Family company founded in 1967 by Minoru Matsumoto. Earlier called "Matsumoto Seisakusho", it specialized in metal elements production. Mr Matsumoto was one of creators of CMC brand. Shoei initially designed and manufactured models that were sold as "CMC". In 1971 (or 77?) when change in law forbade manufacture of most metal models (except painted gold) most of manufacturers switched to plastic. Shoei stopped working on modelguns (plastic was not their expertise), but they decided to return in 1993. As Tanaka already acquired original CMC molds, Shoei started design work from scratch. Their specialty is WWII long arms. The first model released in 1994 was FG42 type 1, designed based on a real gun from collection of Royal Army and Military History Museum in Brussels (Belgium). In 2004 Shoei produced a limited series (30 pieces) of Mkb42(H) assault rifle, one of which went to the museum as display piece. Wooden parts for Shoei are manufactured by Nakaya.
Shoei produces dummy and airsoft models - airsoft in cooperation with Escort, who designed gas blowback mechanism for Shoei. Series are fairly limited, total production of models is a few thousand pieces. As every piece is hand-made, and undegoes a strict quality control, production process takes from six months (MP44 and MG42) up to a year and a half (FG42). Every model is produced in a short series (a few hundred pieces), then reproduced a few years later, after other models had their runs completed.
One of the first series of FG42 was released as cap-firing (there was a conversion kit), but due to weight and size of the model blowback did not work reliably.
2007 was a critical year for Shoei: it suffered death of not only Minoru Matsumoto, but also his wife and the most experienced employee. Family business continues to operate, taken over by his sons (Tomio and Ichiro).
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Number of posts : 1823 Location / Country : Poland Registration date : 2009-03-03
Sun Jan 17, 2010 9:12 pm