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RETRO R/C

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About RETRO R/C

  • Rank
    Member
  • Birthday 11/22/1970

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  • Website URL
    http://www.darrynsretrorc.rtox.com

Profile Information

  • Location
    *5* DOWNUNDER
  • Interests
    R/C ANYTHING! Family and travel.

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  1. I have been collecting for a very long time now. I have seen this collecting craze grow from its infancy. Prices have never been cheap. In 2000 I was getting over $80 USD on average for a set of cam locks for the SRB series. When I first put one up - the Auction went over $200 USD. Now, they have been re-released. That’s fantastic and cheaper for everyone. What has changed significantly though is the interest in other brands - particularly racing orientated. Whether it be NIB or a clunker in need of restore - these cars are increasingly costly to repair - because parts are genuinely getting scarce. The increasing huge interest in vintage racing has only expanded demand. 3D printed parts are making running some of these cars again a reality for some cars that will likely never be re-released. People wanting to restore old race cars for the shelf want original parts to keep it faithful to the period. This drives up demand as well. The supply of genuine vintage parts will not go on forever. Hence the prices. “Showing off” On FB and Youtube- I guess it depends on your perspective. If you are looking at posts and enjoying seeing the cars, that’s all that matters. Often we mistake peoples genuine passion and joy in sharing their car for some sort of “peacock” behaviour. If you haven’t got one of what they have yett, or haven’t finished yours, look at it as something to look forward to sharing yourself when you do land your unicorn. Because if you put positivity out there - it tends to come back. That’s the way I approach it. Anyone sharing their pride and joy should be celebrated - as without it - our vintage hobby would not be expanding at the rate it has been. Tamiyaclub is a place to share as well, that’s what we wanted when we started it al those years ago. The passion runs deep with a whole lot of us for different reasons. Celebrate the positives - wherever they are posted. ✌️
  2. I have used RINKYA for quite a while. Very reliable and fast with good "storage" facilities if you are buying a number of items at different times. Cheers Darryn
  3. Have you thought about trying to dye the blue motor guard/bumper and other blue bits in black? That would really put an exclamation point on the restore! Either way - nice job mate! Underrated car. Cheers Darryn
  4. Actually technically, this isn't a hobby grade kit that you put together! Marui kits are is a hobby grade product Round two...🤣 (Fascinating research on Taiyo man, you always amaze me with some of the toy grade stuff. I would hazard a guess though and say there may have been "monster trucks" in the toy grade before this?) Cheers Darryn
  5. The Big Bear was indeed the first "Monster Truck"- they blazed a few trails. Marui did some pretty cool stuff back then, and some weird stuff as well - but that's what makes this era of the hobby so darn fascinating. Cheers Darryn
  6. Mate - that is an absolute CRACKER!! Go on - just run it on ht egrass! You know you want to! Cheers Darryn
  7. Absolutely adore this model! Great job on the resto mate! This is my NIB! (Just took a quick snap - low light - apologies for the quality)! Cheers Darryn
  8. Exactly, I did things to my hornet that should never be done to a car, and it didn't break. Wha they badword some people are doing I fail to understand. Would you take a real car off a 10-metre high ramp and land on flat road and expect it to survive? Marui was an excellent manufacturer, and in my opinion, only JUST below Tamiya in terms of component material quality. (though sometimes, that isnt a good thing either!) Cheers Darryn
  9. Please forgive the format of some of my posts, there are issues with my account - messing up the formatting and I cannot edit my own posts!!
  10. I love this post!! The Big Bear was the first "Monster Truck" - I remember vividly having the choice between this and a HotShot. I was already racing sometimes, but really loved the look of the Big Bear and I was itching for some fun. Holy Moses did I punish that thing! Anyone who says their cars were weak plastic must have some seriously astronomical expectations of that these cars are capable of. Yes - the design wasn't perfect - the front tyres hitting the body on full lock for one! The sound of those enormous tyres (for the time), making that unmistakable moaning spinning sound, they were such a great car. Going from full forward to reverse on dirt and the thing disappearing in a cloud of rocks and dirt and dust as those huge tractor hoops tore up the terrain. I have a few Big Bears, from NIB to restore for runner stage. Might have to miove it up the list of builds now - this has got me pumped to run one again!!
  11. To be totally fair, Kyosho were ahead of Tamiya in terms of engineering from the start. When they did do a scale model - it was extraordinary, but not to the level of Tamiya. Their cars, like Yokomo, AYK etc were heavily orientated towards racing. The Scorpions and to a lesser extent the Progress series were superior in handling and strength than just about any of the Tamiya's. The next time frame - Ultimas, RC10's, Schumachers, Losi and everyone else ATE Tamiya alive in the racing stakes. This is not a criticism, however, Tamiya was more the scale R/C company that cleverly marketed their products using "racing" as the catch cry. I am thankful to them for bringing so many people to the hobby and also especially to racing, where drivers soon realised that they were using a car that just wasn't quite up to the task. There were some exceptions, most notably the Top Force and perhaps for a brief period the Dyna Storm. I am merely saying that many look to Tamiya as a racing car - for the most part - they were not. They were an honest product that looked brilliant and went well enough for a basic club racer, but either you spent 4 times the cars cost on the questionable hop-up parts that marginally increased performance to the level of the other brands,and dozens of hours fettling and making everything efficient and smooth, or you simply bought a more race orientated vehicle. I am not bagging Tamiya - I love them and they make up a huge part of my collection, however many have rose coloured glasses, (I am not directing this at anyone), when it comes to the performance of these vehicles. I guess because I am a racer first - "enthusiastic collector" second, I tend to see things from a different perspective. ******************************************* My love for other brands (especially race orientated ones) is strong as I have been racing since 1977, I have seen so many things change but also stay the same. The ideas that were thrown around in those early days are still alive and well today as technology has caught up to the great minds that designed hop ups and cars back in the day. The layouts for the modern 4wd and 2wd are easy to trace back to earlier designs, you can see what they were trying to achieve, but the technology in moulding and machining and materials have allowed dreams to realisation. The collection of these more race orientated brands is sometimes very difficult and tedious to source as racers used their cars hard, and burn a lot of parts up - meaning there is less around. Racing is the single thing that exploded this hobby, and while Tamiya was a part of that, it was a relatively small part - especially at the higher levels of racing. Again, the "lesser" brands like Marui, Nichimo, Tamiya and one or two others early on laid some really nice scale, relatively high-performance creations. These brought people to race tracks where they either simply decided that racing wasn't for them, or they were captured and hooked and moved on to racing products. Thank god for the more scale companies, cause without them - I don't think we would be where we are today with this hobby. Sorry to go a bit off topic here and I certainly am not directing this at any one person (despite the quote) - as this is a topic I am quite passionate about - the preservation of racing history. Cheers Darryn
  12. Thanks for the comments and likes guys, much appreciated. These cars are among some of my favourites, as they show that other manufacturers were doing cool things in the more "scale" side of things, as well as some attempts at something that could be actually raced at a club day as well! Sadly, Marui, in particular, seems to get a bad rap for their plastics, I don't know why personally, as I hammer my Marui runner/racing cars, (what I consider to be hammering anyway), and they have been reliable and no weaker than Tamiya in particular. I think it is very much dependent on conditions (cold makes plastics, in general, more brittle) and the skill of the operator - this includes realistic expectations of what the cars can take.... Anyway, I will be going through these and other cars in my collection on my new youtube and FB pages soon. Cheers Darryn
  13. Well, after nearly two years, I have been re-united with the complete Marui and Nichimo off road collection. All are obviously NIB and very much cherished by me. Just thought I would share the joy a bit. Cheers Darryn
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