markbt73

I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. Yeah, it's a struggle, and I don't have a good answer. All of this stuff needs to be sorted through and brought into some semblance of order, and I'm not sure what that looks like yet. But hey, if you figure something out, please let me know.

They did a DS?!? (Sees photo) Oh.

Once again: RC models aren't really what Tamiya does. Not primarily. I'm sure the RC business earns them a good chunk of money, but since the beginning, their forte has been excellent-quality scale models that are also designed to be easy to build. If you only know Tamiya from RC, and only judge them based on TT-this and DF-that, you don't know the company at all. Take, for example, this 1/24 scale Fiat Abarth 695SS. It's a mid-level kit in their 1/24 scale car series, with more detail than some, but less than the ones where they really go all-out. Yet the finish and quality of the parts trees is excellent, I'm sure the parts fit is precise (I haven't built an example of this kit before, but I've built plenty of their other 1/24 cars), and you know those amazing instruction manuals we all love so much? They do one of those for every single static kit they make, as well. And they sell zillions of them. It even includes metal emblems, which I'll need a magnifying glass to apply, when I get around to building this one. Standard RC box wrench for size reference. So no, I couldn't care less if their RC offerings are "slow" or "fragile," or if some Chinese sweatshop can crank out a million RTR toys (yes, I know this makes some of you upset, but opening boxes isn't a hobby, so nothing RTR is hobby-grade) with mediocre detail. I know what Tamiya is really capable of. In fact, if I have a complaint about Tamiya's RC lineup, it's that they aren't all more like the Bruiser or the Sand Scorcher: "Scale models suitable for radio control." I wish they'd banish Lexan from their lineup altogether. Or at least stop trying to replicate window trims and grilles with stickers. I want to see them crank the scale-modeling machine up to 11 and give us something like an old Pocher model, only radio-controlled. I wouldn't care if it cost a thousand dollars and went ten miles an hour - if it's excellent, it's worth it. Seriously, if you've never built one of their static kits, do. It's a treat, especially if you're used to low-quality AMT/MPC/Monogram kits, or super-fussy Fujimi or Hasegawa kits. Or don't. I don't care. I've got enough stuff to keep me busy for probably the rest of my life already, so I don't have to care about "the industry" at all if I don't want. I just find it frustrating how often I hear people on a forum dedicated to a brand complaining about how that brand does things, when they barely know what that brand does at all.

No plan for any of them. Just wanted to see how many complete rollers I could get out of them. They'll all almost certainly end up getting taken back apart and turned into something else eventually.

I'm pretty sure I've written this post before, but... Tamiya, being a privately-owned company with a huge business outside of RC, is in a unique position: they have the financial luxury to "throw things at the wall to see what sticks." Sometimes that means chasing trends; sometimes it means a six-wheeled monster school bus, or a tractor driven by a teddy bear. The scale model business seems to be successful enough to let them absorb a few flops here and there. They don't really seem to understand the RTR/basher market, so when they try to compete in that arena, the results are often laughable. But when you look at the segments of the hobby where they have been successful, they're seen as pioneers. Think of how many vehicle categories Tamiya either invented or popularized: entry-level buggies, monster trucks, touring cars, scale 4x4 trucks. All of Tamiya's early efforts in these areas were fun, simple, and charming. Other manufacturers quickly noticed what they were doing and brought out their own competitors, and they were nearly always "better," but they lost that charm. Tamiya's re-releases are so wildly successful not only because of nostalgia, but because even after all these years, there's simply nothing else like them. Any venture capitalist with connections in China can have some company whip up a "basher" RC vehicle. Ebay and Amazon are littered with them. It takes no effort, no imagination, and no love for the hobby to undercut Traxxas and Horizon with some hideous blob on oversized wheels based on blatant IP theft, and take the money and run. And when the basher craze dies out (which it will, there's only so many times you can break parts at a skatepark before it gets boring), those companies or others like them will be off chasing the next trend - and still not understanding, or caring about, the hobby. Will Tamiya's RC business last forever? Who knows? But think of all the companies that have come and gone, or been bought and sold, in the nearly fifty years they've been at it. I think they're doing great, and I think they'll be fine. And if not, there's always going to be someone who wants 1/35 scale plastic barnyard animals.

