F1 cars….

[Golden 169]

I’ve just built my first F1 car - cut out the body and sanded it - and will paint over the weekend. 

Am  completely hooked. 
 

What do you reckon on the chances of some re- releases? I’d love to build the Ferrari’s and a Nigel Mansell Williams. The Mercedes and obviously Marlboro Mclarens are epic too… hopefully Tamiya will tap into the back catalogue on these, or are they too niche - as pretty challenging to run them other than indoors (although mine will be shelf queens….) - so a limited market and appeal?

[bRIBEGuy 3032]

I'd love to see some F1 re-releases, and ideally, even some new stuff.  I'm hoping with the big resurgence in F1's popularity (1:1), that we might see Tamiya starting to focus a bit more on that genre of car.

[Golden 169]

Let’s hope so!

[bRIBEGuy 3032]

Have you seen the 2022 F1 that 3-Racing is supposed to be releasing?  I know it's not a Tamiya...... but oh man oh man oh man!

[WillyChang 1814]

Did 3Racing get around to do a dupe of the F201??  some of their parts sprues previously look so alike to T parts already. 
 

Schumacher dropped us the Icon2 recently too. 

trouble is google keeps confusing the Rc maker with Mick Schumacher the f1 driver 

https://www.racing-cars.com/rc-models-2/cars/icon-2-kit-k197?returnurl=%2frc-models-2%2fcars%2f

[Willy iine 18804]

Do any of these come with a dual deck CF chassis?   The Tamiya ones appears FRP.. (?)   not that it's functionally bad or anything, I prefer CF deck(s) where available...  

 

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

2 hours ago, Willy iine said:

Do any of these come with a dual deck CF chassis?   The Tamiya ones appears FRP.. (?)   not that it's functionally bad or anything, I prefer CF deck(s) where available...  

 

Yes some do. My TRF102 is carbon fibre as standard (all the TRF F1 cars are), and there are carbon fibre chassis available for the F103 and F104 models too. I get lost when it comes to the F104 though, there are so many versions so you need to do your homework on what comes with what.

And from other manufacturers, they are all race kits as far as I know and are all carbon fibre. I think Tamiya is the only one who makes budget F1 kits

[zuqbu 66]

As much as I want to see some F1 re-releases as well – with Formula One especially the situation is complicated and convoluted: You have multiple parties involved into each single car that all might (depending on contract) have a stake in the merchandise and licensing revenues: Teams, engine manufacturers, sponsors, the FIA, drivers (when they are popular enough to have their own brand), other particular individuals and of course the organising body: the formula one group. Once a licensing deal runs out, it's extremely hard to re-negotiate a new one unless you are willing to put a lot of money on the table. Liberty media, the company that owns the marketing since 2016 is rumoured to be extremely strict regarding merchandising to protect the exclusive deals some companies pay a lot of money for.

[futureworks 864]

On 6/1/2022 at 12:43 PM, Golden said:

What do you reckon on the chances of some re- releases? I’d love to build the Ferrari’s and a Nigel Mansell Williams. The Mercedes and obviously Marlboro Mclarens are epic too… hopefully Tamiya will tap into the back catalogue on these, or are they too niche - as pretty challenging to run them other than indoors (although mine will be shelf queens….) - so a limited market and appeal?

It's been quite a while since Tamiya have done any re-release models on the F103 chassis, apart from them continuing to release variants of the Tyrrell P34 6-wheeler. It was 2008 - 2011 when they released a few models, like the 15th Anniversary chassis kit (2008) and the F103 RM chassis same year, a few re-re body sets but without any original sponsor-type decals, and then in 2010/11 they released the Lotus 99T Honda and the McLaren MP4/6 (albeit not with the old sponsor decals, looking quite plain if I recall). There may have been others, but even the F104 chassis must be 10 years ago or more, and the TRF 101, 102 and 103 chassis hasn't seen a newer version emerge in the past maybe 4 years (TRF103 from 2018 I believe), so maybe about time Mr Tamiya..? n.b. The F201 chassis, being 4WD, never caught on as it was banned from competition (being 4WD), and it's now 20 years since these were last made. I think these were the most interesting from a build and hopping up perspective, and I have a couple NIB somewhere.

