Tamiya Headquarters in Shizuoka Japan. ( Museum tour ) Andy's Hobby Headquarters in Tokyo 

Most of the kits I built as a kid came from the drug store or Woolworths. When I had the rare opportunity to go to the "real hobby store" my jaw would be agape at the selection (and the price). But on the rarer occasion that I brought home a Tamiya kit, I felt my modeling skills escalate 5 fold. Just having a Tamiya catalog to thumb through was inspirational. This video was a trip down memory lane.

I’m glad that Tamiya and other model producers understand how important Andy has been to this hobby. I don’t know if I can say he has single-handily increased interest in models, but I can say he a huge part of its renaissance. And not just in the United States, he has viewers all over the world. Many people are enjoying building models of all brands because of his RU-vid channel and his friendly manner. Thanks for the tour in Japan Andy!

I went there a few years back and it was awesome!!! Definitely worth going. The staff there were so nice, they appreciate people's love for Tamiya. Cheers from Australia.

This place and the other hobby shops are heaven on earth .

Thank you for taking us along on your adventures in Japan!

Thanks Andy and Tamiya for this tour. I have been building Tamiya models since the mid 70s with my money from mowing lawns and washing cars as a kid.

I wish I had those display cabinets in my home. Some of those custom models in the museum are mind-blowing.

This was awesome... thank you so much Andy! I've seen so many models I've built through the past 40+ years - and so many dioramas I've admired in the catalogues (like the Playboy/Vietnam one, or the 88 in the church). This really was a trip down memory lane to my teenager years of the 70s and 80s. Thank you, thank you, thank you

Thank you for filming this. Takes me back down memory lane. And a big thank you to Tamiya for allowing access to their facilities. I would never be able to experience such access.

Tamiya is Japan best Model Brand 👍 Nice trip !

I could spend so long wandering around that museum

Wow! I never realized they had a museum, awesome stuff!!

I have been there - it is simply overwhelming and easily takes more than one day to digest. The talent and interest-value and variety are simply stunning.

Thank you for sharing your experience Andy, this is awesome! Love how you keep your voice down in the museum, total respect.

When I was a kid my father was stationed in Korea. We stopped in Japan and had some time to explore. My dad took me to a hobby shop and I remember being overwhelmed. Wound up buying Tamaya models. That was in 1973 and I’ve been building them ever since. Thank you for bringing back great memories!!

Since I was a kid watching Tamiya sponsored model tutorials, I've been wanting to visit Japan and Tamiya headquarters.

Thanks for showing us around Andy

As a kid, I built a lot of the Tamiya 1/50 scale WWII aircraft. I normally built 1/48 scale but the Tamiya kits were the only Japanese aircraft (other than Zeros) that were close to 1/48 . . . So I picked up a lot of those. It was interesting to see those displayed in the video...😀

I love all those old versions of kit boxes as the pictures shown were absolutely amazing, they were indeed art painting

8:20 This diorama is titled “A Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing,” created by modeling legend Shep Paine. At the time it came out Tamiya and Mr Paine received a fair amount of flak for the scene. This likely playing in to the decision not commission Shep to do future work. Ironic that this very piece is now proudly on display in Tamiya's own museum.

All I can say is wow that is one hell of a collection of all from the past to the present and everything in between thanks for sharing Andy 👍👍

Truly fantastic stuff… you never cease to amaze us Andy! Arigatou!

Wow, what a great tour. Thank you Andy!

I just received a 1/48 Tamiya UH-1B Huey with Cobra squadron decals from 1966!!! Everything but the decals are in perfect shape. I'm going to test one of the decals tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Thank u andy for shareing.great for people who can mot efford traveling to japan.i love your channel.wit sticky greetings from good ol'germany. Christian

thanks so much Mr Andy for yr tour in our dreams, it seemed to be there with you! Stefano from Bologna Italy!

Thanks for letting us tag along Andy!! 👍🏽

oh. great!!! I really want to see this old tamiya kits!!! thanks !!! andy~

Thanks for the video, keep them coming, enjoying your Japanese tour.

Thank you for the tour, Andy! I like seeing the motorized cars again. I built them when I was a kid. When Tamiya America was in Aliso Viejo, they had lots of model displays inside the shop and an RC track outside. Wish it was still there. I didn’t see the 1/6 Harley with sidecar, a beautiful model. I didn’t see the Mini 4WD vehicles, maybe in a different room with the tracks?

Amazing tour of a stunning place. Thank you, Andy!

Wow that Mikasa model at 17.27 looked stunning!!!!!

Model builders heaven!

Thanks Andy for the tour. Very interesting,

Fantastic.I wish they would reissue some of those old kits.Thanks Andy.

Best vid i have watched in a very long time 😍😍👌👌, thank you for showing us these.🙏

Thanks so much for the tour, brought back a lot of memories.

These are not Just models, these are beautiful artistic stuff! 😊

Great Video! Thanks for filming and sharing.

Thanks Andy for all the videos from your adventure in Japan..🇬🇧🇺🇸👍

Another location added to the bucketlist!

I can only echo what everyone is has been saying, thanks for sharing your adventures and model tours in Japan, it looks like a fun place to visit and experience.

at 8:13 wasn't that a Shep Paine diorama, I remember it from the How to build dioramas book?

