Tomix vs. Tomytec

[Guest ___]

I hadn't see that set either. My photographer came with one of the winter school children sets I think. A t least he looks like a HS boy in a black winter suit with an SLR up to his eye.

[cteno4]

hugh, wonder if you also had a kato set of kids, didnt think the tomytec had them doing anything but standing or sitting with school bags. have to look closely when i get home.

 

more photographers would be good. lots of scenes can get interesting with them in them. i have one special scene that i really need a lot of photographers in. was thinking of it would work to use a small piece of fiber optics that would poke up at the feet of the photographer to a small strobe under the bench that would fire every minute or so to simulate a tiny flash going off!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

I've noticed that the Tomix and Tomytec names are now being used interchangeably, both appearing on many packages.  Its clearly one company with sub-product lines.

[cteno4]

hmm interesting. on the tomytec stuff (building, vehicles, etc) they only put tomytec, no tomix (at least in english) labels. i just assumed tomix was the trains and tomytec the collectable stuff that could be trains or also the collector/diorama market as well. interesting that the fine track now has both.

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

hmm interesting. on the tomytec stuff (building, vehicles, etc) they only put tomytec, no tomix (at least in english) labels. i just assumed tomix was the trains and tomytec the collectable stuff that could be trains or also the collector/diorama market as well. interesting that the fine track now has both.

 

I also have (older??) items with Tomy on the lower back label.

[cteno4]

I also have (older??) items with Tomy on the lower back label.

 

Tomy is the big parent company over everything. they are a big toy manufacturer. i always assumed that tomix was for the model trains and tomytec was for the stuff that could go for either the model trains or the collector/diorama markets. most of the accessory stuff (vehicles, buildings, figures, etc) that tomix has done for the model train market has been pretty bland and generic and really not done to the collector or diorama market standards so i figured they used tomytec to to distinguish that stuff for those markets then the model train (tomix) crowd could also buy it.

 

its the tomytec on the finetrack that is interesting as i would put that as something square in the model train/tomix pile, but with the portrams, plate track and busses now the tomytec stuff is creeping into the track territory more!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[rankodd]

Wasn't one of the Tomytec things a mail-order layout that you'd subscribe to? You'd get a pair of buildings on a monthly basis until you could construct the entire layout. They included track with that. Could be why there's crossover on the finetrack.

[bill937ca]

Wasn't one of the Tomytec things a mail-order layout that you'd subscribe to? You'd get a pair of buildings on a monthly basis until you could construct the entire layout. They included track with that. Could be why there's crossover on the finetrack.

 

That is offered by a third party, Kodansha using Tomytec and Tomix materials.

 

http://shop.kodansha.jp/bc/shonenjidai/about/index.html

[bill937ca]

its the tomytec on the finetrack that is interesting as i would put that as something square in the model train/tomix pile, but with the portrams, plate track and busses now the tomytec stuff is creeping into the track territory more!

 

The wide tram track is squarely numbered in the Tomix Fine Track sequence.  Tomytec seems to be the corporate name over everything now.  No mention of Tomy, in this area at least.  I can walk down the main street in Belleville and find Tomy in several places.

[bill937ca]

I've been looking into this today.  The corporate name now seems to be Tomytec Ltd. and has been as far back as 2006. Tomytec Ltd. is 100% owned by Takara Tomy.  Tomytec has 201 employees as of March 2008.  The parent company Takara Tomy has many more employees of course.

 

The Tomytec name probably reflects a desire to keep the Tomy name alive as apparently this how all the collective product lines have been known in Japan.

 

Tomy Tec's major customers are Tomy Co. Ltd., Fuji Models Ltd. and Bunka Miyazawa Model.

 

By comparison Kato gives no information (and doesn't have to as a private, family business) and Micro Ace has 10 employees.

[cteno4]

good sniffing bill! wonder what tomix is now in the mix of this? is there a separate tomix company for the trains or is that now under tomytec as well? 201 employees seems to mean maybe tomix is mixed in there as well.

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Takara Tomy Group has  177 employees.  This may be Japan only. Its very hard to tell how these things are broken up and just whats included in any given number.

 

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&sl=ja&tl=en&u=http://www.takaratomy-business-service.co.jp/outline.html&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&twu=1&usg=ALkJrhiJcbBtcNkSj3KtaBBYp4urDRH2NQ

 

There is a separate Takara Tomy online toy store.

