Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Co., Ltd., 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-fimecha 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" was founded by airplane pilot Jiro Aoshima. In 1932, model-airplane was designated as an educational material in Japanese schools, and "Shizuoka model-airplane association" was established. Jiro Aoshima acceded to the chairman's post. "Aoshima Bunka Kyozai RL" was established in 1945. It was focusing on the wooden model-airplane manufacturing. "Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Inc." 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" 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." in 1986. It launched a new brand "Skynet" in 1997, and also launched a new brand "Miracle House" 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", and established "Aoshima Hong Kong, Ltd.". Another new brand "FunnyKnights" was launched in 2007. In 2008, Aoshima started to release "Itasha" model kits and they gained a huge popularity. In 2010, Hayabusa made a big hit.
;1/72 scale Military series ;1/48 scale Remote Control AFV series
Automobiles
Aoshima's car model range 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. ;1/24 scale The Best car GT/Vintage series ;1/24 scale Itasha series ;Dekotora series
Sci-fi vehicles
;Movie mecha series ;Thunderbirds series
Metal models
;Gokin the next series ;Miniature car ;Die-cast aircraft
General reading
Nihon Puramoderu Kogyo Kyodo Kumiai, 日本プラモデル50年史 1958-2008 = The Chronicle of Japanese Plastic Models, Bungei Shunju Kikaku Shuppanbu, 2008,
