Tamiya Sand Scorcher

[Simon Bags]

Boy, am I looking forward to the Christmas break. I bought the 'new' Sand Scorcher about 6 months ago and realised a childhood dream to have one. Since then, all I've done is open the box, got excited about it, and put it away. I'm determined to get it done over Christmas, got the paints, even got a space picked out to show it off.

Ah, 41, living the life of an 11 year old. Love it.

Anyone else get one and finished it?

Simon.

[eccles]

I had one as my first radio controlled car back in the early 80's. Crashed it, smashed it and generally had fun with it until I retired it just after fitting it with a new body.
It sat in a cupboard at my folks house until a chap I knew who loves Beetles mentioned them and the upshot was I gave him the car and all my spares.
Then I noticed what they go for on ebay!!!!


Out of interest, do the new ones have a diff in them? (The originals had a solid back axle.)

[72twink]

I'm not sure if they come with a diff but I have seen a bespoke Tamiya diff for them sold on it's own - I can't remember if it was a spare or a Hop-Up.

[Anthony Micallef]

Im hopefully getting a Tamiya Hornet for Christmas, I cant wait!!

[dr_gn]

eccles said:

I had one as my first radio controlled car back in the early 80's. Crashed it, smashed it and generally had fun with it until I retired it just after fitting it with a new body.
It sat in a cupboard at my folks house until a chap I knew who loves Beetles mentioned them and the upshot was I gave him the car and all my spares.
Then I noticed what they go for on ebay!!!!


Out of interest, do the new ones have a diff in them? (The originals had a solid back axle.)

No diff:

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58452sandsc...

Unbuilt mint & boxed original '70's Sand Scorchers were going for stupid money a couple of years back...I saw one at over £1500 sold on EBay IIRC.

[72twink]

Ahhhhh it's a Hop Up.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Tamiya-84113-Ball-Diff-Sand-...

[sh010272]

I had a Tamiya F150 Ranger in the early 80's brilliant memories and i am just waiting for an excuse to buy the Beetle and step back in time. Sounds like you have Christmas all wrapped up. Lock yourself away in the back room an indulge in a Tamiya kit whilst the in-laws eat all the tangerines!

[dr_gn]

sh010272 said:

I had a Tamiya F150 Ranger in the early 80's brilliant memories and i am just waiting for an excuse to buy the Beetle and step back in time. Sounds like you have Christmas all wrapped up. Lock yourself away in the back room an indulge in a Tamiya kit whilst the in-laws eat all the tangerines!

That is a great idea: I got a Tamiya Frog for Christmas back in '83. The deal was I'd save up half the cost, the folks would pay the other half. IIRC correctly I didn't quite save half by Christmas, so it was left that we'd go and buy it after seeing how much cash I got for Christmas presents. Of course on Christmas day there was an enormous box, and a couple of smaller ones: Kit, radio, battery, charger, everything.

Best Christmas I can remember!

[shortar53]

I'm getting a Tamiya Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR Berlina Corse (christ, that's a big name) for christmas from the other half. received it off've t'internet, checked all the bits where there, then sent it off to the elves with the pink R/C mustang for the little princess...

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58465abarth...

Probably the most excited i've been for a christmas gift in years.

[dr_gn]

shortar53 said:

I'm getting a Tamiya Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR Berlina Corse (christ, that's a big name) for christmas from the other half. received it off've t'internet, checked all the bits where there, then sent it off to the elves with the pink R/C mustang for the little princess...

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58465abarth...

Probably the most excited i've been for a christmas gift in years.

There's obviously someting about radio controlled toys and Christmas...no matter how old you are!

[Simond S]

shortar53 said:

I'm getting a Tamiya Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR Berlina Corse (christ, that's a big name) for christmas from the other half. received it off've t'internet, checked all the bits where there, then sent it off to the elves with the pink R/C mustang for the little princess...

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58465abarth...

Probably the most excited i've been for a christmas gift in years.

where in uk are you?

[shortar53]

Simond S said:

shortar53 said:

I'm getting a Tamiya Fiat Abarth 1000 TCR Berlina Corse (christ, that's a big name) for christmas from the other half. received it off've t'internet, checked all the bits where there, then sent it off to the elves with the pink R/C mustang for the little princess...

http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/58465abarth...

