RE: Tamiya Monster Beetle: Driven

RE: Tamiya Monster Beetle: Driven

Friday 25th December 2015

Tamiya Monster Beetle: Driven

PH's Christmas review is ... an electric Volkswagen Beetle? Bear with us!



If you've been a good PHer this year you may be setting out the beautifully bagged and tagged parts of a Tamiya kit on the kitchen table and limbering up for a long night with a bottle of whisky and craft tools for company. Let's face it, the rest of the family will long since have lost interest and dozed off in front of the telly.

If Santa didn't deliver you a Monster Beetle let us instead provide you with some inspiration for how to spend those crisp tenners you hopefully found tucked into the Christmas cards from long-lost Auntie Ethel.

Well if you have two Macs spare...
Well if you have two Macs spare...
Back in September we reported on the re-issue of the iconic Monster Beetle to the Tamiya R/C range; not long after PH visited the Tamiya Plamodel store in Tokyo and got a little over-geeked by the sheer quantity of products and potential for a luggage allowance/bank balance straining spending spree. Apparently Mr Tamiya himself saw the story and was delighted. So when a Monster Beetle turned up ready built for a test we were, frankly, well chuffed.

That this coincided with our office move and some adjacent floorspace being cleared of desks with room to put the Beetle through its paces did no harm. Those in proper jobs probably have an image of media types like us spending all day doing stuff like jumping Tamiya radio-controlled cars over old Apple Macs ... and for once this was absolutely true. As you'll see from the video below the Monster Beetle's leaping abilities are pretty impressive, the artist formerly known as Racing Pete proving himself rather adept at piloting the car over our improvised stunt course. Mainly. In a classic 'one more go' scenario we may have pushed things a bit hard and one of the driveshafts kind of fell out. Oh, and we slightly decapitated the driver. Only a flesh wound and all that...

Last jump didn't go so well
Last jump didn't go so well
So for the semi-serious roadtest bit. The Monster Beetle is a likeable kit for its combination of amusing speed and knockabout fun. The 'proper' buggies are all very well but need space and a half-decent surface to really demonstrate their abilities. The Beetle's balloon tyres, meanwhile, are amusingly slidy on wet tarmac, meaning it'll happily drift and doughnut to your heart's content, though you learn you need to lift off and back it into the turn to really let the back end break loose. The rear-wheel drive chassis limits the hardcore off-road potential a little but the wide track stability of the fully independent suspension and sheer speed opens up terrain race buggies wouldn't dare tread. We tried a variety of surfaces and can report bumpy gravel car parks seem to suit it best. Chuck in a couple of ramps for good measure and you're sorted.

While pretty much true to the original 1986 kit there are certain concessions to modernity, such as an electronic speed controller. Remember when they were the height of sophistication? Standard kit these days it seems! Tamiya's requires a double tap for reverse, the first being a braking action. Takes a little getting used to but the ability to slow it down after landing a jump is handy. Bear in mind those big tyres can put a bit of leverage through the steering mechanism too - while tough the Monster Beetle isn't entirely indestructible.

For not taking itself too seriously but delivering seriously bucketfuls of fun the Monster Beetle is a welcome return and regression therapy well worth signing up for. Video games are all very well. But from the hands-on satisfaction of building it to the fun from seeing it spray gravel out there in the real world this is novelty value with real staying power. Now, is that battery charged up yet?

Watch the slo-mo video here.

 







Photos: Sim Mainey/Dan; video by Dafydd Wood

Author
Discussion

Lowtimer

Original Poster:

4,286 posts

167 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
It's a long time since I had a Tamiya electric buggy but they are excellent fun.

Coatesy351

861 posts

131 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
Ah half the fun is building it! Need a monster beetle to go with my lunch box clod buster and stadium blitzer.

dhutch

14,198 posts

196 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
That's excellent. I'm 28 and clearly remember a primary school freind having one if these first time round, cracking good laugh.

Roll on the next 80's tamiya re-realise!


Daniel

morgrp

4,128 posts

197 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
not their best chassis this one - for fun and toughness the WR-02 chassis from Tamiya is brilliant - I had the Wild Willy 2 but it comes in a nice variety of body shells now these days
I particularly like the Merc unimog:

m444ttb

3,160 posts

228 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
That Unimog looks fantastic!

I have a Monster Beetle (and a Blitzer Beetle) but both are going on eBay as 'spare or repairs' in the new year sadly. I've not done more than move them from my old childhood bedroom to current house in the last 20 years.

Stig

11,817 posts

283 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
As it happens, a Tamiya Monster Beetle is indeed what I got for Christmas smile

Adding to the Sand Scorchers, Buggy Champ and Vanessas Lunchbox already in my R/C car collection (oh, and Mustang GT)

Itsallicanafford

2,759 posts

158 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
Ah, bought one new in 1990...straight after the World Cup as a consultation prize...are they bringing back my very first RC car, the Subaru Brat?

