
Aoshima Bunka Kyozai

, commonly truncated to Aoshima, is a Japanese model manufacturer based in Shizuoka Prefecture. It produces plastic model kits of a variety of vehicles, including model car, model aircraft, model ship and model Sci-fi mecha under Aoshima brand, along with finished toys under Skynet brand, diecast models under Miracle House brand, diecast cars under DISM brand and female statue figures under FunnyKnights brand.
History.
In 1924, "Aoshima Airplane Research Institute" (青島飛行機研究所) was founded by airplane pilot . In 1932, model-airplane was designated as an educational material in Japanese schools, and "Shizuoka model-airplane association" (静岡県模型飛行機工業組合) was established. Jiro Aoshima acceded to the chairman's post.
"Aoshima Bunka Kyozai RL" (青島文化教材研究所) was established in 1945. It was focusing on the wooden model-airplane manufacturing.
"Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Inc." (有限会社 青島文化教材社) was established in 1961. Ichiro Aoshima acceded to the CEO's post. It released the first plastic model kit "Speed Boat Bluebird" in the same year. Then it started to develop plastic model kits in earnest.
In the 1960s, Aoshima released 1/60 and airplane models, and 1/25 scale car models and original design sci-fi mecha models. In 1969, it released "Apollo series" spacecraft models including "Eagle 5" Apollo Lunar Module and 1/96 scale Apollo spacecraft. These models became a big hit. In 1971, it started to release the "Water Line series" warship models along with other three Shizuoka-based model manufacturers, Tamiya, Hasegawa and Fujimi.
In the 1970s, Aoshima succeeded in the original development of kids products such as "Gattai Robo" (coalescent robot) series. In this series, four individual vehicles could coalesce into one robot. In 1980, it started to release "Anime scale" realistic robot models such as Ideon as a countermeasure against megahit Gundam models of Bandai.
Aoshima was re-established as "Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Co., Ltd." (株式会社 青島文化教材社) in 1986. It launched a new brand "Skynet" (finished toy brand) in 1997, and also launched a new brand "Miracle House" (diecast figure brand) in 1999.
In 2002, with the bankruptcy of Japanese model manufacturer Imai Kagaku, Aoshima acquired the molds of sailing ships and sci-fi vehicles such as Thunderbirds machines.
In 2005, Aoshima launched a new brand "DISM" (diecast car brand), and established "Aoshima Hong Kong, Ltd." (青島香港有限公司). Another new brand "FunnyKnights" (female statue figure brand) was launched in 2007. In 2008, Aoshima started to release "Itasha" (animation wrapping car) model kits and they gained a huge popularity. In 2010, Hayabusa (Space Craft Plastic Model Kit Series) made a big hit.
Product lines.
Automobiles.
Aoshima's car model range (in the universally popular 1/24 scale) strikes a good chord with modellers, particularly because much of their product range focuses on Japanese domestic models - well known in the actual size - but not as models.