Zimmerit’s Hobby Shopping [Japanese Model Ads 1980-89] Information

When we created our Patreon page a few years ago, the final goal was to release an edited version of our Secret History of Gainax article as a mini-zine for patrons. That goal eventually resulted in the Gainazine and an entirely new tier for our Patreon to for print ‘zines and booklets. Hobby Shopping is the third ‘zine we’ve produced and it’s a little different than our last two efforts.

The gunpla boom (or plamo boom, if you want to be series agnostic about it) created a massive new market in Japan for character models. While the flood of new plastic models based on robot anime would take years to subside, it also opened up new markets like a burgeoning garage kit industry that still exists, in some ways more than others, today.

To celebrate the model kit mania of the 1980s, Hobby Shopping collects nearly 50 odd, interesting, or artistic model kit ads from hobby magazines and books of the era. Some are hand-drawn, some have professional photos, some are utterly inexplicable… but they’re all interesting in their own way. While not as text-heavy as the first two Zimmerit ‘zines, this volume does have some accompanying text for context or commentary.

24 pages, black and white. Full-color cardstock cover.

Availability

Initially, digital and print copies of Hobby Shopping will be available only via our Patreon. PDF files will be available to $5 Tier supporters, while print copies will be sent to $8 Tier supporters.

As we’ve done with the last few ‘zines, extra copies will be offered up on garagekit.club.

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