What's made in Japan and What in the Philippines

[RC4x4 142]

I feel sorry for the people that make all this stuff. They are the ones who suffer. We benefit from it because the kits stay cheap. I just wonder how much it cost Tamiya to make a grasshopper kit from molding to boxed up. The people that make all this stuff probably never get to own one of these because the pay is nothin. That is not right. Oh well, what do you do.

Cory 

[El Mexican 1]

You can count out Taiwan as being a country know for cheap work force.

Most Taiwanese companies actually have factories in mainland China because of its much cheaper labor force.

Taiwan is a first-world country. Their economic ascent has been impresive since they stopped mass producing plastic products in the 70s and 80s and shifted to the electronic bussiness in the 90s.

Every second three PC motherboards are produced in Taiwan. That's just amazing. No other country produces such quantity of mbs.

Most Taiwanese electronic technology (Sandisk, BenQ, Acer) is on par with Korean brands (LG, Samsung, Daewo), although they are still behind Japan in terms of quality and design (and price).

[melbsbalong 0]

I'm from the Philippines and labor here isn't the cheapest in asia, definitely China's labor is WAY cheaper. China's labor is so cheap that it is actually killing local manufactures(apparel, shoes, etc.) mainly because of labor and raw material costs cannot compete with China made products.

as far as tamiya is concerned, never knew their production was this big as all of my purchases didn't imply they are made here.

its a pity however that even if a lot of kits and parts are made here, the choices and availability of kits, especially parts aren't complete(even from authorized distributors) and is not cheap either.  

 

[technical.burP 0]

Very interesting thread here. I guess Theo and Wireless are right. I think there is no difference in quality between kits made in Japan and Phillipines because Tamiya rigorously controls quality.

I fear that many Tamiya kits that are said to be made in Japan, are actually not 100% made there.

Could it be that many part trees and many other stuff are made in the Phillipines and elsewhere and that only the final kit is being packed in Japan?

If I regard German products for example, like dish washing mashines, many parts are from foreign countries and only around 55% of the parts are still made in Germany, I guess it's the same with Tamiya kits. Kyosho for example states on the box that Lazer ZX-5 kit is made in Japan. Well, I don't believe that because since many many years, Kyosho sourced out it's production of plastic parts and complete kits to South Korea. The Kyosho Ultima RB from 2001 is 100% made in Korea and the new mini inferno is completely made in China.

To sum it up, I guess that only a fraction of the stuff of japanese kits is really made in Japan.

(Did you ever wonder why Tamiya is able to offer kits with full bearings without raising prices drastically? They use chinese ball bearings! I know that the Tamiya ball bearing kit for the TT-01 is definetely made in China.)

[HunterZero 76]

Interesting thread this. 

Is all of Tamiya's manufacturing in Japan and Philippines?

I ask this, because I went to our local computer markets here, and there was a new guy there selling RC products. In particular, he was selling Chinese made knock-offs of other models. Planes, boats, cars and helis.

There was a Chinese RC car there that looked like a TL-01B with a painted Wild Dagger bodyshell there, and apart from the crappy decals and cheap looking ESC, the chassis looked pretty darn close in quality, if not identical, to the Tamiya original.

So I had a bit of a chat to the guy there. The guy was adamant that Tamiya use Chinese factories for manufacturing some plastic parts, and that pretty soon after a factory opens to make parts for kits like this, another factory starts producing 'knock off' parts for kits completely made in China. I was fairly sure this isn't the case, but thought I'd check with the authorities on this - Anyone know if Tamiya uses China for some parts, and packs the final kits in Japan/Philippines? Anyone know the story behind the Chinese TL-01 copies?

He did mention that he had batches of the car with a manufacturing flaw in the suspension arms that caused premature breakage, and the steering arms broke too easily so he was getting the Chinese company to include four spares.

He explained the crappy decals by saying that making decals of high quality in China is hard due to the humidity (!) and that most other manufacturers like Tamiya had their decals printed in Germany where it isn't as humid!

Weird guy, pretty sure he didn't have his facts straight.

