RE: Tamiya Toyota Hilux: Time For Tea?
Discussion
I totally agree that RC cars breed petrolheads! Starting with a Grasshopper, I've owned a fair few over the years. The Clod Buster stood out as being my first truck that would climb kerbs, with it's amazing 4 wheel steering. I had a Midnight Pumpkin with a modified motor running 8.4v, which was a giggle.
The habit has stuck and I've now got a pair of HPI Savages, both on CNC extended chassis... one is a Big Block 4.6 Nitro and the other is a twin 3S 22v lipo mental machine Flux, that is borderline uncontrollable!!! I've now added a drone, which will soon be fitted with a GoPro and FPV
Boys never grow up, their toys just get more elaborate & expensive 
The Nitro:
The Flux:
DJI F450 Flame Wheel Drone:
The habit has stuck and I've now got a pair of HPI Savages, both on CNC extended chassis... one is a Big Block 4.6 Nitro and the other is a twin 3S 22v lipo mental machine Flux, that is borderline uncontrollable!!! I've now added a drone, which will soon be fitted with a GoPro and FPV
Boys never grow up, their toys just get more elaborate & expensive The Nitro:
The Flux:
DJI F450 Flame Wheel Drone:
Hrimfaxi said:
Never built a Tamiya kit before though, but lots of experience in static models, so patience is not a problem!
Are these good kits to start with?
The chassis is simplicity itself to assemble. The body shells range from fairly easy to moderately difficultAre these good kits to start with?
depending on the model.
If you have already built plastic kits to a moderate standard then it'll be a breeze.
Polycarbonate body needs to be very carefully cut just short of the line and then carefully filed down with a sanding
stick or similar. The way the light refracts through it can make it easy to mess up. So I colour it with some
water soluble paint to make the line easier to see, then wash off the paint afterwards. As with all plastic that
will need painting it must be washed properly first, but beware limescale streaking.
Sometimes masking areas can be quite difficult, for example sand scorcher bonnet because of the curves.
Painting lighter colours first is also important so the dark colours don't show through. As you're painting the
inside rather than the outside it all needs doing in reverse. But pay attention, take it slowly and all will be fine.
Hrimfaxi said:
I'm very close to snapping up a Tamiya Mini... Always wanted one. Damn you lot and this thread!
Never built a Tamiya kit before though, but lots of experience in static models, so patience is not a problem!
Are these good kits to start with?
They're lovely to build - worth buying a new one so you can build it, for me I enjoy building them more than driving them Never built a Tamiya kit before though, but lots of experience in static models, so patience is not a problem!
Are these good kits to start with?
Like many I started out with these as a 10 year old. These are such a great way to get kids into mechanical construction. Maybe not the most robust, but great fun.
After a year I moved into 1/8 nitro powered race buggies. Now those are "An all new thing!"
Screaming engine noise, billowing smoke, twice the speed, solid engineering, large scale and a real blast! I have been collecting parts to build my personal ultimate vintage 1/8 buggy for a year now. All made in Europe components. The next stage is a custom welded roll cage. They are a great hobby you can pick up and work on now and then.
After a year I moved into 1/8 nitro powered race buggies. Now those are "An all new thing!"
Screaming engine noise, billowing smoke, twice the speed, solid engineering, large scale and a real blast! I have been collecting parts to build my personal ultimate vintage 1/8 buggy for a year now. All made in Europe components. The next stage is a custom welded roll cage. They are a great hobby you can pick up and work on now and then.
Upon noticing that my best friend at school was missing cricket practice, I tracked him down to the school's after hours hobby club. He was trying to repair his Tamiya Frog. He had been challenged to a race with another kid - Johnny, who I was always having scraps with - who had a Tamiya Falcon. A chubby mate of mine had a Lunch Box and a Midnight Pumpkin. His parents may have had a sense of humour, as he also had a vague mullet-y thing going on too; like Corey Feldman in 'The Lost Boys'.
Anyway, back to my mate and his Frog and that race. He lost.
In the hobby club he was in a right state, booing and everything, as a front-end joint was mangled. He knew his dad was going to beat his arse, because it meant more trips to Beatties, spending more money. He just couldn't face him.
Either way, poring over his shoulder and looking at the sheer intricacy and quality of the build, I became hooked.