Probably the most excited i've been for a christmas gift in years.

where in uk are you?

just outside of newcastle - what makes you ask?

[PeetBee]

he wants to help you play with your new toy!

[Curry Burns]

We just got a heap in, including the Sand Scorcher.

I must say, I've never built a Tamiya kit before, but cracking one open to have a look left me in awe and wanting to build one....just can't afford it at the mo.

Still trying to pry the control for my Bro-in-laws Escort Cossie out of his hands for a shot

[clonmult]

Curry Burns said:

We just got a heap in, including the Sand Scorcher.

I must say, I've never built a Tamiya kit before, but cracking one open to have a look left me in awe and wanting to build one....just can't afford it at the mo.

Still trying to pry the control for my Bro-in-laws Escort Cossie out of his hands for a shot

Prior to getting my sons Tamiya Lunchbox (christmas day can't come soon enough), I hadn't built anything more complex than an Airfix or Lego .... (student days and OHV engine rebuilds don't count).

It was quite a revelation - stupidly easy to construct, although I did take my time over each step. Everything fits together perfectly, and the finished thing looks absolutely stunning.

Just can't wait to see what my lad says when he realises what he's got on the day. I'm hoping that he'll prefer causing havoc with the lunchbox than playing in his bedroom on the XBox 360 that his mum and nan have bought him.

[MattOz]

I'm currently building a Sand Scorcher. I built myself a Hot Shot back in February, and my other half bought me the Sand Scorcher for my birthday back in October. Started it last week and hopefully have it done for Christmas.

[TheMighty]

My Sand Scorcher is sat in its box in the back bedroom whilst I collect all the extra bits I want to include in the build. It will hopefully have an aluminium chassis, front and rear box-art bumpers, twin alloy exhausts, roughrider sized centreline type alloys, alloy motor/gear covers and possibly some vintage plastic suspension if I can get my hands on all of the above via ebay!

For the time being I'll just be collecting stuff for my ongoing Juggernaut 2 project and running my new Traxxas slash 4x4

[eccles]

TheMighty said:

and possibly some vintage plastic suspension if I can get my hands on all of the above via ebay

As far as I'm aware there was no plastic in the suspension of the sand scorcher. It was pretty much a scale model of a real Beetles suspension in alloy, with just a few plastic cups for the ball joints.

[TheMighty]

eccles said:

TheMighty said:

and possibly some vintage plastic suspension if I can get my hands on all of the above via ebay

As far as I'm aware there was no plastic in the suspension of the sand scorcher. It was pretty much a scale model of a real Beetles suspension in alloy, with just a few plastic cups for the ball joints.

The scorcher indeed had no plastic suspension parts from the factory, but some of the original alloy arms were very brittle, so much so that the racers of the time created a demand for nylon/plastic replacement/hop-up parts which were subsequently created by companies such as CRP to address the issue. These have now become quite rare but do occasionally pop up on ebay and so are amongst the nicer vintage parts to have on a retro sand scorcher.
The scorcher also didn't have an aluminium chassis or shiney boxart bumpers or billet gear and motor covers or a twin exhaust or 1.75 inch alloy wheels or coilover shocks or a gearbox skidplate or or or....

Edited by TheMighty on Tuesday 21st December 10:04

[TheMighty]

eccles said:

TheMighty said:

and possibly some vintage plastic suspension if I can get my hands on all of the above via ebay

As far as I'm aware there was no plastic in the suspension of the sand scorcher. It was pretty much a scale model of a real Beetles suspension in alloy, with just a few plastic cups for the ball joints.

The scorcher indeed had no plastic suspension parts from the factory, but some of the original alloy arms were very brittle, so much so that the racers of the time created a demand for nylon/plastic replacement/hop-up parts which were subsequently created by companies such as CRP to address the issue. These have now become quite rare but do occasionally pop up on ebay and so are amongst the nicer vintage parts to have on a retro sand scorcher.
The scorcher also didn't have an aluminium chassis or shiney boxart bumpers or billet gear and motor covers or a twin exhaust or 1.75 inch alloy wheels or coilover shocks or a gearbox skidplate or or or....

Edited by TheMighty on Tuesday 21st December 10:05