- James

[benidormboy 1]

lots of valid points made here, but lets get one thing straight it,s all about PROFIT. tamiya is just like any other company in that it has to keep that total at the bottom of the page looking good. production costs are cheaper in the places mentioned above, but what normally happens is that it they need time to "adjust". after this adjusting stage you will find the quality will get better. what you will find is that parts will get passed from hand to hand, rather than machine to machine. so when they get "sorted out" every part will get a visual inspection. which means better quality control. after seeing the factories for myself you soon realise that the chinese are coming into r/c, and will have a finger in every pie soon enough. example- the cheapest budget nitro buggy i could find 3 months ago was 120-140 pounds. now i have just seen 1 from china buy now 87 pounds. lets hope the quality of our cars (tamiya) does not drop to much.

[DJTheo 2]

Hunter Zero, people tell many stories, especially when they have personal interests behind []. I doubt Tamiya manufactures parts there as it makes the risks of copies even larger and when they do it they write it (I think the new Tamtech gear carrying bags are made in China and stated so)

Those clones are an old story (much older then the chinese copy boom) as there existed already Taiwan? Grashopper and Super Shot clones. You can easily understand those aren't made from Tamiya machines but reversely engineered, i.e. cast are made out of original Tamiya parts, thats why their quality is comparetively lousy.

Cheers 

[mongoose1983 3335]

Is it true that all of the new CC-01 and re-res are actually Made in Philippines?

[bromvw 744]

Some of this thread has had me in tears of laughter . I can'nt belive how ill imformed and opininated to the point of almost being racist some of the views expressed have being . Many years ago a certain Japanise car maker built a plant in the north east of england . The company was and is called NISSAN . The town is called Sunderland . Not only do the workers equal the quality of their fellow workers in Japan - they exceed them . They also produce more cars per shift than in Japan . Keep in mind that at the time the plant opened the british car industry was in terminal decline after years of producing absolutely aweful cars both in terms of design and quality .

This proves one thing . If you maintain the same levels of quality control a company can manufacture anywhere in the world . We live in a global economy and the major companys will locate to wherever they can make the most profit . As for Tamiya ever moving production to China - dont you ever read the news ? China and Japan are not exactly the best of friends politically and are never likely to be . If you were MR T would you invest in a country that you could well be at war with in the near future ? Highly Unlikely .

[Shaggy39 43]

Interesting reading people's views and I am far too unqualified to offer any informative input. All I will say is I agree with a previous post who says its all about profit and as long as Mr T can produce commercially acceptable kits to the market, where they are made is secondary IMHO.

I know one thing for sure. Chinese production costs are rising all the time, someone's got to pay for the new factories and higher wage demands. I compete with far eastern manufacturers and I was talking to a customer who visits a factory in china every march and has just returned from this years visit. In 2011 he visited the long standing old factory (an absolute dump with bamboo huts for living quarters) and the outdoor space was full of bicycles. In 2012 they had moved to new factory (smoked glass windows and elevators up the outside of the building), this time all the staff and mopeds.

As for 2013....? Car park full of new cars! Times are changing and china is no longer the poor relation and people want the good life. We are starting to win work back cos of increasing prices from Far East producers.

[Shaggy39 43]

Interesting reading people's views and I am far too unqualified to offer any informative input. All I will say is I agree with a previous post who says its all about profit and as long as Mr T can produce commercially acceptable kits to the market, where they are made is secondary IMHO.

I know one thing for sure. Chinese production costs are rising all the time, someone's got to pay for the new factories and higher wage demands. I compete with far eastern manufacturers and I was talking to a customer who visits a factory in china every march and has just returned from this years visit. In 2011 he visited the long standing old factory (an absolute dump with bamboo huts for living quarters) and the outdoor space was full of bicycles. In 2012 they had moved to new factory (smoked glass windows and elevators up the outside of the building), this time all the staff and mopeds.

As for 2013....? Car park full of new cars! Times are changing and china is no longer the poor relation and people want the good life. We are starting to win work back cos of increasing prices from Far East producers.

[Percymon 2184]

I'm not going to guess where the vajra kit is made, some would say higher value kits are japan, but what I did notice is that some of the plastics such as the gearbox casing seem less well finished and perhaps more brittle in nature than the same items on my original Egress.

Whether that's as a consequence of manufacturing site, cost or just formulation changes because if environmental law I don't know - they do the job, whether they provide the same durability only time will tell !

[mongoose1983 3335]

I'm not going to guess where the vajra kit is made, some would say higher value kits are japan, but what I did notice is that some of the plastics such as the gearbox casing seem less well finished and perhaps more brittle in nature than the same items on my original Egress.