 

http://www.coppepan.jp/shop/Top.do

[dat7719]

I buy a lot of TomyTec items on ebay.  Many are manufactured in China or Singapore and are shipped from China, Singapore and some from Osaka, Japan and Sapporo, Japan.  The 1/150 scale is based on the Japanese standard track size.  I find that they fit in with US N Scale and I am unable to distinguish the difference in size.  I model US prototype in NTRAK and oNeTRAK, but Japanese prototype in T-TRAK modules.  I have been collecting Japanese NScale since about 1963 when I purchased my first freight cars and an locomotive in Yokosuka, Japan.  These were KATO still branded with the Japanese company name.

 

The TomyTec vehicles are excellent, and in those unusual and typical Japanese models, such as the Suzuki 3 wheeler trucks and delivery vans, and now the Nissan Elements and the new Scion vehicles.  The complete range.

 

Dale Tripp

www.daletripp.com

[cteno4]

i think we need to start a tomytec anonymous group here, i think i have almost every damn one of them... too interesting and too good of a value and quality.

 

problem is they just keep on coming and coming and coming... its a loosing battle!

 

hello im jeff and i have a tomytec problem...

 

cheers

 

jeff

[Guest ___]

my entire layout is TomyTec minus one Tomix Lawson Station store.

[Kabutoni]

Two TomyTec stations arrived today... I'm really considering joining this Anonymous TomyTec Group (ATTG)... Their products are just too awesome!

[cteno4]

Hi Tony welcome to the group. first thing in dealing with a tomytec problem is to recognize you have one! 17 misc tomytec vehicles just showed up yesterday from popendetta, i just discovered they sell individual vehicles in multiples! groan a new way to spend money...

 

btw bill informed me in one of his google image searches on tomytec bus system my jns avatar came up, guess i talked about tomytec one too many times here!

 

cheers

 

jeff

[SubwayHypes]

as far as cars go...tomytec cant be beat.  their car collections are superb and very detailed, whereas the tomix cars are rather bland.

 

i love the new Crown/Teana collections, as well as the van collection too.  in japan there are alot of vans so it makes your layout realistic.

 

when i have tomix cars, i usually spice them up a bit with a paintjob and some detailing.  with tomytec they are good to go right out the box.

[angusmclean]

Am I a litte slow here?  I looked up the Tomytec site this evening and found that things have been reorganised somewhat, with the Tomytec Home Page now listing Tomix in the menu, as well as Tomytec Diorama Collection, Tomica, and other modelling products.  Is this a new home page of recent days?

 

Angus

[cteno4]

Angus,

 

Ive noticed the tomytec site slowly growing to include more things over the last year or two on the site. im pretty sure it always had a link to tomix, may just be more prominent now.

 

Bill has noticed that the tomytec name appears to be moving up from a sub name use by tomy to be more encompassing like this. maybe a marketing ploy on their part with tomytec stuff being seen everywhere and bridging a lot of markets, but not being just tomy which may bring in too much 'toy' name to the hobby and collector markets that tomix and the tomytec stuff does.

 

bill, i cant quite remember the specifics that you were mentioning a while back about the name movement of tomytec, can you chime in?

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[bill937ca]

Angus,

 

Ive noticed the tomytec site slowly growing to include more things over the last year or two on the site. im pretty sure it always had a link to tomix, may just be more prominent now.

 

Bill has noticed that the tomytec name appears to be moving up from a sub name use by tomy to be more encompassing like this. maybe a marketing ploy on their part with tomytec stuff being seen everywhere and bridging a lot of markets, but not being just tomy which may bring in too much 'toy' name to the hobby and collector markets that tomix and the tomytec stuff does.

 

bill, i cant quite remember the specifics that you were mentioning a while back about the name movement of tomytec, can you chime in?

 

cheers,

 

jeff

 

A couple of years ago I asked how Tomix was pronounced in Japan.  The answer was that there trains are referred to as Tomy  (Tooommee) and Tomix was rarely used. Tomy was the old corporate parent name for Tomix and Tomy was a huge toy company which also offers Tomica and Pla-Rail.  I believe Tomy means toy trains to many Japanese just the way Lionel meant toy trains to many us until the 1960s.  Its just an attempt to keep a name the public recognizes in the marketplace, rather than having it buried in a corporate merger.

[bill937ca]

Rich Kerr has posted an Introduction to Tomix which includes a photo of the first Tomix train set issued in 1976, the Tomix set 90001, "Basic Set No. 1".  Rich views Tomix as more permanent catalog items and Tomytec as shorter run items lasting only one or two production runs.

 

http://www.trainweb.org/tomix/intro/intro.htm