Tamiya and other R/C vehicles (not just for Christmas)

Hiya.

Finally given in and decided I need a Tamiya RC car.
I’m 48.
🙂
I blame you lot.

So, had a chat with Richard at Rossmod[/url] yesterday, who recommended one of these…..
…..a Tamiya Neo Scorcher.
4wd, simple to build ( 😯 ) and loads of upgrades available.

I had been eyeing up a couple of the re-releases, but apparently this is much better to drive.
Other possibility is a GF-01 Landcruiser….
…bit pricier and a bit more limited in use, but love the looks.

Decisions, decisions.
🙂

Have also looked at Traxxas (quality, pricey) and FTX but they’re ready built and crucially not Tamiya.
It just wouldn’t be the same.

How hard are these things to build?
I’m fine with plastic models and LEGO Technic stuff, just a bit daunted, tbh.

Anyone else tempted?

If you can fix a skateboard, you can fix a bike,
If you can fix a bike…

Been on the phone with steve at wheelspin models in cannock today talking over various options as it happens.
The consensus is that its definitely worth paying the extra for the traxxas stuff as its better built and easier to upgrade/change/repair
There goes my idea of a brushless ftx vantage 🙄 now trying to choose between a traxxas rustler and a slash 😐

Yeah cheers steve

How hard are these things to build?

I made one last Christmas (a Neo Fighter). Fun little project, nothing complicated about it. Took a few evenings IIRC.

What mogrim said.

Built up a Blackfoot over a coupe of evenings last winter. This winter I will be dismantling an rebuilding it because it’s a bit broken.

As above Traxxas stuff is better built. If I’d gone for one of theirs I don’t think it would be as broken as the Blackfoot is now.

Ooh, just found this. Might give the Blackfoot to the boy and get one of these instead.

I bought a Neo Fighter about 2 years ago.

It’s a decent car, but I find the rear springs are too soft, so it kinda drags it’s bum on the floor & understeers a lot.

I’ve borrowed some stiffer springs off a colleague at work & keep meaning to buy the turnbuckle kit to give the front geometry a tweak & try to get it to turn in more aggressively. Tamiya sparea & hop-up parts are quite pricey though!

Build-wise – they are very straightforward & the instructions are brilliant. The hardest bit is getting the shocks filled with oil because they only just give you enough for all 4; just don’t spill any!

I kinda regret not spending a bit more & getting the Dark Impact DF03 chassis, which looks quite a bit more capable (and is 4wd) but it was only meant to be something for a bit of fun & spec creep was erm, creeping in.

I would post a pic, but they’re on Photobucket…..

northernmatt – Member
Ooh, just found this.

🙂
A six wheel version of that Toyota I quite fancy.
No wheelies, but can be built with four wheel steering.
also available with this body…..

Row, row, row your boat……

stumpy01 – Member
I kinda regret not spending a bit more & getting the Dark Impact DF03 chassis.

The Dark Impact or BigWig reissue were the ones I was initially drawn towards, but the shop reckons the TT02B chassis is a better bet.

Also fancy the CC-01 Unimog or the rally Beetle, which is a different chassis again…

…but I’d cry when all the lovely little detail bits broke off the first time I crashed them.
Maybe next time.

I still have my Midnight Pumpkin from, er, 1989….

I revived it a couple of years ago and play with it with my daughter (often at the beach). Have broken a suspension part now, so am considering retiring it and buying myself something else to build up instead.

In my mind, it’s a choice between something fast and 4wd or a rock crawler. Opposite ends of the spectrum but each fun in their own way.

You should be able to get any parts for your Midnight Pumpkin as the re-release is exactly the same as the original chassis wise.

The Traxxas TRX-4 Land Rover is very nice as a rock crawler. Bit spendy though.

Yep, have wanted a Tamiya lunchbox since I was a kid – I’m 44 now.
This year might be the year!!

The Traxxas TRX-4 Land Rover is very nice as a rock crawler. Bit spendy though.

It is – I got one out of the amalgamated birthday money from a recent big one. It’s great fun and nothing is too much for it (within reason). It will basically clear anything and more (at scale) that a real Landy can.

And the thing I like most about it is the battery life – I can go out with the family/dog for a couple of hours and we can all have a play on it and it just keeps going – a world away from the 10 minutes you used to get out of the old nicad Tamiya things. Obviously it goes nowhere near as quickly as those things though, but that’s what I wanted so my kids could use it too.

I’ve wanted a Schumacher Cat since they first came out about 1987.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Schumacher-Cat-Xls-original-complete-with-radio-gear-/132386678916

The consensus is that its definitely worth paying the extra for the traxxas stuff as its better built and easier to upgrade/change/repair

I am a member of a Traxxas TRX-4 Facebook Group and I can second that – it is the RC equivalent of getting spendy on spangly bits for your bike – CNC portal covers/hubs etc, LED running lights, titanium steering arms etc etc etc.

Youre really not helping matters johndoh 🙂

Want!

I got a neo fighter a couple of years back as well. Again had to be Tamiya to scratch a childhood itch. Enjoyed building it and painting the shell as much as anything else.

Ripped the engine out of the casing using it slightly outside it’s design parameters. Left it for the last year and then bought some spares and rebuilt it with a faster motor. And some anodised blue bits, ahem. 5 minutes into first spin and the front wheel fell off, plastic C hub failed. Now waiting for more ano bits to arrive from Hong Kong….

Always found Tamiya a bit plasticky. Back in the day I spent a lot of time rebuilding the suspension with new bits.

I got into racing radio controlled cars and Losi were the make I stuck with – awesome bits of kit. No idea if they still make them / what they cost.

The most fun radio controlled car I’ve had for larking about with was an Hpi nitro stadium truck. Think it was called a ‘Rush’. It was blindingly fast and rear wheel drive so you could drift it, and it jumped fantastically well.

I bought a schumacher mi1 (rolling chassis) off ebay a couple of years ago.
It must be around 20yrs old, belt drive 4wd, carbon top and bottom deck, oil filled alu shocks, two bodies, 4 sets of wheels and tyres,
£25 posted.
I already had a radio for it, and bought a brushless motor and drift tyres.
Top laugh, at a disposable price.
I also experimented with the gearing and an 8.4v battery, it’s hilariously fast.
Id say based on my experience, the schumacher i have is better quality than any of the several tamiyas ive built.

I went through an RC car phase several years ago and built up a couple of Ansmann cars (a buggy and a short course) a Tamiya Lowrider Pumpkin and something else I forget, a Venom Creeper crawler, an Axial crawler, a 4WD Team Durango buggy that was faster than my vision and hand-eye coordination could manage… a few got sold on and a few got sold on. Oh, and an HPI Savage kit.

I always enjoyed the build more than actually playing with them, in all honesty..! Never got buying an RTR. Recently noticed that Carisma have come out with a new scaler that’s available as a kit and it seems like just the ticket for a long, dark and cold winter…

SCA-1E Coyote KIT

Not Christmas Tamiya but my Rough Rider which I bought during a “mid life crisis” a couple of years back:

Not much plastic evident in this brute.

*Edit – could someone fix that video link for me please. No idea why it isn’t working for me. Ta

Can’t get it to work either.

Aaaaaargh, it’s AGES ’till Christmas………

Might start picking up bits and bobs now, paint etc.
Quite fancy a pink/purple combo…..

In fact, I could pick up a spare body shell and get cracking…

I did mine white & bright pink like the original Tamiya Frog…..

Should really stick a pic up on Flickr….

I’m quite proud of the paint job on mine, hadn’t done one before. Must sort a photo

Fixed your link. For future reference, you have to use http:// rather than https:// for Vimeo vids. (No, me neither.)

Well, that took longer than expected to fight past the pop-up ads on Photobucket, download a pic and chuck it on flickr….

DSCN8525_zpsu2hb6jtr by STW stumpy01[/url], on Flickr

I wanna get some black wheels for it, or spray the original wheels black…..

That’s just lovely.
Clean and simple.

Decided on the TT-02B chassis, just trying to pick a body style now.

Will stick up the options shortly, be interesting to see what you lot think.
🙂

I just looked out my old Schumacher Cat from the loft a couple of weeks back, my 7 year old is very interested!

Think it needs a new battery though as the ones I have are 25 year old Nicads which means a new charger as well ….

Schumacher Cat looks pretty sweet, especially with the 4WD upgrade version. I scratched an itch with an Associated RC10 re-issue a while back, really liked that one but the kids aren’t interested in playing along so I flogged it for a small loss.

I keep really hankering after a re-issue SuperShot though. I had the original HotShot back in the day and converted it to the 4 shock suspension, loved that thing. I have restored it and run it recently but it’s a fragile old beast. Need a replacement!

Can we just let this thread die please. I really really dont want one!

Always hankered after one as a kid but it never was to be. Might have to sort that out.

Are Losi still going? I had a xx-cr buggy when I was younger, remember putting a big 540 motor in it and an LRP Runner speed control. It was rapid!

One of these –

After the Losi I got this –

It wasn’t that fun really, it was big and fast, but the 4wd made it just go where you pointed it without much drama.

Losi about to go bust apparently, no UK agent, have dropped all the micro range and selling off old stock.

Tbh, that’s why I’m going Tamiya, have the feeling they’ll always be around.

Have now roped the son in law in as well.
Someone to race against, ace.
🙂

Some more Rough Rider / Buggy Champ action in the dust:

Don’t be fooled by the title!

Losi about to go bust apparently, no UK agent, have dropped all the micro range and selling off old stock.

Do you know where they’re selling off stock, Rusty Spanner?

No idea mate.
Local shop don’t stock them anymore and can’t get them.

Modelsport have some left but not sure if discounted, haven’t really looked.

Was told the parent company seem to be letting them just die off, seems a shame.

I had the original HotShot back in the day and converted it to the 4 shock suspension, loved that thing

My Hot Shot with 4 shock suspension conversion and a HS 2 body. Must be about 30 years old now. Dug out of my parents loft recently 🙂

I WANT that Schumacher CAT 😕

mrblobby I see you also have the cracked bumper, a very common problem. the hole in the hexagonal insert in the front gearbox is threaded on mine so the under bumper plate won’t stay on any more, should get a new bit.

When I refurb’d mine I sorted all the bearings and got a hot new motor, the thing went way faster than I was ever able to run it as a kid!

I have something looking like a Néo Scortcher but from 1989 (?).
Need some work, new controls. And probably new engine as it hasn’t run since then. The engin e is an upgraded Trinity.

cchris2lou – Member
I have something looking like a Néo Scortcher but from 1989 (?).

Probably the Terra Scorcher, which I think the styling for the Neo Scorcher came from….