Whether that's as a consequence of manufacturing site, cost or just formulation changes because if environmental law I don't know - they do the job, whether they provide the same durability only time will tell !

Well, I noticed something different about the new hard bodyshells. They're shinier than the 80's ones, and they have more residue on the borders. Now don't get me wrong, not only they are good but still the best in the business, but somehow they seem different than the old ones to me.

[tpsolid 24]

I had a few Taiwan made supershots and FOXs. Quality on them are terrible. I built about 3 of them and all 3 had binding issues with the drive train , shocks dont work, etc etc. My dad bought a bunch of these back in 1990s. I still have one built FOX left. supershots are all sold or thrown away hah.

[TA-Mark 195]

Interesting thread this.

Is all of Tamiya's manufacturing in Japan and Philippines?

I ask this, because I went to our local computer markets here, and there was a new guy there selling RC products. In particular, he was selling Chinese made knock-offs of other models. Planes, boats, cars and helis.

There was a Chinese RC car there that looked like a TL-01B with a painted Wild Dagger bodyshell there, and apart from the crappy decals and cheap looking ESC, the chassis looked pretty darn close in quality, if not identical, to the Tamiya original.

So I had a bit of a chat to the guy there. The guy was adamant that Tamiya use Chinese factories for manufacturing some plastic parts, and that pretty soon after a factory opens to make parts for kits like this, another factory starts producing 'knock off' parts for kits completely made in China. I was fairly sure this isn't the case, but thought I'd check with the authorities on this - Anyone know if Tamiya uses China for some parts, and packs the final kits in Japan/Philippines? Anyone know the story behind the Chinese TL-01 copies?

He did mention that he had batches of the car with a manufacturing flaw in the suspension arms that caused premature breakage, and the steering arms broke too easily so he was getting the Chinese company to include four spares.

He explained the crappy decals by saying that making decals of high quality in China is hard due to the humidity (!) and that most other manufacturers like Tamiya had their decals printed in Germany where it isn't as humid!

Weird guy, pretty sure he didn't have his facts straight.

- James

These clone TL01b's have been reverse engineered from Tamiya originals. Once you have both models side by side you can see the tolerance differences and some of the clone parts will not work smoothly on an original chassis until you get these parts to within tolerance. No way these could come from the same moulds or machining specs.

There is also a difference in plastic type/quality and mould quality. Again plainly obvious when you have both side by side.

They've stopped making the TL01b clones now from what I understand and are now making a DF02 clone with improvements. Their new chassis is not bad at all in design and not a true clone.

The same company now has an electric 1:10 scale clone of the 1:5 HPI Baja buggy. Looks the part. No idea on quality or performance though.

[GregM 1109]

Some knock-offs of Tamiya's cars have been sold under the REELY brand by Conrad Electronic. Namely the REELY "Sturdy" buggy (TL-01B clone), the REELY "Cross Tiger" (WR-01 clone) and the REELY "Red/Blue Tanga" buggy (DF-03 clone).

"Sturdy" buggy review:

Original review and translated to English by Google.

"Red Tanga" buggy review:

Original and translation

All these knock-offs are said to have quite bad molded parts that require lots of rework. And yes, "Tanga" means "thong", unfortunately I'm out of puns.

[mongoose1983 3335]

Some knock-offs of Tamiya's cars have been sold under the REELY brand by Conrad Electronic. Namely the REELY "Sturdy" buggy (TL-01B clone), the REELY "Cross Tiger" (WR-01 clone) and the REELY "Red/Blue Tanga" buggy (DF-03 clone).

"Sturdy" buggy review:

Original review and translated to English by Google.

"Red Tanga" buggy review:

Original and translation

All these knock-offs are said to have quite bad molded parts that require lots of rework. And yes, "Tanga" means "thong", unfortunately I'm out of puns.

I remember the Academy buggies back in the day, but this really is something else!

[GregM 1109]

This seems to be the OEM of the REELY Red/Blue Tanga DF-03 clone:

http://www.fs-racingart.com/fs.php?bid=1

Funny enough, they even produce a 2WD "DF-03" clone which just lacks the front drive shafts:

http://www.fs-racingart.com/detail.php?pid=1162

I wonder how bad the weight distribution will be in 2WD mode.