Ferruz

In these lockdown times, we all know social distancing is important. This is why today I decided to set up the Big Boss for safe, contactless food delivery. Lady Pistachia is very happy with the service so far. Took some time (not that long, actually) to get the Mallards aquainted with the noisy, bouncy moster truck. But once you bring out the food, everything is much easier to accept Expression of interest... Summoning up the courage... ...and yum!

The idea of a multipurpose driver figure is great. I too think that every vehicle should have a driver, especially vintage or nostalgia oriented ones. The issue I have with this item is that it looks a bit too cartoonish to me, with the wide face and even equipped with different "eye sets". I would love a multipurpose driver that looks more like the Buggy Champ or Thunder Shot one, I hope Tamiya will make it eventually

Gravel Shower today! It was fun, running the Manta Ray fast and getting it dirty again. Very happy with how it handles with the Optima Mid Special wheels+tires on dirt and gravel (had only tried this setup on ice and snow until the other day). One thing: every time it amazes me how this otherwise great chassis seems to be engineered specifically to rake up as much debris as possible while in operation. I couldn't get these many pebbles stuck in the honeycomb pattern if I tried

@junkmunki I love the yellow and white paint scheme on that Rough Rider. Gorgeous

One of the best pics of the Konghead I've ever seen👍

@Bwaaatch exactly these shows!! Thanks for the links to the series, instant rush of memories when I saw the cover of the first one. About the "running after them with a hockey stick" I'm amazed. As I've already said above, I've spent pretty much a decade racing mini4wds during my youth in Italy, but have never seen in done like that. The hockey stick thing would make more sense up here in Canada lol Come to think of it, last summer while I was in Italy visiting friends, we started chatting about my recently re-discovered Tamiya passion and a mate told me about some guys he knows that are all into hockey stick-racing mini4wd and about how physically demanding that is. I didn't pay much attention as I thought he was being confused with something else, as mini4wd were always raced on proper tracks, well looks like I was wrong I like their logo by the way. And I like even more the idea of mixing modelling skills with physical activity. At this point I wonder how the beefy hockey players we have up here would fare with a mini4wd in place of the puck 🤔

@mongoose1983 thank you! I may still use it for a future competition

@Mokei Kagaku thanks again for the info! About "everthing Tamiya", something else came to mind just now: the memory is blurry, but I'm pretty sure that some mini 4wd related anime cartoon existed and used to be broadcasted in Italy at some point. There were various teams and the competition was sheer and dramatic, with the kids having to run after the car and throw an arrow or something at it to shift gears (??) also the cartoon featured a lot of the odd dragon series cars... does it ring a bell?

Yes, as long as you seal if properly with a clear coat.

It's totally fine, I use acrylic on all my drivers and never had issues. Make sure you do a good job with the clear coat so that they are well sealed. I agree with @TurnipJF on the finish: you might wanna do matt on the driver's body and face, and keep the glossy for the helmet only

"Anytime, Baby!" It was a good -though way too cold- Saturday afternoon, spent in the woods with the Hornet and a book. Three battery packs and a couple hours of trouble free operation despite branches, rocks and many jumps at full speed, always a bonus when nothing's broken after the fun!

Got the car out again today after some time on the shelf. First spring run with camera bash! And some gifs from this last winter

Got the Manta Ray out at dusk for her first springtime run after the snow. Had fun, ran a couple packs, obliterated the camera

Fourth for black wheels. Better still, black wheels with an accent the same colour of the body (can be a decal, the locknuts, a smear of paint for decoration...). Small little details like that make a car stand out. I like the quirky colour you choose for the body, reminds me a bit of the TC forum banner

@Mokei Kagaku thank you for such valuable and detailed information. It's interesting to hear the insight of somebody that was involved as a distributor. I've always suspected that Mini4wd succeeded in Italy more than anywhere else in Europe but still, I didn't know to which extent. Reading about Tamiya being still active in the Mini4wd organized racing circuit gave me a rush of excitement, hey, gotta keep this one in mind next time we reconsider moving to Italy. Still, I wonder why that is. How come the public was so enthusiastic about it in one country only? I reckon European people aren't that different when it comes to such small, leisure oriented things.. or are they? Or maybe the marketing strategies were somehow different in each Country? Meh, maybe I'll never find out. As far as you know, are there any other countries where Mini 4wd got so popular or is it only Japan and Italy in the end? If memory serves me right I believe the Philippines where big on it at some point.

