Discussion
with the dark days of winter not far off i thought about getting myself an indoor hobby. am i right in thinking that if i buy a tamiya truck, i will need to buy what they call a 'multi function unit' to get working lights/horn/engine noise etc, or do they have them with the truck. thanks....tom
B0LLIKS said:
with the dark days of winter not far off i thought about getting myself an indoor hobby. am i right in thinking that if i buy a tamiya truck, i will need to buy what they call a 'multi function unit' to get working lights/horn/engine noise etc, or do they have them with the truck. thanks....tom
It's an extra. The Shell tanker is amazing when finished.B0LLIKS said:
hi, thanks for the reply, so its a bit like buying a real truck....but with no light bulbs. the shell tanker is the one to go for then. on a scale of 1-10 how hard is the build. thanks....tom.
Not built one but have built a fair few Tamiya kits. They are very well engineered so "building" is generally pretty straightforward. It's the time and effort expended on detailing and finishing that really mark out the good guys. You can put in as much, or as little, effort as you like. I would get me down to a decent model shop and ask nicely to see inside the box, or ask the man for advice, before parting with money. That way you don't get home, open box for first time and come all over faint with fear.You could always kick off with something a little less adventurous, say something in 1:24 scale, to get the feel for building and get all the silly mistakes out of the way, (we all make 'em). 5 pages of suitable tractor units, trailers, fire engines etc here, some rather interesting :
www.modelhobbies.co.uk/shop/plastic-model-kits-tru...
Just thought I'd post you a link to an "All you need to know about Tamiya trucks" site. So here it is. I'd forgotten the costs involved though. Phew.
www.goldstarstockists.com/playtime/tamiya-trucks.h...
www.goldstarstockists.com/playtime/tamiya-trucks.h...
I have the King Hauler and the tanker trailer. It was a while ago I built it, but IIRC it was pretty straight forward. I got carried away and bought all the electrics to go with it (lights for tractor and trailer, sound unit, motor thing to make the cab vibrate at idle etc) so there was quite a lot of that to do, but again, it wasn't complicated.
If you're planning on using it much once built, then I'd look to getting a proper 'truck' motor rather than the boggo 540 or whatever comes with it. It's just too fast. You can be very careful with the controls to get it to crawl around at something approaching scale speeds, but it's a bit of a faff.
A very impressive bit of kit for the couple of hours or so I actually used it. In hindsight, was it worth the £600 or so it ended up costing? Probably not.
ETA: Actually, thinking about it, it was probably closer to £800
If you're planning on using it much once built, then I'd look to getting a proper 'truck' motor rather than the boggo 540 or whatever comes with it. It's just too fast. You can be very careful with the controls to get it to crawl around at something approaching scale speeds, but it's a bit of a faff.
A very impressive bit of kit for the couple of hours or so I actually used it. In hindsight, was it worth the £600 or so it ended up costing? Probably not.
ETA: Actually, thinking about it, it was probably closer to £800
Edited by Uriel on Monday 13th September 11:23
I've no idea which motors would be good. I just remember reading about them at the time I built mine and had it down as something to look at for the future, but I stopped using it long, long before I got round to looking into it further.
One thing to check out also would be whether any particular motor runs more quietly than another. Other than the instant acceleration, the main downer on using is for me was the typical r/c car whine of the motor. Kinda ruins the atmosphere when you're playing at being Kris Kristofferson.
One thing to check out also would be whether any particular motor runs more quietly than another. Other than the instant acceleration, the main downer on using is for me was the typical r/c car whine of the motor. Kinda ruins the atmosphere when you're playing at being Kris Kristofferson.
Uriel said:
One thing to keep in mind is that the Wedico stuff is 1:16 scale whereas the Tamiya ones are 1:14. If there is a chance that you're going to get into trucks, then you really can't really mix and match trucks and trailers or use the accessories or bolt ons from one with the other.
ah never thought of looking at the scale. oh well back to tamiya.there is a club that show every year at Brighton Model world. Lots of beardy type chaps who drive really really slowly and enjoy reversing their trucks, uncoupling the trailor and driving off again. really really slowly.
http://www.tamiyatruckin.org.uk/index.php?option=c...
not my cup of tea but they seemed to really really enjoy themselves.
Gassing Station | Scale Models | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff