted to complete my models. Looking back now, these are all the builds I completed in 2023:

Tamiya 1/48 P-38G lightning

I chose Tamiya’s excellent new P-38G for my first build of the year and I’m glad I did, the entire build was very enjoyable. The engineering of the kit was perfect and practically fell together. This was my first time doing an olive drab finish and I really like how it came out. I particularly enjoyed the chipping process and the end result I was able to achieve. I do feel however that I didn’t push myself as much as I did in later builds, although that can partly be explained by me needing to shake the rust off.

Ranking: 3rd overall

Eduard 1/48 Spitfire Mk.VIII

The Eduard Spitfire, boy where do I begin? This kit was a landmark for me for so many reasons. My second build of the year came out better than I possibly could have imagined. Out of all my builds this year, the Spit ranks first no question. I pushed myself with this build, when I was halfway done the weathering process I wanted to quit and move on to the bf-109. I’m really glad stuck with it and continued trying to find ways to add detail in the weathering phase. It’s not perfect by any means (the wing root chipping stands out) but this build served as a template for the Cf-18 later in the year.

Ranking: 2nd overall

Eduard 1/48 Bf-109 E7

While I had a clear vision as to what I wanted my Mk.VIII spitfire to look like, the same cannot be said for the only 109 I finished this year. Eduard’s weekend edition kit was a struggle to build and finish. I will fully admit I was uncommitted and lacked a proper vision as to what I wanted the final product to look like. This was an important lesson to learn I believe as this lax attitude left the final result uninspired imo. I’m not unhappy with the end result but I definitely feel like it’s uninspired.

Ranking: 6th Overall

RFM 1/35 Pz.III Ausf. J

The RFM Pz.III was my only Armor subject this year and that’s something I want to change going into 2024. I really do like where I went with this build, It was my first DAK vehicle and I like the complexity of finishes that they require. I really like the look of this tank and how “busy” the stowage makes the vehicle look.

Ranking: 4th Overall

Hobby Boss 1/48 Sukhoi Su-27

As part of the r/Modelmakers VERSUS groupbuild I built this kit along with the Kinetic CF-18. I knew I was building the Hornet for the longest time so I had to chose an appropriate adversary in order to participate. I initially chose a 1/48 Mig-29 but this Hobby Boss kit was in stock at my LHS and crying out to me. I do have to admit I really didn’t know what I was getting into when I picked this subject, a 1/48 Su-27 is LARGE. The kit is more akin to a 1/32 warbird, the Su-27 is just one metre shorter than the Su-24 which is a tactical bomber. I won’t lie, this kit was a bit of a slog just due to the sheer size of it. The kit is a huge canvas to paint, decal, and weather.

Ranking: 5th Overall

Takom 1/35 Mq-8B Fire scout

Takom’s 1/35 Fire scout was meant to be a nice reset between the Flanker and the Hornet. I definitely treated it as such and sped through the build. This was easily my worst build of the year even if the final photos look somewhat respectable. I used the kit to experiment with ghost grey shading techniques prior to building the Hornet and feel that the experience I gained really helped in this regard.

Ranking: 7th Overall

Kinetic 1/48 Cf-18A Hornet

My Cf-18 Hornet was very much the project I was working all year towards as I had first decided to build one in March. I’m very happy with how this build turned out and I think this kit was a major milestone for me. I made an effort to make sure I was spending sufficient time on the various build stages and not rushing through to get to the end. I think that this shows in the final product as everything from the cockpit, gear bays, and final surface is appropriated detailed and weathered.

Ranking: 1st Overall

As to what 2024 will hold, I do have some goals for this upcoming year, primarily to build more armor. I want some more German armor (how original!) in my collection and thus plan to build at least one Panther and one Tiger in the coming year. I also plan to finally finish the Miniart T-55 that survived a move across Canada last year and has been a shelf queen even before that. I’ve got Tamiya’s 1/48 G6 and Eduard’s 1/48 F6F in the stash that I hope to get completed at some point in the coming year as well. Also, dioramas! I realized that my LHS is quite extensively stocked with this diorama making equipment and I’ve always been a firm believer that even a small base adds so much life to a scene.

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Eduard Spitfire Mk.VIII

While working on Tamiya’s P-38, I picked up Eduard’s “weekend edition” Mk.VIII Spitfire. Considering that the kit was around $30 CAD it was too much of a bargain not to pick up. This was my first time building a Spitfire, as well as my first time building a Eduard kit. Surface details were fantastic, although I didn’t find that it had Tamiya levels of fit/engineering.

Construction of course started with the cockpit and it’s well detailed. I didn’t spend too much time here but added some wiring and drilled out weight saving holes. I was aiming to have the build completed within a month so progress was brisk.

I had never done a hard edge camouflage before and wanted to experiment with making one. I also tried out the Mr. Color Aqueous range of paint which performed well IMO. The finish was painted with the marbling technique although since I also wanted chipping on the wing root I had to find a way to work around the metallic surface while panting.

I used AK masking putty for the camouflage and was really pleased with how it performed, despite the fact that it took a bit to get used to using. In the end I was really pleased with how the marbling and hard edges turned out.

I used AK lacers for the RAF “Azure blue” And I have to say that it’s a fantastic colour to work with, the contrast between the desert camp above and the pale blue below is very nice.

Eduard includes decals for the wing markings but I instead opted to paint them using Tamiya NATO black. The end result speaks for itself in my opinion/

And with that decals were added and the kit was weathered up! I learned that while durable, Eduard decals need a very aggressive setting agent to settle. I clear coated the model with Tamiya X-22 and MCLT. Oils were used for about 99% of the weathering with some pigments used as well.

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Tamiya Tiger I S33 (Part 3.5)

SAMSUNG CSC

Decided to post a small update to the tiger. I’m currently waiting on some aftermarket parts from Australia so right now production has ground to a halt.

I did get a metal barrel from RB model so at least some things are getting done.

I’ll definitely post updates when I get the chance though.

SAMSUNG CSC
SAMSUNG CSC

 

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Tamiya P-51K “Mrs. Bonnie”

After starting in February, Tamiya’s 1/32 P-51K is finally complete. Aftermarket accessories include Eduard resin wheels and Aeroscale 1/32 instrument decals. The kit was a dream to build, highly recommended. The only problem that I had with the kit were the decals. even with aggressive setting solution they would not conform to panel lines and rivet detail. they were the only letdown of the kit. It was painted with various shades of Alclad, as well as Tamiya acrylics. This was my first time painting a NMF finish, so there are a few mistakes painting wise.

I would absolutely recommend this kit to someone who wants to try their first 1/32 kit or even for someone who is highly experienced in the scale. Due to the high part count and complex assemblies it is not the best kit for first time model builders however.