Another Jun Watanabe Design?

[HornetRacer 1971 137]

If you go to TamiyaBlog.....it looks like they are having a few open days for a CUSTOM DESIGN exhibition.

I think this means we will get another Jun Watanabe design of maybe the Frog of the Grasshopper!

I can only imagine what is in store.......

A pink Grasshopper with yellow flowers?

A green Hotshot with orange wheels?

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

A green Hotshot with orange wheels?

with yellow wheels!

[nodtec 76]

Who is he and how come he can get stupid crap made by Tamiya and we can't even get a real rere.

[CoolJetta3 39]

He is a graphic designer/artist with ties to Tamiya

[Sayer 742]

No. Do not want.

[nodtec 76]

That explains it. Lucky Tamiya doesn't have ties with McDonalds otherwise it would be Ronald's Wheeler or a Wild Ronnie

[Nitomor 2122]

My Watanabe Hornet is one of my favourites in my collection, I love the wacky stuff Tamiya produce. I think its great that they do this, bring it on.

[Sayer 742]

Why would anyone complain about a mainstream designer being involved with Tamiya products? Jun Watanabe's work, which is very popular and nothing if not distinctive, can only bring Tamiya products to the attention of new audiences, who may later become customers. That can only benefit our hobby.

I say bring on the weird colours. Stagnation is death.

Dorvack.

Because all of those criteria could be filled without the type of "design" that involves painting a bunch of polkadots on a model like a toddler ("Look daddy! Moo cow!") and relying on "hype" to carry the sale. There's no reason we can't have an automotive designer like Chip Foose or Ken Okuyama produce add their vision to a Tamiya model. The issue isn't with "change" it's with the specific change. Of course I don't have to buy it if I don't like it, but given a choice, I'd rather them partner with anyone but Jun Watanabe.

[ChrisRx718 4470]

Because all of those criteria could be filled without the type of "design" that involves painting a bunch of polkadots on a model like a toddler ("Look daddy! Moo cow!") and relying on "hype" to carry the sale. There's no reason we can't have an automotive designer like Chip Foose or Ken Okuyama produce add their vision to a Tamiya model. The issue isn't with "change" it's with the specific change. Of course I don't have to buy it if I don't like it, but given a choice, I'd rather them partner with anyone but Jun Watanabe.

You're missing the point a bit though, what he's saying is that this way it introduces the hobby to a whole new audience - having an automotive designer on board would change nothing really? That would only serve to attract an automotive enthusiast-audience, something which Tamiya already does (look at their features in 1:1 car magazines). The whole crazy design concept is a breath of fresh air if nothing else.

[chriss76 91]

I bought my daughter the Jun Watanabe hornet and although I hated it first, I must admit it sort of won me over with its wacky colour and decal scheme. I don't think my 5 year old daughter would have been the least bit intrested in a standard hornet but it was her that told me she'd like it for x-mas after spotting it in a thread I was reading on TC. So I really do think it's a good thing and I'm rather intrigued at what could be next ....... Even if I do only want some weird coloured wheels and tyres.

Chris

[Nitomor 2122]

I actually had correspondence with Mr Jun Watanabe himself, congratulating him on his Hornet which I thoroughly enjoyed building and attaching build thread and pics of my take on his creation, the Jun Watanabe NitoMonster Hornet.

We had a few email exchanges, he's a huge Tamiya fan, he wrote back;

Your big wheel hornet look very nice!

You can run anywhere.

I send to you some picture. These are my big wheel machine.

(I'd love to see one of these produced!!)

RC Football...

Japanese craziness at its best...why would we want to suppress that, in this instance, it's driven by pure passion rather than commercial/design hype. He even forwarded me the graphic so I could decorate my drivers head!

Cheers

Nito

[Mokei Kagaku 2706]

I actually had correspondence with Mr Jun Watanabe himself, ....

Sent him this pic yesterday on FB, and wonder what his reaction was/will be. It was taken by a friend of mine at an orchestra rehearsal in Norway. Quite a coincidence that the colours and designs match Watanabe-san's style!

[mr crispy 2293]

It's amazing what will sell if a "designer" "created" it, just look at the fashion world.

Personally I'd rather see some redesigned bodywork that's had some thought put into it rather than just a non box art paint job. You don't need to be a world famous designer to do that! Must've taken all of two minutes of his time on CAD... "Oh Tamiya want me to redesign the Hornet... Ok, we'll paste in pink wheels, click click... Some purple plastic parts, click click... and a cow skin paint job, click click click. All done... they'll never go for that tee hee heeee!" I've seen more involved R&D on Top Gear😕

It's good to see Tamiya starting to release plastic part sprues in other colours than black, gives us kit bashers an easier way to personalise our chassis's without getting flaky paint dandruff.

The best way i can see his creation is to show the muggles that you can actually give your car it's own look, you don't have to follow the suggested paint and decals in the manual.

[qatmix 794]

Involving designers from other fields is always a good thing for product design. The Wannabe Hornet is much cooler than the original for some, it would be great to let some designers have even more free reign in changing other cars or even designing a new one. I can't get over how much I like having a bear on a Tractor, and so do the guys in the office I work in, not many are into rc cars but since seeing the Kumamon Tractor several have gone out and bought it or another wheelie car for some lunchtime racing.

It must also be remembered that even the current box art is the work of a designer, http://www.thercracer.com/2013/08/tamiya-80s-buggy-history-and-box-art.html

[Tamiya1/10 382]

Not every famous designer can creat a design that well appeal to everyone or a hit. So only get the design one likes and pass the ones you don't like. But some do grow on you over time and you'll be happy that you took the chance. I remember got VW Scirocco several years ago, last one on the lot....a sickly dark green, it turned out was the old british racing green and it turned heads at night time and loved that color in tge end.

Sometimes odd combinations works and go together nicely. Taste changes over time.

[CoolJetta3 39]

That's cool he responded to you! He seems to frequently "like" my Tamiya pics on Instagram which I think is awesome too

The last one

[taliesin 260]

My best guess for the next design would be the Lunchbox or maybe the Wheelie VW since the platforms would lend themselves to wild designs and they would reach a pretty diverse audience. Those pictures of the VW reinforce this idea.

I'm NOT predicting anything - just an observation.

Wasn't a big fan at first, but slowly the Jun Watanabe Hornet grew on me and it is actually a pretty cool idea to try something completely new and different. Find myself looking forward to seeing the new Jun Watanabe actually. Fits with the direction Tamiya is going right now with Kumamon and Wheelie Tractors, Wild Willy on cartoonish versions, etc.

Now, if we could get some Rat Fink editions I'd be really pleased, but there is probably a very limited market for that and most of them were probably my father's generation and not part of this conversation - although I built a ton of Rat Fink models in my youth.

[bromvw 744]

If that's Design he can kiss my big fat hairy Yorkshire backside . I'am in the wrong job obviously

[Theibault 1535]

I'm very excited for this. I'm a sucker for alt scheme vehicles. Looking forward to what they come up with and I'll probably buy whatever Tamiya puts into production.