No. 30 Mitsubishi Pajero, issued in 1999, was made in Japan because the model was concurrently issued as a special promotional model for Mitsubishi Motors in Japan. Production moved to China after two months, when the promotion stopped.

The remote control is very easy to use and allows the trains to go forward, reverse and have two sound effect buttons. These are particularly good for adding some more hands on control. Age range Rixon, Peter (2005). Miller's Collecting Diecast Vehicles. London: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN 9781845330309. I don’t think either sets are suitable for children below age 3. Many toys are labelled ages 3 and up as it is normally the minimum age where toys are rated due to choking hazards, but with these train sets it’s also about the interactivity; children under the age of 3 are unlikely to be satisfied in watching a train go round and are likely to want to push the trains (see comparison with Thomas Take-N-Play below). Some of the Tomica features/accessories may also be better for children over 4 years old. Comparison with other Thomas Take-N-Play While production in Japan ceased in 1997 for the regular models, Tomy kept producing special models in Japan until 2003, using old castings not used for mass production of the British line, regular models, or gift sets. Because these older castings had remained in Japan, special releases and promotional issues using these older castings were still made in Japan. New castings for special models were also made in Japan. The Subaru Legacy from 2003 was the last Tomica ever produced in Japan. [ citation needed]Also, in 2004, no. 121 was available for a limited period from Mitsuoka Motors. This was a 1/1 scale electric single seater vehicle which featured a retro Citroen H Van front end and side panels. In the early years, Tomy produced cars with famous characters sitting on them, using the same castings from the regular Tomica line. The first of such was the Snoopy character cars from the 1970s. Tomy did not market and distribute these cars. Rather, they produced these for Aviva, who sold the toy under the Aviva brand name. In the early 1980s Tomy produced models with Muppet characters. Also in the 1980s, Tomy started producing vehicles with Disney characters under the Putica Disney series name. This popular series was made until the late 1990s and was also re-issued in the original style boxes sometime during the 2000s.

Production of Tomicas started to move to Vietnam in early 2009. This was also done in phases and took several years. Unlike the move from Japan to China during which no new regular models were made in Japan (besides the few exceptions), during this time new releases came from both Vietnam and China until 2013. Johnson, Dana (1998). Collector's Guide to Diecast Toys and Scale Models (2nded.). Padukah KY: Collector Books. The earliest Tomica cars had one-piece chrome-plated wheels. Starting in 1971, models were produced with two-piece wheels of various styles, with the one-piece chrome-plated wheels being phased out in 1972 (except that all the models made in Hong Kong had the one-piece wheel design). The two-piece wheels were used until 1977, while newer one-piece wheels of various styles have been adopted since 1976, and are still used today. Hong Kong was the first place outside of Japan where Tomica cars were produced. The production in Hong Kong only lasted a few years. Six models issued in 1971 and 1972 were made in Hong Kong: Motorized Tomica [ edit ] B/O Tomica came in a picture box while the later Motor Tomica came in a window box.

The road and cars in the Tomica set can be used alongside any of the sets, but only works with the Tomica level crossing (if that is desired). They are just standard push-along cars so can be used alongside similar Matchbox cars etc. A totally new casting. All of these had been produced under the contract of another model company or another business. Their common fate is that Tomy eventually issues them as regular models. Examples include: Tomica started to offer the Tomica Premium Series from April 2015. The Premium line replaced Tomica Limited Series, the main differences being that it uses new molds for the vehicles and are not a limited release but rather in regular production that numbered with the same scheme as the classic line (re-using numbers for unrelated models). They were also aimed at a younger audience. Tomica ( トミカ, Tomika) is a line of die-cast toy vehicles (mainly cars) produced since 1970 by Takara Tomy Co. of Japan (formerly known as Tomiyama and Tomy Kogyo Incorporated). [1] Ostensibly, Tomica diecast were an outgrowth of Tomica World, an autonomous toy line of motorized train accessories that Tomy had created based on Plarail and produced since 1959. [2] Similar in concept, Tomica can be thought of as the "Japanese Matchbox", but focuses mainly on Japanese brands.

In 1988, Tomy combined its foreign models into the domestic series. Most of the first 40 models from the foreign series were added to the 80 domestic models. Those foreign models that got transferred were assigned a number that was its F series number plus 80. A handful of these foreign models were discontinued after a few months' appearance under the new line. Overall about half of them had been discontinued after two years. Limited production in China started in 1990 with a few existing models in the regular line, like the no. 35 DOME Toyota Celica and no. 73 Isuzu Dump. Large scale production in China started in 1993 with the "British Line" of 36 models that Tomy Company of UK contracted Tomy of Japan to produce by using existing tooling. As a result, regular models of the same castings were also made in China beginning in 1993. Starting in 1994, all the new models in the regular line were made in China, and in May 1995, the production of existing models started to move to China as well. This was done in phases. By July 1997, all regular line Tomica cars were made in China. There were a few exceptions to this rule: Other series [ edit ] Long Tomica [ edit ] New long vehicles from the Tomica regular line are a bit smaller than the original Long Tomicas In 2005, to celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the renowned Thomas and Friends, Tomy started a Thomas the Tank Engine series. In recent years, Tomy has greatly expanded their specialized character Tomica series. Offerings include "Tomica Hyper Series", the Cars (Disney/Pixar animation) series, Pokémon, Ridge Racer, the Disney Motors series, Fast & Furious, and racing anime and manga, such as Initial D and Circuit no Ōkami.

Enhance Your Collection With Tomica Toys

Tomica Dandy [ edit ] Tomica Dandy Nissan Bluebird in 1/35, one of the larger scale. Most cars were 1/43.