Nice models and beautiful art, I've never seen either. I too had one of those things, in fact, quite a few. At this point I feel like continuing the story, in a little off-topic blather. Soon after that kid showed up with one at school, the mini4wd thing really took off in my area (I'm talking Italy, early to mid '90s) and was a boom that lasted quite a few years. The great thing about them, they were relatively affordable (to be Tamiya!) and engaging to build for a kid. I remember the pride felt in putting my first one together at 6 or 7 years old and how much more valuable it was to me than my toy grade rc because I did the build. Soon everybody and their dog had one, or more, and many included me went into racing, as the mini4wd quickly evolved from the early RC based ones like this (my first) to something street track oriented like this All sorts of hop-ups started to be available and, all of a sudden, essential. It's hard at first sight to imagine more than a few tuning parts for such small car, so unless you know what I'm talking about you'd be surprised to see how endless the optional parts list is, in pure Tamiya style... they might have gone even further than with the RCs in terms of gorgeous and not-too-useful hop-ups, like light-weight body sets or hollow axles. Anyway, races for all levels, amateurs to "pro" were organised everywhere, from Hobby shop backyards to official Tamiya championships where each race was held in a different town. For whoever's wondering how you race such thing, here's a picture of some cars on track It's about making it go as fast as possible while not jumping off track. Now, talking Mini4wd to RC people is probably like praising snorkeling to scubadivers, but I swear that was a LOT of fun. For the price I reckon equivalent to a couple of 1 10 kits you could have your own portable garage+racing car, all inside one toolbox. The vibe at the races was great as people were really into it so for us kids it was like having your own Formula 1 mini team where you were the owner, mechanic and driver! And well I'm talking kids cause I was one, but I remember so many excited fathers hidden behind their toddlers' hands, whose task was barely to deposit the car into the track at the start! Other adults instead came up with their head high to race the car themselves, careless of judgement. Haha, happy days, really. Of course RC was always in my heart but the minis were tons of fun, I reckon I've been in and out of the thing for about 10 years, with fairly good results in a few championships. I still have my last racing mini 4wd along with the junior editions of the Fox and the Super Dragon, but they are at my parents' place an ocean away so sadly no pictures. There's one Mini 4wd I'd love to have now, the Hornet. I've never seen it in real life and as far as I know was never re released, if fact the price for a NIB kit on the auction sites is off limits.

@Juggular cool pictures (so random), thanks for sharing. I really like the one with the Porsche 956. It got me thinking, I realized that also in my case the first attraction towards RC buggies wasn't sparked by their own box art, but by their diminutive cousins instead: the mini4WD. All of the first models were based on their big 1/10 relatives, and the boxes boasted amazing artwork by the same artists. Back in early elementary school, one of the older kids showed up with a mini 4WD and that was definitely the first Tamiya thing I ever saw. Within that same week I was drooling in front of the hobby shop window at those boxes, depicting the famous off road Tamiyas in their Junior version. If anything, some of those box arts are even better than their bigger couterparts. One above all in my opinion is the BigWig: If the actual model was half as rad, I'd buy one.

Nice family build indeed! The driver looks cool, I would keep it! I put one on mine too, here's a link to the thread in the re release section if you want to check it out. There's plenty of room under the hood to make it fit

Yeah that's it. And it's probably what the marketing strategy of using art instead of a mere photo was about: a picture drawing is a much warmer impression that lasts in time, grows in you and triggers the imagination. Still I would try to figure out how to get closer to that look with the Shogun if I had one. Interesting to see the real one and box art together, the tires seem so much smaller in the real model.

