This one brings me right back to my childhood days; a splendid collection of the beautiful box art illustrations for Japanese toymaker Tamiya’s 4WD line-up of mini race cars that are powered by two AA batteries. They were all the craze during the mid to late 80s in Japan and my hometown of Singapore. Some of the most popular models include the sleek Avante ( as seen on the book’s cover art above; the catchphrase “Been Nuts Is Neat !” on the rear wing’s decal became quite famous during those days ), Terra Scorcher, Vanquish and Egress; many more are included in the book.

Nostalgia and sentimental value aside, both the aesthetic and technical quality of the illustrations are top notch, meticulously hand painted to great realism and bold rich colors with traditional media long before digital art came along. This 176 pages volume is presented in landscape format with each race car model presented on its own page without getting split by the spine.

This is the first of two books ( see Vol 2 here ) published by Tamiya and Shogakukan to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 4WD.

A most splendid collection of Tamiya’s 4WD mini race car box art illustrations ( vol 1 ). I had a lot of fun with these as a kid and the beautiful art brings back great memories. Recommended.

I also recommend checking out the box art illustrations for Macross’s model kits, many of the painted by the great mecha artist Yoshiyuki Takani’s (高荷義之).

Tamiya Mini 4WD Box Art Collection タミヤ公式 ミニ四駆 パッケージアートコレクション details :

– Dimensions – 10.12 x 0.59 x 7.17 inches
– soft cover, 176 pages
– full color, in Japanese

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