[Smirrors 186]

On 9/26/2022 at 3:35 PM, zuqbu said:

As much as I want to see some F1 re-releases as well – with Formula One especially the situation is complicated and convoluted: You have multiple parties involved into each single car that all might (depending on contract) have a stake in the merchandise and licensing revenues: Teams, engine manufacturers, sponsors, the FIA, drivers (when they are popular enough to have their own brand), other particular individuals and of course the organising body: the formula one group. Once a licensing deal runs out, it's extremely hard to re-negotiate a new one unless you are willing to put a lot of money on the table. Liberty media, the company that owns the marketing since 2016 is rumoured to be extremely strict regarding merchandising to protect the exclusive deals some companies pay a lot of money for.

I think if tamiya released some generic decals, the after market supplies like MCI can do the rest.

Back in 2008 I club raced with the F201. I remember these sounded quite nice.

Just this week I found a nicely upgraded F104 and a cheap F104 pro 2 and bought them to try out F1 again.

Wonder if Tamiya would release a TF104 as that would be the next logical addition right?

[Willy iine 18804]

I'd like to get one dual CF chassis F1 car to decorate my pretend RC shop..  I prefer Tamiya, but if TRF versions are like looking for unicorns, I am okay with other brands.. however, since I am only getting one unit, I would like it to be quite excellent..  what brand/model should I look for?  .. usual budget if that matters.  TIA! 

[Smirrors 186]

The older F104 Pro had dual CF decks. The newer Pro 2 has FRP decks. I think if you are not racing the Tamiya ones are quite nice options to have in a collection.

[zuqbu 66]

13 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I'd like to get one dual CF chassis F1 car to decorate my pretend RC shop..  I prefer Tamiya, but if TRF versions are like looking for unicorns, I am okay with other brands.. however, since I am only getting one unit, I would like it to be quite excellent..  what brand/model should I look for?  .. usual budget if that matters.  TIA! 

I have seen a two shops in eastern Europe that still have single units of the TRF103 in stock. Communication might be difficult and I don't know if they ship overseas though. How adventurous do you feel?

[bRIBEGuy 3032]

19 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I'd like to get one dual CF chassis F1 car to decorate my pretend RC shop..  I prefer Tamiya, but if TRF versions are like looking for unicorns, I am okay with other brands.. however, since I am only getting one unit, I would like it to be quite excellent..  what brand/model should I look for?  .. usual budget if that matters.  TIA! 

Have you seen the "2022 F1" that 3-Racing is working on?  Looks AWESOME... Not available yet, but hopefully later this year......

[Willy iine 18804]

56 minutes ago, bRIBEGuy said:

Have you seen the "2022 F1" that 3-Racing is working on?  Looks AWESOME... Not available yet, but hopefully later this year......

I have not, but thanks for the info.  I will definitely keep track.  

Ideally I would like to get one where a store makes a bundle with wheels/tires and body.. I just don’t know enough about these cars..but I want the best one you folks recommend* and just enjoy one car, not multiple cars.  

*obviously at a realistic price, not looking for unicorn..  

[futureworks 864]

On 9/28/2022 at 11:23 PM, Willy iine said:

I'd like to get one dual CF chassis F1 car to decorate my pretend RC shop..  I prefer Tamiya, but if TRF versions are like looking for unicorns, I am okay with other brands.. however, since I am only getting one unit, I would like it to be quite excellent..  what brand/model should I look for?  .. usual budget if that matters.  TIA! 

https://zabawki-modele.pl/en/tamiya-42318-trf103-onroad-podwozie-14665.html
https://zabawki-modele.pl/en/podwozie-trf102-on-road-tamiya-84432-13622.html

https://zabawki-modele.pl/en/podwozie-f104-verii-pro-tamiya-58534-12561.html

This is a shop in Poland, and they have their site in English and I’ve dealt with them before. Good time to take advantage of a strong USD and weakened Euro!

[Pylon80 2610]

On 9/28/2022 at 3:23 PM, Willy iine said:

I'd like to get one dual CF chassis F1 car to decorate my pretend RC shop..  I prefer Tamiya, but if TRF versions are like looking for unicorns, I am okay with other brands.. however, since I am only getting one unit, I would like it to be quite excellent..  what brand/model should I look for?  .. usual budget if that matters.  TIA! 

You can pm me if you would consider a F104 Ver.II Pro. That's the one that is based on the RM-01 design and roughly TRF spec, not to be confused with the F104 Pro2.

[Smirrors 186]

7 hours ago, bRIBEGuy said:

Have you seen the "2022 F1" that 3-Racing is working on?  Looks AWESOME... Not available yet, but hopefully later this year......

Whats the quality of 3-racing like these days?

Theres apparently a few players in the competitive F1 space. Seems like Schumacher, Exotek and even Xray are top of the game.

