Sanwa & Sanshoh models: a brief overview

A quick overview and comparison of two Japanese kit model companies who have both left kit models.

[@Eatherbreather]

My first set of RC gear was a Sanwa 4 channel 29mHz AM that second hand cost $105 Australian 30+ years ago. I still have it and when I last looked it still works. I have used a lot of Sanwa RC equipment since then but moved over to JR 15 +/- years ago. Much respect for Sanwa always though. Had some great times using it in various models including their 2 channel 29mHz AM stuff in RC gliders (slope and thermal) and the ubiquitous Tamiya "Hornet". Any Aussie that was into RC through the 1990's will know and appreciate what I'm saying.

[@douglasw.7864]

Some of the Fuji / Sansho small scale aircraft kits were issued by Entex. I had the Marlin flying boat kit, (Entex issue) bought at Sears in 1974. I have the fairly rare Guppy kit in1/300 scale as released by Entex. Decent little kits that can look nice with a proper amount of work.

[@Donleecartoons]

The tiny-scale C-5 and B-17 in the Sanshoh line look familiar, right down to the box art. Look like the ones I got at the gift shop of the US Air Force Museum (now "National Museum of the US Air Force) in early 2000s. Still have 'em; I remember that the fit was fine, the detail was appropriate for the small size of the model, and that the decals were whisper-thin and fragile, but looked (and still look, years later) very good. I remember I was experimenting with acrylic craft paints (I lived in an apartment building with five other units and didn't want to alienate the neighbors I had at the time; the later ones I wouldn't have minded alienating at all ...) That was when I learned you really need to put primer on plastic with that stuff; my first try at the C5's white-over-gray paint job looked great but the plane shed its skin like a snake. A quick and not too thick spray with some light gray enamel primer and the paint stuck just fine; a gloss clear coat sealed the matte surface to accept the decals, and a semi-matte clear coat protected the decals and blended the edges into the paint job. The B-17's props were a good try but looked out-of-scale thick. I suppose true-to-scale prop proportions would have resulted in impossibly thin and fragile bits of plastic. Even so, what I had, I just _knew_ would eventually break, so I cut the blades off the prop hubs and parked the model on its stand and, at that size, it just looks like the props are spinning. Like I said, I still have the models and I think they look pretty good for little bitty things.

[@kenhanson1819]

Another great video, Max! The outro song had me laughing out loud in my workshop. I never knew of Sanwa or Sanshoh models until this video. I only recognized the Sanwa name as you mentioned, as related to Sanwa/Airtronics radios for R/C planes.

[@alcosteam]

Cox and Sanwa had something going for awhile. I remember seeing those names together for some years.

[@guidor.4161]

love the "Lemington" levolver...

[@dankamikubo7002]

I might have gotten the Luger through an ad in Popular Mechanics back in the day, my uncle had the Colt .45 automatic. His worked, mine, not so much!

[@ShortBusScotty]

I still have the Luger my dad built in the early sixties.

[@deathsheadknight2137]

do you mean Ruger or Luger? they have a Beletta.

[@dave8599]

2:30 ... I see the C124c Grove Master aircraft listed in the catalog. Of course just to the left of this Globe Master clone are three different Fighter Gloup kits.

[@kurthirschfield7596]

Ive flown in a Long-EZ, once was enough. Thanks Max!

[@dennisnaylor2965]

Some Sanwa kits are usually available on Ebay. The sca!e varies a lot. Some issues in poly bags.I have a dozen or so, but only built the Kawanishi Kyofu back in the early sixties. A typical Japanese kit of that period.

[@flyswryan]

Interesting how John Denver wrote the melody for that ditty, and ended up nose down in the ocean (literally, he was decapitated and they found what at first looked like a small mound of blonde seagrass on the bottom, as it was face-down, and was overlooked for a while).

[@theblytonian3906]

Sanwa made proportional R/C model aircraft (& possibly model car?) transmitters, receivers and servos for a time. Sanwa made quite a reliable and relatively inexpensive brand, but without the extensive model range of the likes of their Japanese competitors JR and Futaba, and later Hitec who quickly dominated that budget spot for buyers who couldn't afford or didn't want to outlay on JR & Futaba. Sanwa had a segment of that bottom end of the market for a time.

