Well, happy retirement. Tamiya did a lot for the hobby and they should have credit for that, although they have been overtaken by DML and Trumpeter over the last decade or so.

Hi, couldn't help but to add to this post, my first. I've had many years of enjoyment building Tamiya armour and figures. The price factor keeps me away from them now. In terms of market share in 1/35th scale, they used to be the leaders. Nobody could touch them as they catalogued most of the armoured vehicles and kits that are now being repeated by other brands with newer tooling and detail. I guess their marketing team just didn't see it coming, this revolution. An old Tamiya kit can still be finished to acceptable standards with a little extra work put in and that's the hobby we're in, to put it together. But it's much easier if they were re-tooled with better detail. Whatever it is, thanks Mr Tamiya for the good old days. Richard

Not wanting to perpetuate an urban myth here, (but I will forge on nonetheless ) but I think it was an inital release Panther or some German thingy that was supposed to comply with current 1/32 scale at the time (early 70s) but for whatever reason scaled out instead to 1/35, so they stuck with it and the rest is history... Thoughts?

Not wanting to perpetuate an urban myth here, (but I will forge on nonetheless ) but I think it was an inital release Panther or some German thingy that was supposed to comply with current 1/32 scale at the time (early 70s) but for whatever reason scaled out instead to 1/35, so they stuck with it and the rest is history... Thoughts? [/quote] You're off by twenty years. According to his memoirs, Mr. Tamiya's company's first tank kit in the late 1950's was a Panther tank (with five road wheels), and the "fit the box" scale worked out to 1/35th, which became their company standard. He insisted that it had nothing to do with Monogram's adoption of that scale around the same time. The kits from that era are long gone, now. The Panther Ausf. A kit from the 1970's was part of the current Military Miniatures series, and most were approximately 1/35th (though chassis proportions were distorted on some kits to accommodate Tamiya's standard electric motor and gearbox).

After all is said and done, a job well done to Mr. Tamiya. Who of us has not gotten seriously into modeling with out this company. They, as most companies, get old and forgotten as new ones crop up with better and newer kits, but where would we all be as modelers without the efforts of the Tamiya company, probably still with linburg and life like who were good in their days too.No matter, enjoy your retirement Mr. Tamiya , and thanks. And yes, I still have older Tamiya kits around to be built.

i´ll agree with Jacques, let´s hope they keep their portfolio of 1:35 kits even after this man is gone, you can always buy an old Marder III on eBay and build it along with some nice photoetch from one of the aftermarket manufactures. OR they (Tamiya) can do something new with their old ones like Dragon does...fill the box with metal barrels, and extra material such as resin and pe. /Thomas

I absolutely LOVE TAMIYA kits. Especially the older kits. I know they don't have as much detail as today's Dragon super kits (which I also enjoy). But their ease, simplicity, thought, and clever engineering make for some excellent builds. I think other companies should adopt TAMIYA'S way of thinking- if the modeler can't assemble it, why bother? Even today, Dragon cannot seem to make a simple, well thought-out, good looking instruction manual. Even the 1970's, TAMIYA had this perfected. TAMIYA also had a heavy impact on graphic design (which no other company has rivaled). Their use of white-space on not only the box-art, but the instruction manual is beautiful. Their instructions should be used as a graphic design case-study in layout. I find myself buying TAMIYA kits just due to their graphic design. Even though they may have been passed-up in detailing on kits, their graphic design standards will remain unrivaled. I salute you TAMIYA-SAN! for beautifying the model-industry in not only kits, but what the kits come in.

Now THAT is a reasonable point... However, even as being somewhere between the two (principal) schools of thought on accuracy, I do believe that many of Tamiya's products are, for those who take accuracy issues seriously, nowadays, unacceptable. I wasn't being (entirely) flippant when I said that a number of their 1/35th models should also be put into retirement. Their Grant/Lee, their KVs, Stuart/M8 or their 88mm should all be dumped (i'm sure there are more, but they're the only ones I can think of at the moment) along with 99% of their figures... As to their graphic design, I completely disagree. Ron Volstad's artwork for Dragon and the graphic designers used by Masterbox are, IMO; FAR above anything Tamiya has done. However, what is also unarguable about Tamiya, is what they HAVE done - no other manufacturer ever tackled as many of the German softskins as they did, No-one else ever did the Cromwell (never mind the Centaur) the DragonWagon, the Pibber, or even (albeit flawed) the Universal Carrier. It took another manufacturer decades to tackle U.S. Halftracks (and then, only an M2). So, in conclusion, more pluses than minuses but it's a company who (if they put their mind to it) CAN do it...

Well said mate