I began to notice them everywhere. The school bully had a Wild One. The team scrum-half who wouldn't shut up on the pitch, in the canteen, or on the minibus to the away school fixture, had a Supershot. The kid who sat next to me during Geography, who lived on my street - "Snot-face" was his nickname IIRC - had a Boomerang.
It all went turbo in my head. I thought to myself, 'I want a piece of this...'
I did my research, I knew that the Grasshopper with the base 380 would leave me in an insufferably bad position when term re-started, recognised that the Hornet would be the best balance between my old man sticking his hand in his pocket just deep enough and not balking at the price and fobbing me off with a Reader's Digest of some sort. The rundown to Christmas started, and the mental campaign kicked in.
'I want a Hornet'
'I need that Tamiya'
'Please, please, please can I have a Tamiya Hornet for Christmas'
'All my other friends had a Tamiya and I don't, it's so unfair'
'I promise....."[and on it went]
I don't think I had been happier. The festive season became a blur, and I was immersed in the world of ratios, oil viscosity, camber, toe-in, servos....it was an education. My car became the fastest in school simply because I grasped that I could swap the pinions that would give me the acceleration at expense of battery life.
Then I got sucked into reading all the R/C magazines out there. And the local world of your schoolmates and their Tamiya's evolves into discovering that there were things like Schumacher Cats, the Mardave Meteor and the Associated RC10 with it's anodized gold chassis and their classic and memorable adverts...
Then one day I noticed our opposite neighbour and his dad playing with two cars I hadn't seen before. Their garage door would open up across the street, out they'd come, the gentle nod of recognition and steely gaze in my direction, then these two machines would roll out and I just knew they were faster than anything I'd seen before. I just couldn't bring myself to walk the other side of the street and ask away, but recognising a different scream to their acceleration (chain-drive 4wd), I knew there was a new landmark in town. My rivals had a Kyosho Optima and a Kyosho Turbo Optima.
The bar had been raised. My dad wilted at the next rundown to Christmas onslaught...
Santa arrived with a nice shiny Kyosho Rocky.
This was the zenith for me. I started to realise I just liked building and rebuilding them, as one day as a kid, some form of Peter Principle will kick in, and you realise your ability to control the car has just been eclipsed. A boy has got to know his limitations, as John Wayne may have said. I started to enjoy the toolkit side of things more than the dirt track.
I remember the adverts for the Tamiya Avante when they first came out. It promised the new paradigm in recreational R/C, but the truth was it was over-engineered and too heavy. It was the Veyron of the R/C world, but you always got more from an Associated or Losi. But it was gorgeous. And too expensive.
My old man relented though when the cut-price Tamiya Vanquish came out. He thought it would sate the bug.
He was right. Other things started to take over, like growing up, football, cricket, rugby, tennis, Hannah who'd giggle at my stupid jokes in RS....but over the years I still found time to pick up some more...
The classic Tamiya Repsol Cosworth...
...was followed by a Tamiya Dual Hunter (two engine truck) that a girlfriend reluctantly hung around for whilst I wasted my pocket-money in the hobby shop...
...and then I finally timed out when everything went 'nitro'. I nabbed a Thunder Tiger TS4...
The TT TS4n was incredibly quick, phenomenally awkward to put together, wildly stochastic in build quality from part to part, and...well...the end. Sometimes you can get so involved and engrossed in something, that you lose sight of the joyous simplicity of what you appreciated in the beginning.
For all the technological wonderment of the specialist manufacturers, there's a curious nostalgic and sentimental element to the early-ish Tamiya kits with their expressive decals and printed manuals and box covers, that just can't be replicated. Kyosho came closest with imbuing notions of the finest small-scale engineering, but Tamiya had the market. It had kids' hearts.
With all that said, one day, when I get round to it, I'll do a few things: I'll pick up a spotless Casio DW-5600c, some sparklingly classic Air Jordan Vs, a Rubik's Magic, an unused Nintendo Gameboy, an original Tamiya 959, and finally....an Associated RC10. And I'll mount them all on nice little back-lit stands in a glassed off wall cabinet.
One day.
Anyway, back to my mate and his Frog and that race. He lost.
In the hobby club he was in a right state, booing and everything, as a front-end joint was mangled. He knew his dad was going to beat his arse, because it meant more trips to Beatties, spending more money. He just couldn't face him.
Either way, poring over his shoulder and looking at the sheer intricacy and quality of the build, I became hooked.