[@garfieldsmith332]

Heard of Sanwa RC. Never knew they started out making plastic models. And Sanshoh is new to me. Thanks for the information.

[@rogerhinman5427]

That song is just savage!

[@geraldstephens8791]

My goal is to find and build a Sanwa kit. They look great!

[@patricklozito7042]

I have a couple of electronic test multimeters made by Sanwa.

[@farpointgamingdirect]

I really enjoy learning about companies I never knew existed

[@Grundag]

Max! No models unfortunately but I do have several 1/16 - 1/12 (?) scale RC trucks that must be using Sanwa controllers. Thank you again for the information. I'll have to keep an eye out for one of their kits. ;o)

[@arthurortega9701]

Thank you fir sharing.

[@HammyTechnoid]

Very informative as always.... nice

[@mrains100]

Thank You!

[@JamesSavik]

Interesting that they had kits of Ise and Hyuga. These were obsolete WWI vintage battleships and were white elephants when WW2 broke out. After their defeat at Midway these two ships were converted into hybrid battleships carriers with a carrier deck from about their aft boiler room to their fan tail. They were completed so late in the war that they never got aircraft but, their striking looks made them highly sough after kits. I've built the 1/700 scale Hasegawa Ise. These companies were well before my time.

[@johnzelinski3260]

Sanwa molds were also used by Okamoto, Nakamura, Kawai, Entex and even a couple by KSN/ Midori. If you need more info or pics, let me know. I'm the Sanwa maven in my neighborhood. Lol

[@FastSports-ScaleCarGarage]

Max, thanks for yet another wonderful history of another very interesting company that also happened to make slot cars! Keep 'em coming!

[@davidgreen5099]

Hello Mr. Wilson!!!!

[@dave8599]

5:00 ... We can see the German Messer Chmitt, and the Curtiss War Hawk., they even have a Spit Fire

[@christopherkroussoratsky2014]

LOL! You should have played "You fill up my Cessna" at the end!

[@adrianaustralia9135]

I wonder if some of the Sanwa gun kits were the same as those issued later by LS?

[@maxsmodels]

Possibly

[@hertzair1186]

Been collecting some Sanwa kits for awhile, mostly their US aircraft, the small scale C-133, C-124 for example. Too rare to build unfortunately.

[@johnzelinski3260]

I've been lucky. Got a bunch real cheap a few years ago from a guy in Minnesota. Also found a few started or damaged also cheap and good to build.

[@PiperStart]

Air flights nothing but a funny funny riddle ... thank god I’m an ocean buoy!

[@13bravo72]

Never heard of these companies, and learn more everyday about these model companies that existed many years ago.. At 2:11, am I reading that right on one of their gun kits? 'Colt 45, Automatic Revolver 10 barreled gun' Kit #402. That would be interesting! There was a company that manufactured full size gun models, but i don't remember who was the company and these may the molds that were used.

[@samiam619]

13 Bravo You missed the part of them mis-spelling various gun makers. Lemington and “Beletta” @ 2:13! 😂

[@garfieldsmith332]

L&S was one of the Japanese companies that made 1/1 scale firearms.

[@kuri911]

I spent my childhood in Japan during the 70's and I had the pleasure of growing up in what seemed like plastic model heaven. Marui, I think, used to make full size replica gun models that are unimaginable these days. They were very well made kits that took some time to build. I remember it required a lot of patience (well, definitely for a 10 year kid) to allow the adhesive to fully cure as there were a lot of stressed assemblies and if you didn't build it correctly, it wouldn't work. I had Marui's M1911 Colt "Government Type' kit. It used brass (or brass colored metal of some sort) cartridges, with a pocket on the tip where you inserted a rather strong cap, similar to the old cap guns in the States. But with the Marui kits, they didn't just make small bang/pop noises. They had enough power to push back the slide and eject the cartridge like a real automatic. My friend and I used to run around the neighborhood play shooting each other with these plastic model guns that made loud pop/bang noises while the cartridges would eject with each shot. We'd pick up the cartridges, remove the spent cap and reload the magazine. It was cool as hell. Times sure changed as I can't fathom anybody playing with something like that these days. I visited Japan in the early 90's intent on picking up one of these Marui kits but they had became illegal by then. I was disappointed but not surprised. I wish I still had that cool Marui Colt.