I thought about a spreadsheet, but I don't think I would keep it up. I have a feeling that a physical reorganization will work better for me. I'm a visual/tactile thinker; lists are just too abstract. Actually moving the cars around will help organize my thoughts better. I'm at around 50 complete cars, and piles of parts/components that could become another half dozen.

Like most of us, I've always divided my models into broad categories: primarily shelfers, easy runners, hard runners, projects, etc. But recently, I've found that a lot of models blur the lines of those categories; I have constant ongoing projects that are also runners, I have unfinished shelf queens that may or may not stay the way they are, and I have piles of parts that could become cars, but haven't yet. And I have a strong desire to tear stuff apart and modify it, but I know there are some things I want to keep intact (at least for now). So today, I came up with a new set of categories, and I'm currently re-classifying all my RC models into these... Safe: These are the cars that are either finished and I'm happy with, or unfinished but I know what I want to do. Some will get some minor tinkering and improving here and there, but they'll stay broadly the same. Some are shelfers, some are runners, but all are safe from being messed with. Safe Chassis: These models are ones that I'm happy with mechanically, but haven't settled on a body/wheels/tires/overall theme for. I want to keep the basic core as it is, but give myself the freedom to change the details as I see fit. Fair Game: These are everything else. Some complete running cars, some piles of parts, even some shelfers, that I'm willing to sacrifice if I get a great idea for them, or cars that I already know I'm not happy with. Not all of them will get taken apart and made into something else, but they could. I absolutely don't want to sell anything, and it's going to be a weird year, so I probably can't buy anything (except a few odds and ends as needed). But I think getting them all sorted into these new categories will make me look at things in a new way, and keep me happier with what I have. I'll post the list here, once it's finalized...

The Axial Blazer is... not good. I have one, and the proportions just aren't right. Wrong generation, anyway. Better to spend the money and start with an RC4WD hard Blazer body, which should be the correct wheelbase.

OK, here's an interesting notion... The original BFG Chevy Blazer on which the Blazing Blazer was modeled was actually 2WD, with long-travel independent front suspension. The Tamiya Blazing Blazer had a wheelbase of 287 mm. The BBX is 2WD, with long-travel independent front suspension, and a wheelbase of 283 mm. BB-02 = Blazing Blazer 2? C'mon, Tamiya; you know you want to...

You know what I want to see? A Striker re-re. Why? Why not?

Kuwait, if memory serves. I have a set of his Optima tires; they're really nice quality.

Honestly, none of those are a good choice for casual driving. I think you need an intermediate step, something 4WD, more complicated than the Grasshopper but not as complex or fragile as those others. My suggestion: Boomerang/Super Sabre or Thundershot/Thunder Dragon/Fire Dragon/etc. Any of these will drive rings around your Grasshopper, and since they're all still sporadically in production, parts aren't hard to find. Any of them will need a set of bearings added (thanks a bunch, Tamiya, get with the times, will ya?), but at least that isn't nearly as expensive of an upgrade as it once was. If you really have your heart set on one of the cars you mentioned, go for the Top Force. It's by far the most durable design, and because it shares parts with a lot of other Tamiya vehicles, replacements or upgrades are easy to find.

It's definitely something that is on my mind from time to time. I just turned 51, but my father died last year at only 77, and I lost my mother at age 56, when I was only 30. Both died of cancer. I'm OK so far, but I know the odds are not in my favor. I try not to dwell on it, but it is certainly something to think about. My eyesight is not what it used to be, I know that. Especially up close. I need reading glasses for any sort of close-up detail work now, and my eyes get tired more quickly than they used to. My manual dexterity has slipped a notch, too. Arthritis is getting to me. I will need a hip replacement at some point, I think, and maybe a knee as well. I'm not a motorcyclist, but I do have an old MG sports car, and it's not as easy to get in and out of as it once was, that's for sure. As far as what it means for my model cars, it's simple: Use everything up. Don't leave anything for "later." If I feel like building a kit, I build it. If I want to cut up a model to turn it into something else, I do it, and I don't worry about "ruining" it or making it lose "value." They're just things. The value comes from the enjoyment they give me. My goal is to leave behind nothing but a bunch of old junk, well-used and well-loved, which is to be given away to whoever wants to try fixing it up, or wants it as a memento of me.

