Interview with former Yamaha paper model designer

[John Wagenseil]

https://www.rideapart.com/news/541019/yamaha-papercraft-designer-nobutaka-mukouyama/

[Petestein]

Are these beautiful motorcycles definitively no longer available?

[T haf]

A while back when I initially heard they were going to be removed, I snagged a download for all of them thinking sometime in the future I'd give them a shot.

[airdave]

I would push so hard to gain control of the IP
and push Yamaha to allow me to use their name and logo...
and open a store selling these kits.

But he probably signed an agreement with the original commissions.
Yamaha is smart...they would have maintained control of the models and protected their IP.
He can legally give some away to his 'friends', but thats about it.
So even if he wanted to share them for free, he still couldn't advertise, promote,
or use the Yamaha brand for his own purposes, etc

I would approach another Motorcycle dealer and make a better deal for a new paper model!

[John Wagenseil]

Search Results
Nobutaka-san has done animals for Canon Creative Park.
The Wayback Machine archives of the Yamaha site have been redacted and the model files removed.
I suspect the motivation to remove the models was wanting to be seen as modern and cutting edge,
and not wanting consumers to be reminded of the old "obsolete" products from the companies past.

[airdave]

Sometimes 'old and obsolete' is better than what we are offered today.

[Mike1158]

'aint that the truth, say's the man with a 51 year old car in regular use.

[Petestein]

Anybody out there can tell me how many different motorcycles were published for free downloads and perhaps the name of each model?

[rickstef]

a total of 12 motorcycles were released
with both a colored version, and an all white version so you could repaint or use other papers.

And the SR-400 also had 53 additional pages so you could match a particular paint scheme for the year it was released, from 1978 to 2008

[AlanG]

Originally Posted by rickstef

a total of 12 motorcycles were released
with both a colored version, and an all white version so you could repaint or use other papers.

It rather depends on how you are counting, as there are several examples of different models sharing the same or similar identifier, and also three extra motorcycles issued as part ot the "Motor Sport World" series of dioramas. My list is:

"Realistic" models (scale approximately 1:7)
===========================

1. VMAX (1997/8) First released in about 1997, but replaced by a much improved version in late 1998.

2. YZF-R1 (1999)

3. XJR1300 (2000)

4. DSC11 (2001)

5. SR400 (2002)

6. TMAX (2003)

7. YZR-M1 (2004/5/6) First released in a blue livery, then supplemented by a "special edition" version in yellow to commemorate Yamaha's 50th anniversary in 2005. The blue version was withdrawn later that year and then replaced by a dark red one in 2006.

8. YZ450FM (2005)

9. YZF-R1 (2007) A new model of the then latest version of this machine, quite different from the 1999 version.

"Ultra-realistic" models (scale mostly 1:5.5)
===========================

10. MT-01 (2006)

11. VMAX (2009)

12. YZF-R1M (2015)

13. MT-10 (2016)

14. YA-1 (2017) Scale 1:4.

"Motor Sports World" (scale much as for "Ultra-realistic" but simpler models as part of dioramas)
================================================== =========

15. YZR-M1 (2013) In diorama of Laguna Seca racing circuit.

16. XTZ850R (2014) In "desert" diorama.

17. YZ450F (2014) In "wilderness" diorama. "Desert" and "wilderness" fit together as a single display.


Sadly, if the models have even been removed from the Wayback Machine all this is rather academic for newcomers.

Alan