What is Mr. Hobby?
Mr. Hobby is the brand name of all model-making related products manufactured by the GSI Creos Hobby Division.
We want to continue support everyone to have a more fun and creative modeling life.
We want to be pioneers who can bring new things to the modeling world together with the creativity of our users.
With these thoughts in mind, we have given our products this brand name “Mr. Hobby”.
“Mr. Hobby” stands for high quality hobby colors and accessories and represents all users who love model making and favor GSI Creos products.
As a part of the company “GSI Creos” (former “Gunze Sangyo) “Mr. Hobby” today is market leader in Japan and one of the preferred brands chosen by professional model-makers around the world.
History
Tools and paints are essential for plastic model making. This is especially true if you want to create higher quality work. The first plastic model boom in Japan occurred in the 1960s, more than half a century ago.
At that time, there were no tools and no paints specifically for plastic models available on the market like there are today.
In this environment, Gunze Sangyo’s “Materials Department” (the predecessor to the current GSI Creos Hobby Department) released the solvent-based acrylic resin paint “Level Color”. Unlike model paints that you had to mix yourself, this was a paint designed specifically for plastic models that also included military colors. Combined with the boom, Level Color became widely used as a paint for plastic models.
Some of you may have used our Level Color in the past.
In the 1970s, Revell, an American plastic model manufacturer, sold its plastic models in Japan. The series included models developed by Gunze Sangyo (now GSI Creos), contributing to the spread of full-scale scale models.
After that, paints for plastic models from overseas and other domestic manufacturers were released in Japan, but Level Color remained synonymous with paints for plastic models.
In 1977, Level Color changed its name to Mr. Color. After that, Gunze Sangyo began selling water-based hobby paints, and developed putties, adhesives, and tools for plastic models, establishing its position as a manufacturer.
Gunze Sangyo also devotes itself to developing, selling, and popularizing airbrushes and compressors, which were originally used for art and now for hobby use. In 2001, the company changed its name from Gunze Sangyo to GSI Creos. It has established its position as a top tier manufacturer of plastic model tools with their brand Mr. Hobby. The company’s paints and tools go beyond the scope of scale models and are suitable for a wide variety of models and figures. As you all know, plastic model producer, such as Hasegawa, Bandai, Fujimi, Dragon, and many other manufacturers both in Japan and overseas use Mr. Color color names on their manuals to specify designated colors.
In recent years, the company has also sold a variety of production and painting supporting tools, including paint booths, dry booths, and Mr. Brushes. The number of items has exceeded 200 items.
In terms of paints, the company offers Mr. Color as its main product, as well as water-based hobby colors Aqueous Hobby Color, the “Iro no Gen” base color mixer, as well as the higher quality GX series, metallic colors, and pastel colors. The latest paint, Acrysion, is also attracting more attention due to the reduced odor and harmless composition. The company also offers a lineup of special color sets for aircraft, tanks, and ships, as well as special color sets for character models such as Gunpla.
For all modelers, the Mr. Hobby brand is truly a top tier manufacturer of colors and tools that meet the high requirements of professional modelers.