The most frustrating part is the parts-gatekeeping. This thing opens up so many possibilties for scratch-builds and modifications: hot rods, vintage dry-lake racers, even 1920s-30s Grand Prix cars. It's a really exciting prospect, and it looks like they did a really good job of engineering it. I'd probably end up buying 2 or 3 chassis' worth of parts over the next few years, half a dozen wheel/tire sets alone, if it was all available separately. But if they want to keep it locked up, and only sell complete ready-to-run toys to a bunch of collectors who have no real interest in the hobby, then forget 'em. (This isn't just a Traxxas complaint, by the way; I take issue with Redcat for a lot of the same thing, and most scaler/crawler companies too.)

Disgustingly overpriced, limited availability, RTR only, no parts available to build your own from spares. Admittedly very cool, though.

What's this? A fourth roller? OK, just barely. But hey, I could put a motor, ESC, and receiver in it, and it would drive. Not very well, I imagine, but still. So that makes four complete, functional cars out of that mess, with the addition of some wheels and tires and a few leftover parts I already had. With the mongrel Mud Blaster, that makes five cars to tinker with and improve this year, for less than the cost of one of the pricey re-res I was considering. I'm not sure any of these will stay in the form they're in now, as I get more ideas, but that's the fun part, seeing what they could become. This is definitely my favorite aspect of the RC hobby, and I'm glad I discovered that before I dropped any more money on stuff I wouldn't enjoy as much. Cheap, ugly, simplistic, who cares? I love 'em.

Back when I had mine, I kept a special screwdriver in the glovebox just for poking into the holes to let the water out. Every time I drove it after a rainstorm, I'd hear water sloshing around in the rocker panels, and wherever I parked, I'd open up the drains with the screwdriver and let it pee all over the ground. Once I did this in a grocery store parking lot, and a concerned-looking passerby saw the water coming out and said "Hey, I think your car is leaking something." "No," i replied, "it's just marking its territory." Then I had to explain what was really going on...

Stuck at home due to an ice storm, so I'm in my workshop messing around with stuff. Could be worse, I suppose. Put this beastie together out of parts from that parts lot, and a few other things I had sitting around: Lunchbox chassis, 3-shock rear end, CRP FX10 front end, cheap eBay shocks. Ground clearance and suspension travel are enormous, but so is bump steer. Gotta play with the geometry some more.

It has always been cars for me too. I have yet to find a single photo of myself, except for the nice staged family photos, when I was little in which I don't have a Matchbox, Corgi, or Hot Wheels car in my hand. Usually two, one for each hand. I started building models when I was about eight, and that was nearly all cars as well. My dad was into cars, but also airplanes, so I built a fair number of airplane models. But I was never interested in military stuff, never played with guns, didn't have a GI Joe or any of that, and way too many airplane model kits are of military planes. You actually have to look to find civilian plane models. Besides, I found a book on hot rods in the school library, dicovered the works of George Barris and Ed Roth and Gene Winfield, and lost interest in airplanes after that. Not enough chrome, and the wheels were too small. But I also was exposed to British and Italian sports cars from a young age, so I loved them too. And off-road trucks. And dune buggies; a neighbor had a VW Baja bug that I worshipped (a real rarity in Illinois, hundreds of miles from any beach). I just loved 'em all. Still do. RC cars were a natural progression, model cars I could drive around. Real cars have been part of the equation since I was 16, starting with a 1979 VW Scirocco. I never made them a career, but looking back, I should have. Not necessarily building/fixing/driving, but writing about them. If I'd had any sense at all I would have gotten a journalism degree and gone to work for Road & Track or AutoWeek. Not sure why that didn't occur to me as a thing to do. It's funny to hear you guys talk about American V8s; they're so common over here, even these days, that we don't even think about it. Full-size pickup trucks have been the best-selling vehicles over here for decades, and while smaller engines are becoming more common, a cast-iron overhead-valve V8 is still the rule rather than the exception. "Truck guys" are always disappointed when they hear my Chevy truck "only" as a six-cylinder in it, and ask me when I'm going to swap a V8 in. (Never; why would I? It's a tool, not a toy.) But my daily driver Chrysler has a 5.7 liter Hemi V8, and while it's on the high side for a four-door sedan, it's still the smallest and lowest-output Hemi that Chrysler makes. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone would want or need more; I can invoke the traction control at will on dry pavement. (Haven't tried turning it off yet; I'll save that for when it needs new tires anyway.) TL;DR - It's cars, it has always been cars, it will always be cars. Cars, cars, cars, and more cars.