I began to notice them everywhere. The school bully had a Wild One. The team scrum-half who wouldn't shut up on the pitch, in the canteen, or on the minibus to the away school fixture, had a Supershot. The kid who sat next to me during Geography, who lived on my street - "Snot-face" was his nickname IIRC - had a Boomerang.
It all went turbo in my head. I thought to myself, 'I want a piece of this...'
I did my research, I knew that the Grasshopper with the base 380 would leave me in an insufferably bad position when term re-started, recognised that the Hornet would be the best balance between my old man sticking his hand in his pocket just deep enough and not balking at the price and fobbing me off with a Reader's Digest of some sort. The rundown to Christmas started, and the mental campaign kicked in.
'I want a Hornet'
'I need that Tamiya'
'Please, please, please can I have a Tamiya Hornet for Christmas'
'All my other friends had a Tamiya and I don't, it's so unfair'
'I promise....."[and on it went]
I don't think I had been happier. The festive season became a blur, and I was immersed in the world of ratios, oil viscosity, camber, toe-in, servos....it was an education. My car became the fastest in school simply because I grasped that I could swap the pinions that would give me the acceleration at expense of battery life.
Then I got sucked into reading all the R/C magazines out there. And the local world of your schoolmates and their Tamiya's evolves into discovering that there were things like Schumacher Cats, the Mardave Meteor and the Associated RC10 with it's anodized gold chassis and their classic and memorable adverts...
Then one day I noticed our opposite neighbour and his dad playing with two cars I hadn't seen before. Their garage door would open up across the street, out they'd come, the gentle nod of recognition and steely gaze in my direction, then these two machines would roll out and I just knew they were faster than anything I'd seen before. I just couldn't bring myself to walk the other side of the street and ask away, but recognising a different scream to their acceleration (chain-drive 4wd), I knew there was a new landmark in town. My rivals had a Kyosho Optima and a Kyosho Turbo Optima.
The bar had been raised. My dad wilted at the next rundown to Christmas onslaught...
Santa arrived with a nice shiny Kyosho Rocky.
This was the zenith for me. I started to realise I just liked building and rebuilding them, as one day as a kid, some form of Peter Principle will kick in, and you realise your ability to control the car has just been eclipsed. A boy has got to know his limitations, as John Wayne may have said. I started to enjoy the toolkit side of things more than the dirt track.
I remember the adverts for the Tamiya Avante when they first came out. It promised the new paradigm in recreational R/C, but the truth was it was over-engineered and too heavy. It was the Veyron of the R/C world, but you always got more from an Associated or Losi. But it was gorgeous. And too expensive.
My old man relented though when the cut-price Tamiya Vanquish came out. He thought it would sate the bug.
He was right. Other things started to take over, like growing up, football, cricket, rugby, tennis, Hannah who'd giggle at my stupid jokes in RS....but over the years I still found time to pick up some more...
The classic Tamiya Repsol Cosworth...
...was followed by a Tamiya Dual Hunter (two engine truck) that a girlfriend reluctantly hung around for whilst I wasted my pocket-money in the hobby shop...
...and then I finally timed out when everything went 'nitro'. I nabbed a Thunder Tiger TS4...
The TT TS4n was incredibly quick, phenomenally awkward to put together, wildly stochastic in build quality from part to part, and...well...the end. Sometimes you can get so involved and engrossed in something, that you lose sight of the joyous simplicity of what you appreciated in the beginning.
For all the technological wonderment of the specialist manufacturers, there's a curious nostalgic and sentimental element to the early-ish Tamiya kits with their expressive decals and printed manuals and box covers, that just can't be replicated. Kyosho came closest with imbuing notions of the finest small-scale engineering, but Tamiya had the market. It had kids' hearts.
With all that said, one day, when I get round to it, I'll do a few things: I'll pick up a spotless Casio DW-5600c, some sparklingly classic Air Jordan Vs, a Rubik's Magic, an unused Nintendo Gameboy, an original Tamiya 959, and finally....an Associated RC10. And I'll mount them all on nice little back-lit stands in a glassed off wall cabinet.
One day.
I have many RC... 2 of them I race at my club.
Here is my collection. some was sold. some stayed.
Tamiya Manta ray.
Tamiya M-06 with HPI porsche body.
tamiya M-05 for racing at club.
My lunchbox with modified suspension (double wishbone conversion), so it handle really good now.
my race 2wd buggy losi 22, now retired, replaced by team C buggy.