[Willy iine 18804]

9 hours ago, Pylon80 said:

You can pm me if you would consider a F104 Ver.II Pro. That's the one that is based on the RM-01 design and roughly TRF spec, not to be confused with the F104 Pro2.

Thanks for the offer, but I think I want to just get a new kit.  

[bRIBEGuy 3032]

14 hours ago, Smirrors said:

Whats the quality of 3-racing like these days?

Theres apparently a few players in the competitive F1 space. Seems like Schumacher, Exotek and even Xray are top of the game.

Not sure about quality... haven't touched any of their stuff in a long time.

The thing I like with the 2022 kit they are doing, it that it's more of a scale setup.  I love the Tamiya/Xray/etc stuff... but they are all just glorified pan cars.  To me, the technology and complexity is one of the things that makes 1:1 F1 cars so fantastic, so I find that it's a HUGE shame that more companies aren't doing closer to the real cars.  This is where the old 2018 FGX 3-racing kit was cool, along with the Tamiya TC01 chassis, and the new 3 Racing FGX 2022 F1.

There are bunch of prototype pic's on facebook, but here are some early renders: https://www.bigsquidrc.com/3racing-teases-scale-realistic-fgx-2022-f1-car/

[futureworks 864]

1 hour ago, bRIBEGuy said:

There are bunch of prototype pic's on facebook, but here are some early renders: https://www.bigsquidrc.com/3racing-teases-scale-realistic-fgx-2022-f1-car/

Now this looks like the most interesting F1 car I’ve seen for a veeeery long time!

[futureworks 864]

32 minutes ago, futureworks said:

Now this looks like the most interesting F1 car I’ve seen for a veeeery long time!

This design makes me think about the Tamiya f201, in particular when paired with the beautifully engineered graphite chassis conversion 3Racing produced two decades ago….https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=134794&id=16836

[Jonathon Gillham 4605]

17 hours ago, Smirrors said:

Whats the quality of 3-racing like these days?

Theres apparently a few players in the competitive F1 space. Seems like Schumacher, Exotek and even Xray are top of the game.

A few people were running 3Racing at my onroad club last year and they had a lot of DNF. However, 3Racing have released new cars in the last 6 months which are a leap forward in design, so maybe in quality too? The new TC is much more expensive than their old one, hopefully because its better...

 

2 hours ago, bRIBEGuy said:

Not sure about quality... haven't touched any of their stuff in a long time.

The thing I like with the 2022 kit they are doing, it that it's more of a scale setup.  I love the Tamiya/Xray/etc stuff... but they are all just glorified pan cars.  To me, the technology and complexity is one of the things that makes 1:1 F1 cars so fantastic, so I find that it's a HUGE shame that more companies aren't doing closer to the real cars.  This is where the old 2018 FGX 3-racing kit was cool, along with the Tamiya TC01 chassis, and the new 3 Racing FGX 2022 F1.

There are bunch of prototype pic's on facebook, but here are some early renders: https://www.bigsquidrc.com/3racing-teases-scale-realistic-fgx-2022-f1-car/

F1 RC are ruled by a very restricted set of class rules which all the clubs and competition stick to, so any new developments are legal to race. Its  a great class because an F103 can beat the latest XRay as they are different rather than better. The main advantage of a TRF/XRay etc kit is the parts quality and they don't break like an F104 will.

@Willy iine if you can find a TRF103 that would be my pick. No idea if its fast, but it comes with both types of rear end and also different battery mounting so you can change it up to see what you like. Theres something about TRF kits

[bRIBEGuy 3032]

1 hour ago, futureworks said:

This design makes me think about the Tamiya f201, in particular when paired with the beautifully engineered graphite chassis conversion 3Racing produced two decades ago….https://www.tamiyaclub.com/showroom_model.asp?cid=134794&id=16836

Yup, agreed!  The F201 was awesome....... but 4wd?  Come on Tamiya...... Don't get me wrong, I would still buy one in a heartbeat if I could find one that wasn't huge $$$.....

 

10 minutes ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

F1 RC are ruled by a very restricted set of class rules which all the clubs and competition stick to, so any new developments are legal to race. Its  a great class because an F103 can beat the latest XRay as they are different rather than better. The main advantage of a TRF/XRay etc kit is the parts quality and they don't break like an F104 will.

VERY true... but I don't race anymore, so I'm being selfish and just want it to look super cool.  

[Willy iine 18804]

Yeah, me too, just want something fancy to decorate my pretend RC shop.    I don't care to race any more.  I will drive it from time to time though as I drive all my cars.

I also plan to get a pan car too down the road (RWD and 4WD), for the sake of variety..