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Visiting the Tamiya Factory in Cebu, Philippines

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A month ago, a group of local motoring journalists were invited for an exclusive tour of the Tamiya Factory in Cebu, Philippines. Luckily, I was part of that group. It was the first time for them to let outsiders have a look inside and I have a lot of pictures and a long story to tell about the trip.

 

Here are some of shots I had from the trip.

 

tamiyafactory_main.jpg

tamiyafactory_15.jpg

tamiyafactory_26.jpg

tamiyafactory_29.jpg

tamiyafactory_01.jpg

 

You can read my full write up and tons more photos here http://timeattackmanila.com/featured/exclusive-look-inside-tamiya-factory-cebu/

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Great write up. I was surprised to see all the XB bodies were done by hand and not an automated process. On a side note, Tamiya does the paint then cut method as I've done for years lol. ;) Take that you cutters then painters! :P:lol:

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is that a stack of rerere top-force cars......... so giddy with antici...............

 

 

pation!

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Excellent read! Thanks for sharing!

Am I reading it wrong or are they expected to build 22 rc kits an hour? If so I would've gone without pay for a long long time. 

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Thanks for the kind words guys. There were some things I left out in the story that I'd like to share with you.

 

I didn't see rere-Top Force bodies, but this was the shelf full of lexan body molds. There's another shelf to the left full of them! Technically we weren't allowed to take close up pictures, but obviously we did.

tamiyafactory_10.jpg

 

Yes, 22 kits per hour! Here's the best part. At the end of the production line, there's a guy there that just plays with RCs all day. He was 'Quality Control'. He basically takes an finished XB kit, shoves batteries in it, then runs it for 5 mintues around a tiny carpeted area inside the factory. That's his JOB!

This is the guy I'm taking about:

tamiyafactory_28.jpg

 

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12 hours ago, Robert5000 said:

Excellent read! Thanks for sharing!

Am I reading it wrong or are they expected to build 22 rc kits an hour? If so I would've gone without pay for a long long time. 

I was just telling my wife about this story and said the same thing, that I've found my dream job! Its a shame the factory isn't in New Zealand, will have to stick to insurance for a while yet

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wow!....excellent....dream come true right there..

thanks for sharing.

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I'm bummed. I was in Cebu a couple years ago and had no idea this existed.

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Question about the models in the case. I see an F40 with the two piece wheels from the Toms Supra. Any idea on the chassis?

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1 hour ago, salvine said:

Question about the models in the case. I see an F40 with the two piece wheels from the Toms Supra. Any idea on the chassis?

F40 fits on a std touringcar wheelbase, probably something with IFS would be best. You'll need to play with wheel offset to match the extra width, probably +3mm & +9mm to fill the fenders. 

488362d1250263364-pictures-our-singapore

 

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56 minutes ago, WillyChang said:

F40 fits on a std touringcar wheelbase, probably something with IFS would be best. You'll need to play with wheel offset to match the extra width, probably +3mm & +9mm to fill the fenders. 

488362d1250263364-pictures-our-singapore

 

That's what I was thinking. The F-40 LM is my absolute dream car. I mean like sell the kids and make the wife disappear for the insurance dream car.

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The F40 is mounted on a standard TT01 chassis. The hex hubs are also quite wide that the nuts barely had any threads to lock onto.

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7 hours ago, mailboxck said:

The F40 is mounted on a standard TT01 chassis. The hex hubs are also quite wide that the nuts barely had any threads to lock onto.

I have had a pet project of mounting the F40 to a TA06.  Looks like IFS isn't necessary.

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12 hours ago, salvine said:

The F-40 LM is my absolute dream car. I mean like sell the kids and make the wife disappear for the insurance dream car.

The LM is an impractical relic. It's pretty useless without a dedicated pitcrew... like, it's got no battery onboard, battery lives externally in a dolly and is disconnected after starting... so if you stall it out on track, someone'll have to come rescue you.<_< 

There's a local fella here with one :P parks it in his loungeroom afaik.

Yeah, u & I would probably have to make the Mrs disappear before we get to park anything in the loungeroom...! :ph34r:

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10 hours ago, firefoxussr said:

I have had a pet project of mounting the F40 to a TA06.  Looks like IFS isn't necessary.

Yup. No need for IFS. The F40 you see in the picture is a stock TT01 underneath. 

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Would love to visit, but can't help feeling that if it became a job it would take the fun out of it being a hobby!

Fantastic write up and pictures.

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20 hours ago, WillyChang said:

The LM is an impractical relic. It's pretty useless without a dedicated pitcrew... like, it's got no battery onboard, battery lives externally in a dolly and is disconnected after starting... so if you stall it out on track, someone'll have to come rescue you.<_< 

Here in the states you can subscribe to AAA (American Automobile Association) for $60 a year and they will come out and jump your car if it won't start for no additional cost lol.  It would make the hassle worth it to drive such a classic.

 

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23 hours ago, WillyChang said:

The LM is an impractical relic. It's pretty useless without a dedicated pitcrew... like, it's got no battery onboard, battery lives externally in a dolly and is disconnected after starting... so if you stall it out on track, someone'll have to come rescue you.

Or you could just push it up to 5mph, run alongside and jump in while it's still moving, depress the clutch, select 2nd gear, dump the clutch, give it a bootful of throttle, shut the door and off you go.  Like I have to with my old Mini more often than you'd think... :unsure:

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Ok for a tiny A-series -_- Somehow I suspect it's not that easy to bumpstart a big V8 with twin turbos blocking the intake, especially one with zero battery voltage to run the injection! 

Although these days, you'd probably just keep a lipo battery in the glovebox :D

Meanwhile downunder & slightly southeast...

NZ must have the most helpful officers, thumbs up!!

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16 hours ago, SNAKEBITE said:

Would love to visit, but can't help feeling that if it became a job it would take the fun out of it being a hobby!

Fantastic write up and pictures.

Thanks for the kind words! But yeah, I'm sure it's fun on the first day, building rc kits for 8 or 9 hours straight. Then after that, it'll be a chore. Can't beat the guy in quality control though. That's fun all day every day.

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