My new 2wd buggy. Team C TM2 V2
my 10 year old HPI savage, upgraded over the years, its now XL (extended wheelbase)
It is better than watching TV... i prefer to tinker something...
Here is my collection. some was sold. some stayed.
Tamiya Manta ray.
Tamiya M-06 with HPI porsche body.
tamiya M-05 for racing at club.
My lunchbox with modified suspension (double wishbone conversion), so it handle really good now.
my race 2wd buggy losi 22, now retired, replaced by team C buggy.
My new 2wd buggy. Team C TM2 V2
my 10 year old HPI savage, upgraded over the years, its now XL (extended wheelbase)
It is better than watching TV... i prefer to tinker something...
I nearly got interested in this when I was younger; first by building a King Blackfoot truck then purchasing a nitro buggy.
The nitro buggy was better, in that it could simply be refuelled and away it went.
Just checked the prices on the website! OMG is appropriate - apparently a Tamiya carburettor is more expensive than a Ford carburettor for my full sized, real life kit car! And I can actually sit in that and take friends out.
I guess it moves on to the stage where we all get driving licences and old bangers; at which point racing a toy version round a park seems a tad childish? I don't know, in my mind the models were a means to an end - I was too young to have a real car so I got a realistic toy one. When said real car was obtained I had no further need of the toys. They gathered dust, and are now long gone.
The nitro buggy was better, in that it could simply be refuelled and away it went.
Just checked the prices on the website! OMG is appropriate - apparently a Tamiya carburettor is more expensive than a Ford carburettor for my full sized, real life kit car! And I can actually sit in that and take friends out.
I guess it moves on to the stage where we all get driving licences and old bangers; at which point racing a toy version round a park seems a tad childish? I don't know, in my mind the models were a means to an end - I was too young to have a real car so I got a realistic toy one. When said real car was obtained I had no further need of the toys. They gathered dust, and are now long gone.
I remember looking at them longingly in the Catalog, they were way out of out price league, we had a generic Porsche thing which was ace on my grandmas Parquet floor but it needed a little Pledge on the floor to drift which wasnt a good idea with a fairly hefty, deaf 82 year old lady around, we didnt manage to kill her though happily. The Porsche was pretty basic and we longed for a "proper one", the catalog had the Wild Will and the Grasshopped, possibly the Brat as well.
I never got one but my brother did, I remember going to the Manchester Beaties with my brother and dad, on the train, all keyed up and he bough a Hornet, it was one of those really great times that you never forget, my brother is six years younger so he was about 9 and I was 15, my dad was somewhere inbetween when it concerned remote controlled cars, it got built and thoroughly enjoyed for a couple of years, battered senseless and repaired numerous times.
My brother got older and wanted more power, he bought an Optima Mid Custom, onto which we put an E30 M3 body, that was even more fun, we used to run it 4wd, or removed the driveshafts either end to do front or rwd, I bought him an Electronic speed controller and we got another motor, took it to another level performance wise.
So, then I have my own kids, few years back I bought a Tamiya Dark Impact, was ok, never quite lived up to expectations, pre brushless, I spent a fortune on bits but it kept breaking, I got my eldest a Schumacher Menace Nitro which was great fun, here is a little video of me having a go with the dog joining in,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPlweuX8iM
A chap at work has got big into them again, and this thread has made me dig the lads Menace out, left looking a bit broken and battered so going to do it up and get it , went halves with my parents and got my brother a re-issued hornet for his birthday which he loved, he has a young lad who was very taken with it so I think it will get some use.
There is something intangibly wonderful about Tamiya stuff.
I may go mad and get a new one myself.
I never got one but my brother did, I remember going to the Manchester Beaties with my brother and dad, on the train, all keyed up and he bough a Hornet, it was one of those really great times that you never forget, my brother is six years younger so he was about 9 and I was 15, my dad was somewhere inbetween when it concerned remote controlled cars, it got built and thoroughly enjoyed for a couple of years, battered senseless and repaired numerous times.
My brother got older and wanted more power, he bought an Optima Mid Custom, onto which we put an E30 M3 body, that was even more fun, we used to run it 4wd, or removed the driveshafts either end to do front or rwd, I bought him an Electronic speed controller and we got another motor, took it to another level performance wise.