Thank you Andy and thank you Tamiya

Thanx Andy. Hello from Sweden, this amazing👍👌

Awesome. I have had only 2 of their kits. In 92 or 93 I out together the NS 500 Honda race bike with the #3 on the front. That was the most difficult model for me to put together....correctly. Turned out great, and what a job to put the decals on the gauges. The I got one of the BSA Star street bike, looked at the instructions, it said something about 3 or 4 different super glues, and didn't go any further. Still have it on a shelf. Went onto other things. If you're a series model builder (in my opinion anyway), Tamiya is the way to go.

😍Oh wow, this is sooooo cool!!!!!!!!!👍

Total agree the art on the boxes could be framed there that good great video

Best video tour of this wonderful museum and shop!

Carbon date me, I remember when most of those kits were first released.

At 9:02 they were the motorized and remote control tanks of my childhood. Tamiya made and sold both versions for you to choose from. I always love playing with the moving tanks in contrast to the status displaying tanks. There was so much fun to play with that brought me a lot of joy. The art box was the motorized version, while the white box was the display model, and the slightly bigger box for the same model was the remote control version. Of course, the art box gone later, so was the motorized and RC versions.

There's even that wonderful Merkava Dio at 8:00 from Shep Paine - WOW! It was a real inspiration for me as a teen back then! But i can't remember that dead soldier lying on the ground - i suppose they removed it for the Magazine.

That is a fantastic museum. I would love to visit there. I saw several plastic as well as rc cars I used to have or wanted. Next time try using a polarizing filter in front of your lens. It helps cut the glare. Still great video tour. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you so much for taking the time to share this footage, truly awesome!!

That was impressive! I never knew about the wooden ships. I mean from a distance they looked like detailed plastic kits!

These kits bring back memory's from my childhood, My son still asks me what I want to be, when I grow up. I an almost 79 and have 2 DJI drones.....

This was a VERY Cool video!!!! Thanks for sharing

Very cool! Great to see Shep Paine's dio's and think I saw an Art Gerber one in there too. The full size 1:1 vehicles were also amazing!

I love all your videos but, these. Last few are very cool!

The box art was inspiring

I have been twice and it’s just wonderful Don’t forget there is a shop there and also a special sprue of a samouri thst you can only get there and it’s free!

If I ever get to Arizona I will bow at feet the the man who got to see this amazing display. I will save this video

Awesome mate! Thanks for taking the time to film it! 👍🇦🇺👍

I would love to see Tamiya release a plastic model kit of that sand scorcher bug. I have always like that car. Seeing the 1:1 “replica” in the video was pretty cool as well

Very impressive kit displays.

Oh wow I remember them RC cars very well they were awesome

Muchas gracias! Maravilloso el recorrido!

Memories of my youth. My friends father , built the carrier Enterprise. He was a graphic printer by trade with a keen eye to detail. It looked just like the box art. He's passed on now, but its still on the shelf in his old house. His daughter is rightly proud of it. Terrible back ground music Andy, I turned the sound off.

thanks for sharing, I would love to go there one day.

Awesome tour, would love to go there, the Flak 88 gun in church dio looks familiar.

The Holy Grail of many modelers 😊😊😊😊😊

Breathtaking is the word here.

Thank u andy for shareing.except for people who can mot efford traveling to japan.i love your channel.wit sticky greetings from good ol'germany. Christian

Maybe there is a Andy's HHQ/Tamia collaboration in our future. I think that would be awesome.

Amazing stuff. That is hobby heaven right there.

Amazing video! If you want to remove reflections when recording, try getting a polarizer for your camera lens. It removes reflections like magic! - But it's just physics. Consider looking into it :D

Those paintings on old kits are awesome. Unfortunately, due to US regulations they don't do put full paintings on boxes anymore.

I remember the 88mm in a church diorama by verlinden , it was centre page in the tamiya catalogue

Dude, you lucky duck! Thanks for this.

I simply love to see this video.

Model building is an art form when it’s done this well

Thanks for sharing and including the RC stuff! I have seen a few of these and this was the best one. It’s my dream to go there one day but this is satisfying in the meantime (also I am not hearing the family say “Let’s go dad” in the background while watching it on RU-vid).

Thank you so much! Always a pleasure to view videos of that museum!! One of the few regrets I have from my time in Japan is not visiting The Modelling Mecca places.

That's really cool!! Thanks for sharing!

A good chance to learn the pronunciation of "Tamiya" from Mr.Tamiya himself, lol.

Great video thanks.

Wonder why Tamiya never got the Star wars license, could you imagine Tamiya Star Wars kits?

awesome diorama..

Really awesome !

4.24 if only we had that Churchill ark the Centaur is climbing over eh! What a fantastic diorama that is!

The box art is very cool

Simply fantastic tour,regards from Italy

Absolutely facinating.

Andy, this is so cool...thank you so much!

Wonder if they have an example of the Dodge Charger and Ford Galaxie stock cars they released in 1966, some of their earliest 1/25 plastic cars and ‘heavily influenced’ by MPC kits…

very nice and thanks for the tour however it is obvious that you like tanks more than anything else ;-)

You should've asked what their best-selling kit is.

Got to say that was pretty special cheers

Andy, you should visit the Tamiya factory in the Philippines.

Does any of the model companies sell their boxarts as posters? Those things are often amazing.