I voted Boomer, because I know it best. It steers and handles better than the Hotshots, and the open-top tub is far easier to work with. I suppose the Thundershot etc are technically "better," but the Boomerang has always struck me as a 4WD companion to the Hornet: cheap, tough, and simple. Its only real drawback is that dumb battery retaining pin that doesn't stay put after a while. As was mentioned, it's a shame the Bigwig re-re hasn't made another appearance, because that's the gem of the vintage-syle Tamiya 4x4s. And it was a serious bargain, too, with full bearings and a much improved steering and suspension setup.

Uptade on the Grasshopper/Hornet/Lunchbox mess. I now have a roller Hornet and a roller Grasshopper 2! Decided I was never going to get the paint off the tubs, so I just went for it. GH2 has a hodgepodge of oil shocks, a 380 motor, and re-re FAV wheels and tires. Hornet has a 540, and those new Tamiya wheels to fit, with Thundershot/Falcon/Striker rear tires on all four. Fit like a glove, and tight enough to not need glue. I think I'll be getting some more sets of these wheels when funds allow; I really like them for these cars. Not sure what I'm doing for bodies on either of them yet.

Here's a body-off shot, as it sits now. The front suspension uprights/hub carriers are all grease-soaked and cracked; I think from 30 years of shock oil leaking on them. And the front shock tower is cracked as well. I think I'm going to look for old JG shock towers for it eventually, I seem to remember those as being nice and rigid, and making the rear shock geometry work better. The transmission should be OK with that Thorp diff; no side loads to push the plates apart. I robbed the painted silver wheels off my Blackfoot, and put a set of unused CEN monster truck tires on them. Much better. It'll do for now, at least. And the Blackfoot looks pretty sharp with the Monster Beetle rims, so I think I'll just leave well enough alone for now.

We had a snow day yesterday, so I spent some time with that ORV parts lot. A lot of the plastic parts are brittle or have stripped holes, and I was about to despair, until I realized I have a brand-new ORV chassis in a configuration I don't like all that much. Goodbye Brat; hello Mud Blaster! There's still a lot to do, and a lot of parts that will need replacing before it gets run very much. And obviously I still need to do all the detail work on the body. But I like the look of this a lot more than the standard Brat; if it's almost but not quite scale, it bugs me, but go silly and it's cool again. Sort of like the "uncanny valley" of scale models. Specs so far: gray re-re Brat chassis, re-re gearbox housing with Thorp diff, dogbones, and axles, Speedworks Monster Mash motor (19t single, I think?), original Monster Beetle front uprights and shocks. Has one of those cheapo 996 servos in it (I didn't buy it; it came with the Grasshopper lot) which I'll use until it fails. ESC will be a Dynamite Tazer so I can run lipo batteries in it. Wears a mishmash of wheels and tires right now, but I'll think of something else to put on there. I have a decent set of original Monster Beetle wheels, just not sure how I feel about the gold.

I'd say you're on the right track already. Most Tamiya kits (except fancier models like the BBX) should include a basic RS540 (or "Torque-Tuned" 540) motor and 1060-style ESC, and they're both just fine. Fast enough to throw some dirt around in a vacant lot, easy on the mechanicals of the car, and low power requirements so you get nice long run times. Add in a basic Futaba S3003 servo, and you've got a perfectly good electronics setup for 90% of Tamiya's catalog. I'll leave the radio/receiver recommendations to others, because no one else here seems to like my "mount the receiver on Velcro and move it between cars" method.

Well, I've had a wild week, not in a good way, and the weekend probably isn't going to be all that relaxing. I found out on Monday that the parent company that owns the print shop I work at is shutting us down to consolidate the business at another shop. I'm out of a job as of February 1st... So today, I'm going in briefly in the morning, then I have a job interview at another shop, and then I'm going to rush home to try to beat an impending snowstorm. Technically I would have time to go back to work after the interview, but I just don't feel like putting in a lot of effort for a sinking ship like that. Saturday is likely to be a snow day around here, not much to do except hang out and see what the weather does, and of course look for more jobs. Perfect time to spend some quality time in the workshop, assuming we don't lose power like we sometimes do during storms. There is a drawback to living in a heavily forested area; power lines and trees don't always mix. Hoping to get that big pile of ORV parts sorted and cleaned. Sunday the snow is supposed to stop, but the temperature isn't going to get above freezing for at least a couple of days. I'm hoping there isn't too much to shovel.