[@garfieldsmith332]

@@kuri911 Now that you mentioned the name Marui. I vaguely remember seeing a few of those kits in Canada. Box art was all in Japanese but on the box side they showed a picture of the "caps" and smoke coming from the barrel. The kits were of revolvers of some type. Very, very expensive. I had a few of the L&S kits, a lot cheaper and the mechanisms did not work so well.

[@kuri911]

@@garfieldsmith332 Oh wow, i had completely forgotten about LS. I think I had their Luger but I'm not sure. I know I had a Luger but I don't recall the kit's manufacturer. As for the Marui kits, yes, I think they were very expensive kits. I recall lusting after their large machine gun kits. I can't fathom how expensive those kits must have been.

[@lancerevell5979]

Never heard of these two. Good find! Those name misspellings in their catalogs are hilarious.

[@garfieldsmith332]

It get rost in the tlansration.

[@BigLisaFan]

Guess they got lost in the translations. (lol)

[@BigLisaFan]

@@garfieldsmith332 Yes. English good write we. Understand you cannot.

[@garfieldsmith332]

@@BigLisaFan You should see my French.

[@kuri911]

Max, plamo might be short for 'plastic model'. I don't know Tokyo Plamo, the company so it might stand for 'play model' but in Japanese, plastic models are pronounced purasuchikku moderu (pu-ra-su-chikku mo-de-ru) and "Puramo' usually short for plastic models.

[@maxsmodels]

you might be right, my source was a blog post

[@deathsheadknight2137]

i thought PlaMo was short for plastic model

[@Spindrift-id1ez]

*ROTFL* OMG! Where'd ya dig that song up at?!.. You should do a video on that subject :)

[@maxsmodels]

thank Bob Rivers

[@johnaitken7430]

Imagine kids running around w plastic gun kits today!

[@BigLisaFan]

Can you say Police? Yes, knew you could. (Apologies to Mr. Rogers.) They would be there in, pardon the pun, a shot.

[@garfieldsmith332]

Do you remember the Mattel "Shooting Shell" guns. Greenie stick-em caps on the metal cartridges for sound, and plastic bullet heads that were proppelled from the cartridges by a spring?

[@BigLisaFan]

@@garfieldsmith332 I remember the Greenie stick-em caps but not the shooting projectiles. Old age I guess. We certainly lived, and played. in much different times with far different games than kids of today.

[@garfieldsmith332]

@@BigLisaFan I had the single shot Winchester rifle and my brother the snub nosed 38. Only we could not get the Greenie caps in Canada, so the bullets fired but no "bang".

[@BigLisaFan]

@@garfieldsmith332 I didn't have anything that used the greenie caps but a friend did. The greenie caps were hard to find in Canada. Most of the time the Woolworth store didn't have them.

[@alanclarke3228]

Did Entex have some of these kits in their product line?

[@maxsmodels]

eventually yes they got some of the old Fuji/Sanshoh kits.

[@guypoole3444]

Love the music bad taste but brilliant...

[@tomdye5900]

The groupings of the fighter and bombers look vaguely like those in Monogram's Airpower Kit. Anyone know if that kit's heritage had anything in common with these Sanwa kits?

[@maxsmodels]

I doubt it but anything is possible

[@markgaudry7549]

Your music catalog is almost as good as your model catalog ( successful builds)

[@mybluebelly]

Sanwa sounds more like a fishing reel brand.

[@claycountybrian5645]

Greetings from clay County, Missouri! lol ohhh gawd I'm an ocean bouy no 21 thumbs up \m/ later

[@Slickboot21]

@3:13 - What is that shown with the Neptune? G'night......

[@maxsmodels]

wing tip of another Neptune as if you are looking out of the cockpit of a second aircraft. They have giant search lights in those tips.

[@rapscallion3506]

Man o man. Where do you find this stuff to dig up?

