Radio-controlled (RC) cars come in all shapes and sizes and are made by countless companies, but one of the oldest and most respected players is Tamiya.
Founded in 1946 in Shizuoka, Japan, by Yoshio Tamiya, the company began as a sawmill before producing wooden models in 1948. The sawmill shut in 1953, when Tamiya became a dedicated maker of models, moving into plastic kits in 1960. Tamiya sells myriad sets today – both radio-controlled and static – of cars, motorbikes, lorries, military vehicles, ships and aircraft, as well as all manner of tools and finishing materials. The firm is perhaps best known for its radio-controlled cars, though, the first of which appeared in 1976 in the shape of a 1/12 scale Porsche 934 Turbo.