Alicatt1

805 posts

194 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
Reminds me of Tamiya's Wild Willy M38 stunt vehicle, I built one around 1982, great fun and quite a detailed build.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WreZMQgwoQY

review of the kit
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Di-9_LHD0us

dr_gn

16,140 posts

183 months

Friday 25th December 2015
quotequote all
Bought a mint Tamiya Mad Bull for - ahem - the boy on Tuesday. Needs the body spraying, stickers applying, a new battery and maybe some decent dampers.

A Tamiya rc car makes it a proper Christmas...

Jester74

1 posts

101 months

Saturday 26th December 2015
quotequote all
These are great toys. Sadly, today most of them come as pre-built units. :-(
It took a a while to find a 'kit' for my son's bday for him to build... It inspired me to dig out my old Hornet that was gathering dust in my parents' loft. All it needed was a new r/c unit to come back to life! All the parts are still available today... :-)
Now of course I can buy the super fast engines that I so badly waned as a kid! ...and the batteries last forever these days!! (well, compared to the 6 or 7 mins in the 80s)

gl20

1,121 posts

148 months

Saturday 26th December 2015
quotequote all
Jester74 said:
These are great toys. Sadly, today most of them come as pre-built units. :-(
It took a a while to find a 'kit' for my son's bday for him to build... It inspired me to dig out my old Hornet that was gathering dust in my parents' loft. All it needed was a new r/c unit to come back to life! All the parts are still available today... :-)
Now of course I can buy the super fast engines that I so badly waned as a kid! ...and the batteries last forever these days!! (well, compared to the 6 or 7 mins in the 80s)
Guessing from your id that you're a year younger than me. Dad bought me 'my' first Tamiya kit in Xmas '85 and just happened to be a Hornet. He ever so helpfully built it for me - first test was with an unpainted body as we were that keen to give it a go (I remember the rear tyres bring a right bigger to get over the rims and needed boiling to soften them up a bit).

Within a year I was doing the building. Xmas '88 was the 959. Working headlights were great and it realistically modelled the perils of lifting off mid-turn!

ajhmini

133 posts

169 months

Saturday 26th December 2015
quotequote all
I must have been good this year - santa got me one too to play with my baby boy when he's old enough. Brought a tear to my dad's eye looking through the kit of bits remembering building the original one with me nearly 30 years ago

morgrp

4,128 posts

197 months

Sunday 27th December 2015
quotequote all
Itsallicanafford said:
Ah, bought one new in 1990...straight after the World Cup as a consultation prize...are they bringing back my very first RC car, the Subaru Brat?
The Subaru brat has been re-released - basically a frog chassis with no diff and nice body shell if I remember - the monster beetle was essentially a heavily modified frog/brat chassis if I recall correctly

rolo0151

260 posts

162 months

Monday 28th December 2015
quotequote all
Great memories of building a hornet with my dad. Same here with the unpainted body shell. Dad insisted on having first drive & then proceeded to crash it under the gate & burn the resistor out! Great times building them kits, got a manta Ray a couple of years later & did that on my own.

gl20 said:
Guessing from your id that you're a year younger than me. Dad bought me 'my' first Tamiya kit in Xmas '85 and just happened to be a Hornet. He ever so helpfully built it for me - first test was with an unpainted body as we were that keen to give it a go (I remember the rear tyres bring a right bigger to get over the rims and needed boiling to soften them up a bit).

Within a year I was doing the building. Xmas '88 was the 959. Working headlights were great and it realistically modelled the perils of lifting off mid-turn!

fastgerman

1,911 posts

194 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all
This is now an impulse purchase, thanks PH!

Questions:
- Looks like the re-release are available in DIY kits but come with nothing i.e. motor, speed controller, servos etc. Recommendations for a bundle including everything?
- upgrades to include metal bearings and a black motor still worth while?

ps - I'm about 20 years past the age of buying my last RC car :-) whatevs..

sortedcossie

539 posts

127 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all
I got my 7 year old lad the re-release of the lunchbox. Spent a weekend supervising him building it, then its had a few hours worth of use since.

crashley

1,568 posts

179 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all
My old Beetle is still sat in my bedroom at Dad's house. I really must dig it out. It probably hasn't been used in almost 20years, and i'm fairly sure will need a repair or two!

fastgerman

1,911 posts

194 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all


Research is a bad thing...

Can I claim this is for my 1 year old:-)

bullitinhead

291 posts

168 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all
fastgerman said:


Research is a bad thing...

Can I claim this is for my 1 year old:-)
All good just dont use that charger with that battery.


Bullit

Lowtimer

Original Poster:

4,286 posts

167 months

Tuesday 29th December 2015
quotequote all
Indeed, you need a LiPo charger for that.

There's nothing terribly wrong with brushed can motors for cars but I would have thought it's probably worth upgrading to a brushless motor and ESC these days.