Interesting Article about Modeling in Shizuoka Japan

[da_ashman]

Check this out

http://www.speedhunters.com/2014/03/...-scale-models/

Might have to add Shizuoka to my must visit list (with an empty suitcase...)

Ash

[klutz_100]

[NewTom]

I had a luxury to go to Shizouka a few times. I visited the Hobby Show last year and also in 2010. Went to see the Tamiya factory 2 times and also checked out the Hobby Square next to Shizouka station. It is a special place for those how loves scale modeling, I loved every minutes of those trips, and I'm going down to see the Hobby Show this year as well.

I posted this here before but some of you might want to see these pictures again...

http://imageshack.us/user/tomnem

[rx7king]

Thats awesome

[lovegt40]

what a place !

[nascar49]

I hope I get the chance to visit there, oh what a dream

[petesy]

There really isn't that much to see in Shizuoka, even for a hobby fan. The Shizuoka Hobby Square is just a one-floor showcase for each participating company with Bandai taking up most of the floor space.

Tamiya has its museum and exhibition area open to the public. The museum has every single model they have ever kitted on display, and the exhibition has several real cars and bikes, most notably the VW Bug that is a 1/1 replica of their RC Sand Scorcher, the Lotus 102B and a JPS Lotus F1 from the DFV era. I think Bandai also has a visitors area, most other companies are not open for visit. Rainbow Ten is also a good place to visit, 2 storeys of wall-to-wall model kits and supplies, I have never seen a place that well stocked.

Unless you have other things to do in the area I wouldn't go out of the way to visit Shizuoka just for the Tamiya museum and Rainbow Ten. The train fare alone can buy you several model kits. And the wife/girlfriend is definitely not going to be thrilled about it.

[derekb350z]

Heaven on earth for a modeler

[zemmix]

Originally Posted by petesy

There really isn't that much to see in Shizuoka, even for a hobby fan.

Rainbow Ten is also a good place to visit, 2 storeys of wall-to-wall model kits and supplies, I have never seen a place that well stocked.

I live in Shizuoka prefecture and I can agree with this.

Unless you are coming for the Shizuoka hobby show in May there really isn't much to do/see here.

Also Rainbow Ten is no longer at their two story location. They moved to a new location on the other side of the train tracks. Their new location is smaller and they aren't as well stocked as they used to be. Wasn't worth the 20 min walk to get there. B's Hobby in the 109 building is closer to more things to see and just as well stocked.