Tamiya '60s F1 Kits?

[Richard Bartrop]

I've always had a very high regard for Tamiya's Formula One kits, and I have a special fondness for the pre airfoil cars.  so I was wondering which ones they've done.  The 1/12 scale kits are very nice, but they also eat up dollars and shelf space, so I'm focusing on the 1/20 scale kits for now.  I know they did a Lotus 25 and a Honda RA272 from that era, but that's all I can think of right now.  Did Tamiya do anything else from this era at this scale?

[64Comet404]

The Lotus and Honda are the only ones that Tamiya has done in 1/20. If you want to go a bit farther afield, Ebbro has done some nice F1 kits, and the company does have a link to Tamiya (though I can't remember what it is at the moment). Hope this helps!

[kitbash1]

Those are the only two 60's era kits that Tamiya 1/20th. If you want other 60's F1 cars in that scale, you will need to look to Ebbro for the Lotus 49 & 49b or HFM for others.

[Bill Eh?]

1 hour ago, Richard Bartrop said:

I've always had a very high regard for Tamiya's Formula One kits, and I have a special fondness for the pre airfoil cars.  so I was wondering which ones they've done.  The 1/12 scale kits are very nice, but they also eat up dollars and shelf space, so I'm focusing on the 1/20 scale kits for now.  I know they did a Lotus 25 and a Honda RA272 from that era, but that's all I can think of right now.  Did Tamiya do anything else from this era at this scale?

Hi Richard,

Douglas and Ken have given you some options to consider. I only started following F-1 in '76 when I attended my first two GPs. I have been following ever since. My stash of F-1 kits (1/24, 1/20 and 1/12; Tamiya, Fujimi, Heller, Protar, and ?) falls into the more-than-enough-for-my-lifetime category. LOL

[Richard Bartrop]

Thanks, but these will do me for now.

[Aaronw]

They did the 6 wheel Tyrell P34 car as well although I guess that is actually 1970s.

[fumi]

8 hours ago, 64Comet404 said:

If you want to go a bit farther afield, Ebbro has done some nice F1 kits, and the company does have a link to Tamiya (though I can't remember what it is at the moment).

Ebbro's F1 kits are very nice.  You can consider them as Tamiya+.

Ebbro's owner worked for Tamiya for 30 years and was responsible for their F1 kits in the mid 80's to mid 90's and was project chief of the short-lived 1/43 diecast car line.  When Tamiya scaled back their F1 line and changed their direction to simplified car kits, he left and started his own company to concentrate on subjects that interest him, mainly race cars and historic Japanese cars.

In an interview he mentioned that when Mr. Tamiya heard about his desire and push to establish the 1/43 diecast project, he said that "if he wants to do this project so badly, he can always do it out of his own pocket".  When he quit to start his own company, Tamiya gave him an extra large retirement package that footed Ebbro's first 3 diecast models.

Edited January 2, 2019 by fumi

[Pete J.]

Tamiya was really into the 70's and later era cars.  I always wished they had done more of the 60's era cars.  For the best of those in 1:20 scale you need to go the Model Factory Hero, but you also have to have a very big wallet for those.  I saw the other day that they reissued several Ferrari's.  I love the AAR Gurney Eagle.  Gorgeous little kit.   Same with the 312 kit.  

[ShawnS]

I feel that Tamiya really dropped the ball when they stopped making the 60's cars, not just F1 cars but their 1:24 road cars as well. They did a great job with the VW Beetle, Alfa, and little Honda kit sports car kits. It gave me hope that perhaps they were going to expand on the 60's theme and that we would get some really amazing unkitted non- American 1960's subjects but nope Tamiya seemed to get bored with the idea and went back to releasing more kits of the same tanks and aircraft that every kit manufacturer has.

[fumi]

31 minutes ago, ShawnS said:

I feel that Tamiya really dropped the ball when they stopped making the 60's cars, not just F1 cars but their 1:24 road cars as well. They did a great job with the VW Beetle, Alfa, and little Honda kit sports car kits. It gave me hope that perhaps they were going to expand on the 60's theme and that we would get some really amazing unkitted non- American 1960's subjects but nope Tamiya seemed to get bored with the idea and went back to releasing more kits of the same tanks and aircraft that every kit manufacturer has.

Those kits were planned at the tailend of the Mini-4WD boom, around 1993-94.  Sale of the Mini-4WD funded all the interesting less profitable projects like the Caterhams, the annual 2 x F1 kits and the 60's classic cars.

Once the Mini-4WD boom waned, there was no money to spare and the car line was drastically cut back.  Word at the time was that the classic car kits sold far less than expected and the entire project was shelved, so Tamiya could concentrate their resources on the newly re-acquired Ferrari license.

It was around that time that Mr. Kiya quit Tamiya and founded MMP, parent company of Ebbro.  He was told there would be no more resources for the F1 kits and the classic sports car kits, 2 of his pet projects.

[Brett Barrow]

Can confirm, Ebbro is for all intents and purposes a continuation of the Tamiya classic F1 line.  Same designer, same quality.