[slammin]

Anyone have any suggestions on good Hobby Shops to visit in Tokyo?

Thanks,
Chris

[admin]

Try this site:

AFV Modeller's Extremely Prejudiced Guide to Tokyo Hobby Shops

• General Notes on Visiting Hobby Shops in Japan
• List of Hobby Shops in Tokyo and Nearby Area

[slammin]

Thanks admin,
All those shops should fill an afternoon or two.
Seriously, those map links on that site will be invaluable. Thanks for the link.

Does anyone have any opinoins on the Top Gun shop? Their site also has decent map, so I think I can locate it.

[FormerViperDriver]

Originally Posted by slammin

Thanks admin,
All those shops should fill an afternoon or two.
Seriously, those map links on that site will be invaluable. Thanks for the link.

Does anyone have any opinoins on the Top Gun shop? Their site also has decent map, so I think I can locate it.

Just be ready for sticker-price shock. Japan is VERY expensive... (well, maybe you've been there before and this is no news to you).

FVD

[slammin]

This will be my first time to Japan, but my relatives there have warned me about the prices. I'll probably just be browsing, but if possible I'd like to try to find models and diecast of some of the more obscure Japanese aircraft from WWII. I'm really hoping that one of these shops might have some marushin planes for a reasonable price.

[admin]

Originally Posted by slammin

This will be my first time to Japan, but my relatives there have warned me about the prices. I'll probably just be browsing, but if possible I'd like to try to find models and diecast of some of the more obscure Japanese aircraft from WWII. I'm really hoping that one of these shops might have some Marushin planes for a reasonable price.

If it's convenient, document and maybe take some pictures of what you find.

[CKS1]

Top Gun is a pretty good shop and the prices aren't so bad (for me at least anyway!). Have a look at this link:

http://www2k.biglobe.ne.jp/~t_muto/m...e.htm#ShopAsia

You shouldn’t have too much trouble finding Top Gun my wife spotted it before I did!!!

Cheers CKS1.

[slammin]

Hi,
I'm back from my trip to Tokyo. Had lots of fun and got to see some great sights. I only had time to visit 2 of the hobby shops mentioned in the thread, but I also stumbled upon one other good source of models. Here's the mini review:

Topgun:
This was the only store that I intentionally set out to find. I generally knew where the store was from the map on thier website, and it was only a short walk from the subway station. This seemed to be a typical Japanese style store(from an American perspective). The shop floor is only about 20x20ft. There is a product island in the middle, and all the outside walls are filled with display cases or product, from floor to ceiling. The majority of thier models were airliners, but they did have the recent hobby masters, corgi, witty, dragon, and century models. They also had some older corgi models and some of the newer ixo. Thier prices are posted on thier website. The highlight of this visit was being able to see many of the models on display. In particular the F-14's. They had the new century wings grim reaper there. Very nice model. They also had the new FOV black aces F-14. This was also a very nicely detailed model. The only reason that I didn't pick it up is that I already have enough F-14A's from FOV and CW and unfortunately the price on this model was closer to the CW planes than the previous FOV F-14.
Overall a nice shop with a good selection of the newer diecast planes.
My party and I came away with a few dragon airliners and few ixo airplanes.

Yellow Submarine:
This was in the same area as Topgun and we accidentally stubled upon it. It is more of a general hobby shop than one specifically for aviation or diecast models. They had a small section devoted to toy airplanes. One shelf was for diecast models. They had the CW airplanes and a few of the witty and dragon modern fighters. The part that I was most interested in was the assortment of plastic airplanes.They had lots of 1/144 plastic kits of japanese airplanes. These are mostly finished kits that only require some minor assembly and no painting. I'll try to post some pictures of these at a later time.
Overall a good general hobby shop. I was happy since I came away with a few 1/144 japanese airplanes.

Museum at Yasukuni War Shrine:
I had wanted to see this museum since it has a "Judy" on display. I'm not aware of any other survivors for this type. The museum itself has a nice layout and an interesting perspective on history. The big surprise to me was the gift shop! The had a nice selection of 1/48 plastic kits of all the major japanese aircraft of WWII. The most pleasant surprise to me was that they had 2 1/48 marushin aircraft in stock: the A6M5 zero and the Ohka kamikaze aircraft. The zero was about 5700 yen or 48 dollars and the Okha was 4100 yen or 34 dollars. I came away with one of each.


I'm still smiling from this trip, and I'll try to post some pictures after I get the models assembled.

Chris

[bsmith13]

Wow Chris! Sounds like you had a great trip. I would love to see a Judy in real life - can't wait for you to post pictures.

I was in Tucson three weeks ago. I spent three hours chasing hobby shops, with no luck. The Pima Museum was nice - tons of aircraft covering civilian, military and foreign areas. The gift shop even had an "Oh-7" B-25 in a completely hammered box (which I passed on). Sounds like your trip at least helped you fill out your collection!

[slammin]

Here are some pictures of the goodies: the Judy from the museum, a Marushin Ohka and Zero, and a 1/144 plastic model of a G4M betty.