Tamiya Chairman Shunsaku Tamiya Passes Away

Tamiya chairman Shunsaku Tamiya passed away on July 18, with his death only announced by his family yesterday. The funeral ceremony was held privately by his family. The reason for his death at the age of 90 was not disclosed by his family.Shunsaku Tamiya is the son of company founder Yoshio Tamiya. He was born in 1934 and joined the family company in 1958. Tamiya Shoji & Co was founded in 1946 as a sawmill that supplied wood. It then began producing wooden models for Japanese children after the end of World War I.Sales of wooden models began to decline in the 1950s. This forced Tamiya to produce plastic models that are now synonymous with their brand in 1959. The first plastic model produced was the battleship Yamato, with Shunsaku Tamiya asking his brother Masao Tamiya to create the two-star logo that is still used today. The red star symbolizes creativity and enthusiasm while the blue star symbolizes sincerity and youth.Shunsaku Tamiya was directly involved in the production of the company's early plastic models. For example, to produce the first tank model, Tamiya would visit museums in person to see every detail of the actual weapon. Because photos and sketches could not be taken in museums in the 1960s, he would immediately produce detailed sketches immediately after leaving the museum. To this day, the detail of their models cannot be challenged by Hasegawa or Airfix.His greatest contribution was to popularize the hobby of four-wheel drive miniature cars and remote control (RC) cars. If you are like me who grew up in the 80s and 90s, these miniature cars are known by the nickname "Tamiya cars" even though there were other companies that produced them such as Auldey and Takara. Weekends were filled with racing activities with other Tamiya car enthusiasts. For individuals in their 40s and 50s today, a Tamiya car may be the first EV they own.I can say that Tamiya's miniature cars and plastic models were responsible for my interest in engineering, electronics and military weapons, which to this day are the topics of my writing . In fact, in my Life Skills project in Form 3, I combined a Tamiya Grumman F-14A Tomcat model (1:72 scale) with an LED lighting circuit that each student had to complete.Tamiya's cars taught me about types of tires, the process of balancing the weight of the model and the appropriate motor for the circuit. The most powerful motor (with the red stripe) and the most expensive components do not necessarily guarantee victory. Thank you Shunsaku Tamiya for the toys you produce, shaping a generation of plastic model builders who are savvy with engineering technology.