
Shunsaku Tamiya. Photo: Wikipedia

Tamiya often photographed or bought and transported back to Japan the machines for his scale models. The first Tamiya kit, a Jaguar sports car, was released in the 1960s and it was followed by a fleet of cars, planes, tanks, trucks and ships.
Tamiya was appointed president of the firm in 1977, a firm which by then had expanded world-wide. Key to the firm’s success was its authentic box art, setting a standard few amateur model makers could match — although they enjoyed the challenge.
A company statement said that Tamiya — who died on July 18 aged 90 — was ‘‘a kid at heart to the very end" — Allied Media