So, then I have my own kids, few years back I bought a Tamiya Dark Impact, was ok, never quite lived up to expectations, pre brushless, I spent a fortune on bits but it kept breaking, I got my eldest a Schumacher Menace Nitro which was great fun, here is a little video of me having a go with the dog joining in,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nPlweuX8iM
A chap at work has got big into them again, and this thread has made me dig the lads Menace out, left looking a bit broken and battered so going to do it up and get it , went halves with my parents and got my brother a re-issued hornet for his birthday which he loved, he has a young lad who was very taken with it so I think it will get some use.
There is something intangibly wonderful about Tamiya stuff.
I may go mad and get a new one myself.
S4mb0x said:
tigerkoi said:
I was going to point out how cute the three Hilux bouncing down the hill together was at the 2:00 minute mark, but I think instead your write up has pulled at the heart strings a little bit more. A fascinating read, thank you for posting!Thank you.
6th Gear said:
Best.Thread.Ever.
I'm in London soon. Where is the best place to buy the Tamiya RC cars in London?
Can't be far off it I'm in London soon. Where is the best place to buy the Tamiya RC cars in London?
In 1983 the best place to get a Tamiya RC car was Hamleys. They had a massive RC section with big TV's constantly showing vids of the cars in action. A 12 year old boys dream. No idea where to get them today tho'
I found the build thread for the award-winning Sand Scorcher I linked earlier on the Tamiya USA site.
I thought some of you might like to see it as it has much better pictures.
Build Thread http://www.tamiyarcforums.com/forum/showthread.php...
I thought some of you might like to see it as it has much better pictures.
Build Thread http://www.tamiyarcforums.com/forum/showthread.php...
And they are sitting on a Atom.............................YUM!!!
356Speedster said:
I totally agree that RC cars breed petrolheads! Starting with a Grasshopper, I've owned a fair few over the years. The Clod Buster stood out as being my first truck that would climb kerbs, with it's amazing 4 wheel steering. I had a Midnight Pumpkin with a modified motor running 8.4v, which was a giggle.
The habit has stuck and I've now got a pair of HPI Savages, both on CNC extended chassis... one is a Big Block 4.6 Nitro and the other is a twin 3S 22v lipo mental machine Flux, that is borderline uncontrollable!!! I've now added a drone, which will soon be fitted with a GoPro and FPV Boys never grow up, their toys just get more elaborate & expensive
The Nitro:
The Flux:
DJI F450 Flame Wheel Drone:
The habit has stuck and I've now got a pair of HPI Savages, both on CNC extended chassis... one is a Big Block 4.6 Nitro and the other is a twin 3S 22v lipo mental machine Flux, that is borderline uncontrollable!!! I've now added a drone, which will soon be fitted with a GoPro and FPV
Boys never grow up, their toys just get more elaborate & expensive The Nitro:
The Flux:
DJI F450 Flame Wheel Drone:
Here r mine
Super Champ - Very quick in 1982 and prone to cracking its metal suspension arms as they were made out of pig iron. Mine was beyond economical repair in the end.
Twin Detonator - tough as old boots and very quick for an electric RC - built mine in 2010 and its never been damaged and used hard
The VW Baja buggy got to be the coolest classic IMO. A schools friend of mine had the Toyota Hilux. It was an embarrassment it was so slow.
Super Champ - Very quick in 1982 and prone to cracking its metal suspension arms as they were made out of pig iron. Mine was beyond economical repair in the end.
Twin Detonator - tough as old boots and very quick for an electric RC - built mine in 2010 and its never been damaged and used hard
The VW Baja buggy got to be the coolest classic IMO. A schools friend of mine had the Toyota Hilux. It was an embarrassment it was so slow.
Edited by IMI A on Sunday 2nd November 16:18
Edited by IMI A on Sunday 2nd November 16:19
Was just watching some videos of the HPI Savage Brushless, seems they have got to the point where they are too powerful, will do a backflip from standstill if you arent careful, how come the brushless motors generate so much more power than the old style brushed ones ?
I really used to enjoy the optima mid Custom my brother had, with a road car body, I think somethign like that might be fun, I would prefer that it span excess power away rather than wheelying or flipping over, any suggestions for something like that, big power but more controllable ?
I really used to enjoy the optima mid Custom my brother had, with a road car body, I think somethign like that might be fun, I would prefer that it span excess power away rather than wheelying or flipping over, any suggestions for something like that, big power but more controllable ?
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