Tokyo Marui

Tokyo Marui
Private
Founded 1965
Headquarters Adachi, Tokyo, Japan
Products Airsoft guns and rail transport modelling
Website www.tokyo-marui.co.jp

Tokyo Marui Co. Ltd (株式会社東京マルイ Kabushiki-gaisha Tōkyō Marui) is an airsoft gun manufacturer located in Adachi, Tokyo, Japan that produced the AEG (Automatic electric gun).[1] The guns are principally sold in Japan, but are also sold worldwide.

The company had its own center for airsoft sport called Tokyo Marui BB Sports Field which was operated during 2009 and 2010.[2] The guns have appeared in numerous movies and it has merchandising arrangements with many games .

Automatic electric guns

Tokyo Marui was the first company to produce airsoft guns powered solely by electric-motor driven air compressors, which they called "Automatic Electric Gun" (AEG) in 1992. This compact air compressing system was implemented in their first battery-powered automatic firing replica, the FAMAS F1. Other airsoft guns were then introduced. The AEG system is still in use, and has been copied numerous times through the years by many other airsoft gun manufacturers.

Tokyo Marui's airsoft replicas were made primarily from ABS plastic bodies, but also used metal parts where needed. Their more recent models, such as the Type 89 rifle and AK-74M have had full metal externals. The internal gearboxes of these guns are primarily powered by rechargeable batteries. A standard, unmodified Tokyo Marui gearbox will fire 0.2 g Airsoft pellets at around 240 to 300 feet per second (73 to 91 m/s) (around 0.8-0.9 J) depending on the model. These gearboxes may be modified for higher performance by the installation of aftermarket parts, but Japanese law limits their power to 0.98 J.

Tokyo Marui makes the following AEGs:

An AK-47

Automatic electric pistols

Automatic electric pistols (AEP) run on 7.2V rechargeable batteries. These pistols and compact submachine guns are often more reliable than gas-powered replicas in cold weather. However, due to their lower voltage supplies and miniature gearboxes, they usually generate lower muzzle speeds (about 0.25 - .5J per BB, 25–50 m/s for 0.2g BB) and slightly slower rates of fire than replicas using a full-sized gearbox system.

Tokyo Marui makes the following automatic electric pistols:

AEG Boys series

Tokyo Marui makes replicas scaled down for use by children from the age of 10. They are powered by 6 AA batteries and have lower power than their 1:1 scale counterparts.

Electric blowback pistols

Tokyo Marui's electric blowback pistols (commonly referred to as EBBs) are powered by four AAA batteries and typically fire at 160 ft/s (49 m/s) with a 0.12 gram BB. Some models may be select fire, and most models have an additional grip safety that must be held in order for the pistol to fire, with the exception of the Combat Delta models that use the gun's usual grip safety. The pistols feature a very weak blowback, and the slide usually only moves a third of the distance that it would on a typical GBB or real firearm.

Gas blowback pistols

Tokyo Marui Gas blowback pistols are designed to use HFC134A refrigerant to fire BBs and also to blow back the slide, mimicking the recoil of automatic hand guns. Refrigerant is sold in canisters similar to small propane canisters used in portable gas range. Propane based "Green" gas can be used, but could damage the replica due to higher pressure it exerts to mostly plastic parts used in gas blowback replicas, but many replicas have proven safe to use with propane or green gas.

Desert Eagle Series:

Detonics .45 Series:

Glock Series:

Hi-Capa/ M1911 Series:

Beretta M92 Series:

SIG Sauer Series:

Others:

Fixed slide gas pistols

Also known as "Non-Blowback" pistols.

Gas revolvers

Gas Blowback Machine Guns

Recently, Tokyo Marui has delved into the world of Gas Blowback Machine Guns. These replicas work very similarly to Tokyo Marui's Gas Blowback Pistols, in that they use HFC134A refrigerant to blowback the bolt assembly to mimic the recoil of an automatic rifle or sub-machine gun when shooting the BBs.

Tokyo Marui has made gas powered replicas of these machine guns:

Bolt action air rifle

These are bolt-action "sniper" rifles. Before each shot is fired, the shooter has to pull the bolt, cock the piston and load a BB into the chamber. All three versions of the VSR-10 share the same stock, same internals and same air chamber. The Pro-sniper version has a black stock, 430 mm long inner barrel and is the most accurate of the three versions. The Real Shock version has a metal weight in the piston to simulate recoil. Real Shock has a simulated wooden stock and the same 430 mm long inner barrel. However, due to the vibration caused by the heavier piston's impact, Real Shock is the least accurate of the three, albeit only by less than an inch difference at 20 m distance. G-spec is shortened version with a silencer attached. Inner barrel is 303 mm long, but has a slightly tighter bore. Due to short inner barrel its accuracy is close to Real Shock, but a couple mm more accurate. A needle-like contraption called air brake protrudes from the piston. The air brake plugs the cylinder before piston impacts, trapping a small amount of air between the piston and cylinder. This reduces impact vibration and adds to VSR series' unique accuracy.

Air shotgun and air rifles

Tokyo Marui makes several replicas that are powered by compressing a spring. For the shotgun and grenade launcher models, each shot fires three BBs at a time.

Spring Pistols

The spring is compressed by racking the slide. Some have hop-up and some do not.

Gindan Pistols

Tokyo Marui makes a small series of semi-automatic guns that fire by compressing the spring and releasing it as the trigger is pulled. These are mostly marketed at children in various colors, but Tokyo Marui has released black and silver editions which come in more professional looking boxes. The barrels create a short range hop-up effect. Tokyo Marui only recommends that a special .12g silver projectile of theirs be used, and that it be loaded with a proprietary speed loader which hold 90 projectiles.

Radio controlled models

Tokyo Marui was also at the forefront of the developing radio control hobby in the mid-1980s with a line of high-quality 1/10-scale electric buggies, monster trucks and even an unusual NASCAR Winston Cup stocker, all in kit form. This kit of Bill Elliott's Coors Melling Ford Thunderbird was built on a four-wheel drive buggy chassis; despite that full-scale NASCAR racers are rear-wheel drive. The body could be raised or lowered for either onroad or offroad use and two full sets of wheels and tires were included, pre-mounted sponge slick tires for onroad and knobby spiked rubber tires for offroad. The Big Bear Datsun, a 1/12-scale monster truck topped with a Datsun pickup truck body, powered by a Mabuchi RS-380 motor and initially sold via mail order, was one of the best-selling radio controlled models of the period and contributed greatly to the hobby's growth.

Scale variations on the simple and strong Big Bear chassis included both regular and "Super Wheelie" versions of the Jeep CJ-7 Golden Eagle and Toyota FJ40 Land Cruiser, each lacking the oversized wheels and tires of the Big Bear and equipped instead with more scale-looking Goodyear offroad tires. A proposed third version which would have been Marui's ninth release was that of a Mitsubishi Pajero, shelved due to licensing problems. Twelve models were released in all, numbered 1 through 13 since the aforementioned ninth model never made it to market.

Strong competition by the end of the decade, especially from Tamiya and Kyosho, caused Marui to pull out of the hobby-grade R/C market. They returned to the R/C market in 2000 with a still-popular line of ready-to-run, 1/24-scale military tanks (see below).

The company released and sold the following models:

Radio controlled battle tanks

Tokyo Marui has combined remote control and airsoft by making a series of 1/24 scale remote controlled tanks that fire BBs. By remote control, a user may move the tank forwards and backwards, turn in place, rotate the turret, elevate the barrel, and fire. The range is only 25 m for 0.2g BBs. The tanks run on eight AA batteries.[6]

Others

Tokyo Marui has also in an attempt to compete with Tamiya manufactured 1:24 scale model cars, Mini 4WD of their own RC cars as well as licensed by other companies including Kyosho and educational models. The early nineties recession would force the company to scale back production to airsoft guns. Tokyo Marui has since returned to the RC car market, albeit the lucrative mini RC market with its 1:24 cars [7] and also since 1994, builds remote driven Godzilla models. In 2007, Tokyo Marui released Z- scale model trains under the Pro-Z title including fully developed rail dioramas with several different trainsets.[8] Recently, Tokyo Marui has entered the electric scooter market.[9]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 東京マルイ
  2. ↑ 東京マルイ
  3. ↑ Burns is a misspelling of Barnes
  4. ↑ Production was temporarily halted until January 2006, when manufacturer of red dot sight went out of business
  5. ↑ Production was temporarily halted until September 2006, when upper receiver mold broke
  6. ↑ 東京マルイ
  7. ↑ 東京マルイ
  8. ↑ 東京マルイ
  9. ↑

Tokyo Marui: Soft Air Gun-2004 All Line Up Catalog

External links

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