[@maxsmodels]

I am burning out Google

[@HootOwl513]

More like a knock-off of ROCO Mini-Tanks. Rocos were Austrian, HO Scale, sold by AHM in the US, and were usually pre-assembled snap-together types. They had good detail for their scale. Turrets rotated, guns elevated, and tiny M2 .50 Cals plugged into holes in the turret top. Tracked vehicles had the silly wheels under the body. Remove the bar holding the axles in, and the tank would snap into a similar inverted bracket embedded in the deck of an HO scale flatcar. I had 4 Army flatcars. Each flatcar was long enough for 2 trucks, 2 Shermans, or 2 M40 155mm SPs. Ala-carte, the M4s cost 25 cents each, GMC 2+1/2 Ton 6x6s were .29 and Pzkfw IV's were .39 each.[c. 1962]. Their decals were pretty good too, if tiny. No one matched Roco for the quality of their HO tanks, but there were imitators world wide.

[@Donleecartoons]

Were the Rocos meant for HO railroad displays or for use in gaming? I remember Roco Minitanks in the Hobby Center stores in the 1970s, around about the time I first heard people talking about strategy and role-playing games.

[@HootOwl513]

@@Donleecartoons Both. They were legitimate HO scale accessories. I bought 4 military flatcars by AHM. After-XMas sale bargains I couldn't pass up. Actually, because of their size my parents put a couple of the MiniTanks [a Panther and a Sherman] in my Christmas stocking, about a few years before. And I used to play ''Army Men'' with the kid down the street. We had evolved into a North Afrika theme. Airfix 1/72 figures. 1/87 Roco tanks, half tracks and trucks. He had plastic blocks by ''Block City'' [like Legos, but smaller and no corny people figures] we used for structures, obstacles and fortifications. I kept the armor pieces, that survived. Later, as an adult, in college on the GI Bill, I found some friends who were into Squad Leader. I liked the mini tank idea better than small cardboard gaming chits. After the fact, I discovered I wasn't the first. Gary Gygax, the guy who invented D&D, first started out with a MiniTank game he called "Tracktics''. It then grew into the miitary/industrial ogre that's Dungeons and Dragons today. As far as Roco's intent, I'm sure the Austrians who made them were equally happy -- whether you used their tanks on a train layout, or wargamed them, or ground up the plastic and snorted the compound.

[@kennyswonger5227]

I like how you play all kinds of music.how about another Canadian song.Bob & Doug Mackenzie good day.thanks max

[@maxsmodels]

will see what I can find

[@Paladin1873]

For a moment I thought that one company was named LMAO, not that LAMO is much better. :)

[@maxsmodels]

Plamo (play models)

[@BigLisaFan]

Never heard of them before. Sounded just like John Denver though who ironically crashed into the sea while reaching back over his shoulder to switch fuel tanks on a limited build ( I think) aircraft.

[@tgmccoy1556]

Tim McCoy wife's account. John Denver seriously screwed the pooch. He never got a good checkout. He had alcohol in his system. The aircraft was an amateur built Experimental Vari Eze variant. The great Burt Rutan designed it. But. It had issues. The builder ( not Denver) did some non standard mods . It was a pusher canard. Elevator Infront. The fuel system was non standard. John Denver was an NTSB Report the minute he crawled into the cockpit.

[@BigLisaFan]

@@tgmccoy1556 If I recall, his pilot's licence had expired and he was not rated for that type of aircraft. When he stretched to reach for the fuel selector, NTSB think his foot pressed the rudder pedal and that was it. I had read the NTSB said fuel selector lever was in a bad place and hard to reach and should have been relocated to an easier place. All could have been prevented and then we wouldn't have the song.

[@tgmccoy1556]

@@BigLisaFan Tim McCoy here wife's account. There is no type rating as such . You are correct.He had an expired medical Probably related to his alcohol issues. He had not gotten thorough check flights the Vari Eze design is safe when flown and note, built properly.

[@maxsmodels]

I am pretty sure that was what he was referencing

[@BigLisaFan]

@@tgmccoy1556 I was thinking single engine against multi engine ratings. The aircraft was a single engine one and I was working from memory and probably got something wrong.