Same here. I understand that Facebook can be a great tool, I respect people's choice to use it for whatever purpose and I know I'm missing out on all sort of deals. That being said, I was never on it and I don't have the slightest intention of ever joining. This TC community is just perfect for me with all its interesting inputs, stimulation and users eager to share their knowledge and passion. I really like the positive attitude that is always displayed in this forum. Besides, even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be balanced enough to have it: I can barely keep up with an email and a Whatsapp number without wanting to brake all these screens for good (and I'm not exactly a social butterfly). Live and let live, always, but as for me TC is all I need in that department.

@Hobgoblin that version of the Sonic Fighter looks great, I haven't seen it before

Looks cool, I don't think I've ever seen these. Are there any more of these comics and arts?

When you have a restoration project to start and you know you're going to move to another place for a while, make sure you time it right: -First off, start the restoration. Strip down the car to the last freakin' screw and put the parts in as many different canfy boxes as possible. Bonus tip: label them with dollarstore post-its so that the labels peel off and get all mixed up. -Now you can unsafely move to the other place. If possible get the boxes lost of further mixed up in the moving process. Turn them over too, for good measure. -Once you are in your new place you can get going on the restoration again, while you bask in feelings of loss and confusion trying to figure out what you left behind -Make sure you occupy as much room as possible and that you scatter the parts all over the place like a 2-y-old would do. You don't want a boring, streamline restoration work where all the components are on one single table and you don't have to go hunting around the house every time you need a different tool. -Stretch the contemplation phase of your work to the extent to which by the time you start actually working, it's too late and you have to go do something else.

I assume this has been talked about already and apologize in advance if there's another thread or if the topic is redundant. The allure of our RC cars comes in big part from the way they are presented in the box cover (this may have counted more as kids, but I bet not only). Beautiful paintings depicting them in action played a big role in our imagination and eventually in the choices of many of us. What's your favourite box art picture? -I mean only buggy/offroad cars and trucks, no on road cars for now -doesn't have to be necessarily Tamiya -only picture paintings or drawings, no photos. -choice to be made based on criteria such as the picture themselves or what they evoke, regardless of the performance of the cars portrayed. It's a hard choice as so many are awesome, but as for me my all time favourite buggy art is the Marui Shogun. The usual three quarter view is gorgeous, but there's just something about how the car is pictured, so shapely and captivating, and that stance! It reminds me of a buffed up bear leaping forwards, confident and tough. I think whoever drew that did a miracolous job. I don't own the model, but from what I could see from the pictures the actual car -while still absolutely gorgeous- doesn't really have the imposing stance suggested in the box art. Sometimes I dream that if I'll ever own one I'll maybe try to replicate it! Anyway here it is But besides the Shogun, there's a bunch of other box art pictures that I like almost as much. The Thunder Shot! For some reason I always loved this one, probably my favourite Tamiya box art. Looks intimidating and mysterious, I know it's nothing special but it always struck me. I find its proportions very convincing somehow The Frog, great perspective, so dynamic, quite perfect The Sand Scorcher, delightful in its curves and simplicity The Samurai: once again it's something about the stance... just glorious. The Nichimo Exceed! So outrageous, with what always looked to me like double rear wheels. And what about this guy? The Nichimo Midships looks more like a squashed toad on steroids, but still it's very impressive and weird, total odd-ball buggy. Awesome drawing really Last but not least, the Hornet! This box art just stuck to me since the first time I saw it as a kid, and is probably the first image that comes to mind if I think the word "RC" I often wondered how the Kyosho buggies would have looked had they been portrayed on box art paintings like their cousins instead of just a photo. Too bad it didn't happen, I'm sure they'd look jaw dropping. So, what's your favourite of all the box art pics out there?