fullspectrum 97 Posted January 18, 2021 Hey guys. Whats going on with Tamiya? I know there's a pandemic but why is there such low to NO stock on Tamiya kits everywhere? And when will they get kits back in stock? I heard there was an issue in their Philippines plant. Anyone have any idea? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mad Ax 9313 Posted January 18, 2021 I think all we can do here is speculate, which is what we've been doing all year. I'm not up to speed with what's happening pandemic-wise in the East but I'd be surprised if it isn't having at least some effect, either through factory shutdowns, reduced staff numbers or the same thing happening further down the chain causing problems getting raw materials and parts. There have also been constant shipping problems over the past 12 months, I thought a lot of this had been sorted but the pandemic has shown it can throw us curve-balls on a whim. It has also occurred to me that, as Japan is Tamiya's primary market, if they are having problems meeting demand then perhaps they are concentrating their stocks at home. Tamiya doesn't really publish this information so we can't do much more than guess. However, in the UK a least, the distributor tends to have an idea of what's shipping right now and I think most of that gets pre-allocated to the hobby shops, so the shops usually have a rough idea of what they're getting in the near future. 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
J@mes 2326 Posted January 18, 2021 No air freight, so it is all on a slow boat 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ScoTT-02 7 Posted January 18, 2021 When I was trying to buy my first Tamiya kit before Christmas from a popular retailer I asked why stock was really low and I got the following answer - the Philippines had a full military Covid lock down early on and Tamiya decided that they should move production (equipment and materials) to Japan, all of which stopped production for weeks. Once everything was relocated and set up... the Philippines lifted their lockdown! Seems plausible and just like my luck! 😂 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yogi-bear 2321 Posted January 18, 2021 Tamiya blog also had a brief article in December on how Tamiya has seen an increase in demand this year, not a lot of detail though, https://tamiyablog.com/2020/12/popular-plastic-model-due-to-nesting-chairman-shunsaku-tamiya-speaks-of-worldwide-shortage/ 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
moffman 5752 Posted January 18, 2021 1 hour ago, yogi-bear said: Tamiya blog also had a brief article in December on how Tamiya has seen an increase in demand this year, not a lot of detail though, https://tamiyablog.com/2020/12/popular-plastic-model-due-to-nesting-chairman-shunsaku-tamiya-speaks-of-worldwide-shortage/ Certainly looks like that's the problem then? Also (again only what my local hobby shop told me🤷♂️) a lot of the tamiya and other manufacturers products are in the UK but the containers are stuck in container ports like a lot of other overseas products! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fullspectrum 97 Posted January 19, 2021 9 hours ago, ScoTT-02 said: When I was trying to buy my first Tamiya kit before Christmas from a popular retailer I asked why stock was really low and I got the following answer - the Philippines had a full military Covid lock down early on and Tamiya decided that they should move production (equipment and materials) to Japan, all of which stopped production for weeks. Once everything was relocated and set up... the Philippines lifted their lockdown! Seems plausible and just like my luck! 😂 I heard something along the same lines. I guess there is a major disruption going on with them. My local Hobby shop said he has more kits coming in Feb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Killajb 1546 Posted January 19, 2021 I can assure you all that Tamiya is low on stock here in Japan as well. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites