tamiya

I had a Madcap which I think is *squints* 82 in that picture. Built to stock apart from the rear wing decal which read “Never Give Up!” or something equally cheesy, I couldn’t bring myself to put it anywhere hear the car.

Had the most fun building it, it handled like a whale. Going flat out meant the steering didn’t work. I always put it down to the non-oil-filled dampers; I replaced them years later, but then couldn’t find the controllers to test it. I’ve now got everything together, should probably take it out for a spin, assuming the batteries still work.

I’ve got the Tamiya FAV(46 in the picture)in my shed and a Kyosho Optima.

The FAV is the best as it being two wheel drive its more fun, but the Optima is an awesomely quick racer.

I remember putting a new motor in my hotshot. Called a green machine. First drove it and it must of gone 30mph down the road. – awesome times.

Always wanted a Hotshot

Turns out they’re making them again (slightly updated) after over 20 years so maybe I’ll have to get one for less than the price of a dropper post (already got one of them).

EDIT – what a nostalgia trip – Frog, Grasshopper, Wild One.

I had a Madcap. Uprated motor, fancy speed controller, oil dampers. Very fast and completely 100% uncontrollable. Constantly looped out with massive wheel spin, then once moving the steering was useless. Battery life was about 5 minutes, but to a 12 year old those where some of the best 5 minutes of the day.

Loved RC cars when I was younger.

Had a Tamiya Blackfoot:

Then a second hand Schumacher Cougar 2 when I started racing and the monster truck turned out to be useless in a race!

Spent more time fixing the thing.

Had a Kyosho Beetle.Pile of junk – the chassis rails kept bending. The gearbox kept self destructing, had a die cast diff, with was made of cheese, the suspension arms were also die cast and kept snapping. When it cornered the rear rear would lift. I got it second hand and it was all I could afford – it was old. So hardly anyone stocked spares for it!!

Then an Optima Mid. Amazing cars. Then a carbon fibre chassis and belt upgrade for the Optima to transform it into a long wheelbase version. Got a cool body shell for it and sprayed it 3 tone fluo, each colour fading into each other. Used to have a Massive rear wing for it too, which was left clear, so unpainted.

Used run matched cells etc and I think demon 17 doubles, 15 doubles and 13 double motors. Had a basic Novak speed controller too.

Then I had a 2wd RC10 ( some newer version, not the old classic ones – never got on with it to be honest – did not like it at all – stopped racing and sold it )

Used to race weekly on carpet and offroad tracks sometimes too. Got quite good. Really loved it 🙂

think this is probably my favourite looking early tamiya racing buggy.

wild one[/url]

This is the one I had before I changed to a pro cat (and regretted it), I can’t see it on the picture above. My Fire Dragon in the end had that many mods it was faster than the Yokohama Works (I think they was called) and Pro Cats, but it was indestructible 🙂

http://www.tamiyaclub.com/pictureframe.asp?t=n&id=img4867_18072009153455_1.jpg

There was always a divide in our family(and mates) I was alway 4wd and my cousins 2wd?

They had the Mardave Meteor then the Top Cat

Happy days 🙂

Had a Grasshopper, then a Rough Rider, a Wild One, and a road one (I think #14)…

Want another one now, but the CFO won’t let me 🙁

I had several old ones that were cobbled together, Baja Bug and then a Hornet. My mate had a really fast motor in his so I hacked a battery pack and joined two extra cells onto a 7.2v and it used to whip his ass (never burnt anything out either).

My brother had a Hotshot – that was a nice piece of kit.

I had the Fox as in the OPs pic. Looked good, but driveshafts kept wearing out because of the angle they went in at. After numerous replacements the UK distributor cut the rear shocks shorter to level them out. It was sh*te after that!

A few years later my mate got a BigWig, awesome car! 4wheel drive and extremely fast, very expensive too:

For having a dabble back in the RC world, I can recommend getting a Losi Micro-T £59 and fantastic fun!
1:36

Great fun to just bash around the house:
http://www.modelsport.co.uk/losi-micro-t-1-36-scale-rtr-truck-red-/rc-car-products/27277

I had 56, the Falcon.
By the time I stopped using it the wing had gone, all the transfers had gone, the rear tyres were slick, and the cosmetic shell looked like it’d been driven under a lawn mower. It was 2WD, and at full throttle it would go in a straight line with the front wheels at full lock. Great fun just hitting the gas and skidding, roostin’ n’ spinning on gravel and dirt.

Oh wow this brings back happy memories, I can still remember my Dad helping me to build my Tamiya Frog, such a fun car 🙂

there’s a suburban rc race track not far from me. keep getting tempted to buy a car, but this time (25 years later) may be able to repair the thing.

oooh ooh, me too!

I had a Bear Hawk with full ball bearing races and an uprated motor:

My brother had a Manta Ray:

happy days blatting up and down the road with those… not sure why we never raced them

I had a Fox

and a Nissan King Cab, still have the King Cab albeit looking a bit sorry for itself.

I’ve got a Lancia Delta, fully ballraced, had it going a while ago, even managed to get the 20 year old nicads back to run 7 or 8 minutes after a few charges.

For having a dabble back in the RC world, I can recommend getting a Losi Micro-T £59 and fantastic fun!
1:36

Great fun to just bash around the house:
http://www.modelsport.co.uk/losi-micro-t-1-36-scale-rtr-truck-red-/rc-car-products/27277

Looks good, and great for tormenting the cats… but surely half the fun is building them?

I had a Grasshopper ‘Super G’ – which meant it had a sensible 540 motor instead of the weedy 430(?). Lasted ages but was finally replaced with a Schumacher Cougar. Had this for a while then sprayed and fitted a nascar body painted like the green and yellow chevy in Days of Thunder 🙂

After that I went nitro with the Schumacher Storm. Huge step up in terms of performance (and danger!) but terrible starting meant it was a pain in the ass! Still got it somewhere.

I had this, Marui Samurai, unique or at least unusual I believe in that it was chain drive

I still have this:
[/url]
Busted Buggy[/url] by MilkieKula[/url], on Flickr
Hyper 8.5 Pro with a 4 port race engine and exhaust. Extremely fast servos, custom tuned shocks, uprated shock towers. This thing can fly!

You can try to tame this beast… I tried and failed in the photo above!

wow such happy memories, I had a sand scorcher and got a spare rough rider body for it. got a 959 after a few years but I didnt use it much.
i used to help my friend make the kits for people at Christmas at Beatties in Leeds, I then started making the kits for Otley modelsport for people who didnt want to build or paint them.

used to love Christmas as my bedroom would have about twenty kits at a time to build it was awesome.
I used to love painting the bodies especially the original ones, didnt like painting from the inside on later models.
But later started doing the display models for Beatties in Leeds used to have a great youth, didnt do much for my athletic prowess, but hey you cant have everything.

I had the Kyosho Raider, I still gaze at it at the back of the cupboard when I visit my folks… Pretty sure it’d cost me more in batteries than it’s worth to get it running again…

Brings back lots of memories,

I had a Hornet, a Thunder Dragon and the brilliantly named Bush Devil!

always wanted a Shumacher Pro Cat.

Good times.

Its all I ever wanted for a few years when a kid ….

Never got one then but am looking around for one now ..

I always wanted the King Tiger but could never afford it

http://www.naritafamily.com/Scalemodel/AFVs/16kingtiger/KT2_001.JPG

Some guys round the corner from my grandads had a couple of the monster trucks and I knew I wanted one for Xmas, got the tamiya catalogues and obsessed for months…… Come xmas I changed my mind and got something else. I regretted that for a long time, now this thread has got me Google searching

**heads off to the Wonderland Models website**

I had the Fox , funnily enough i only looked at it the other day, it’s not very original, most parts were replaced either due to crashes or wearing out… but it is all there although I can’t find the Futaba controller anywhere…
A big gang of us used to meet after school and race them around sports bags on the tennis courts/playground, in the rain too with those funny bags you had to put over the motors to stop the water from destroying them and with torches strapped to them at night….. some very fond memories.. got into planes and gliders in the end.

Great thread

still have this, goes like the proverbial …. off a shovel

I had a Madcap… completely 100% uncontrollable… once moving the steering was useless.

Thank god it wasn’t just me. I thought for years I’d done something fundamentally wrong with it.

Always wanted one of these…

I had a Hot Shot and it still looks cool, even 20 years on. My parents never throw anything away so it’s bound to be in their loft.

I want one of these

Think the building would be just as enjoyable than the ‘driving’

There’s masses of engineering in it, just have a look at the construction manuals!
http://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/rcmanual/58397high_lift_1.pdf
http://www.tamiya.com/english/rc/rcmanual/58397high_lift_2.pdf

Mind you, I also really like the idea of the 1/16 tanks!

i fancy one of those hilux’s too, but have you seen the price 😯 ?

I have the full set of these – does that count?

There was only one opportunity to buy one when I was young and chose a Saracen Tufftrax instead 🙂

oops this lot:

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Bought a Hotshot when it first came out in 1985 with my first wages. Still have it, sits ona display shelf now rather than up in the loft. Also bought 2 of the releases when they came out, both still owed in loft. I am in the processor selling all the vintage Hotshot spares I bought over the years. Just sold 2 Hotshots 2. Still got loads left, but what I did sell bought me a Moda Arco track bike. Had loads of Tamiya rc models (TL01/TT01/TNX/TB Evo4MS/TRF415MS/King Blackfoot/TXT1/ plus many,many Hotshots 1&2s)as well as their static kits.

Check out http://www.tamiyaclub.com