Tomica Premium 03 - JSDF Type 90 Tank..... Edit: Added - NISMO R34 GT-R Z-Tune & Mazda RX-7 FD3S

Few years ago, Tomica consisted of three lines:

• Tomica Limited Vintage/Neo Vintage - This top of the line series consisted of highly accurate vintage cars, mostly Japanese.
• Tomica - Typical mainline cars they are especially known for.
• Tomica Limited - These were based mostly on existing castings, but with better detail & rubber tires.

Tomica Limited was discontinued just couple years ago.  When this new "Tomica Premium" line was announced, it was widely seen as the Tomica Limited replacement.

I originally planned to post my first three Tomica Premium cars, then my camera died.  I'm hoping it was just the batteries, but it is weird to see two sets of batteries die the same night, so more on that later.  For now, I will post the handful of pics I was able to take, two of them of the JGSDF(Japan Ground Self-Defense Force) main battle tank, Type 90(actually, I think it may have been replaced by Type-10).

I have a soft spot for this tank.  Actually, I'm bit of a war buff, so I have a soft spot for half the tanks in the world, but anyway, this one's special.  For one, I happened to be Japanese Citizen living in the U.S.  Secondly, back when, I happened to be on a road trip in middle of nowhere, Washington(State)........  OK, it was actually Tri-Cities, anyway, I'm driving back towards Oregon & in front of me was a convoy of military hardware.  No markings stating nationality, but it was middle of nowhere in the U.S., so it should be Humvees & Abrams, right?  Heck.  No.  Sure, it had couple of Cobra attack choppers, but these were Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force vehicles.  Toyota Mega Cruisers, Type 90 tanks, bunch of specialized vehicles by Mitsubishi, etc.  It was every JGSDF vehicles I had ever seen, but only pictures.  

I know, cool story bro.  lol  Later on, it was revealed by my coworker who belonged to National Guards that JSDF did some high desert training in Yakima, Washington.  What.  A.  Treat.  For me.  

I'm so sorry, back to the Tomica tank.  I have a Siku Panzer my brother brought back from Germany(I think), and it is similar scale, but as with most toy tank of this size, instead of  rubberized caterpillar track-belt thing, it features four small wheels underneath.  This Tomica on the other hand, total winner.  Rubberized tracks!  

I will continue this post with the addition of the NISMO R34 GT-R Z-Tune & Mazda RX-7 FD3S RE Amemiya Specification.  Nismo is 1/62 scale & Amemiya a 1/61.  The tank is 1/124.  They were purchased from AmiAmi for roughly $6 or less, each(in yen).  Interesting.....

Edit:  RX-7 & Z-Tune Skyline.

Honestly, Z-Tune was sort of 'meh', but the RX-7 is impressive at this price point.   It's bit too ricey for me, but at least the color is nice, and you can't argue the quality.