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Saito2

How many were tempted by other manufactures BITD?

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While I wasn't oblivious to the other manufacturers' offerings BITD, I don't think I considered them much. I was pretty Tamiya faithful and likely would have been strictly so, had money been no object. For example, if someone paid the tab on any 4wd buggy for me to race with, I would have gone straight for an Egress, for better or worse.

This isn't to say I didn't stray, but upon reflection, every time I did it was because the "other brand" car was a "good deal" I couldn't pass up. I desperately wanted a Wild Willy but they were gone from the shelves by the time I'd saved my money. I spied a Marui Toyota Land Cruiser kit (which I thought of as being somewhat similar) for a rather cheap $49.99 and grabbed it. A dirt cheap closeout sale tempted me into buying an Aristocraft Dolphin as my entry into 4wd buggies. The results from straying from Tamiya? Well, the Marui was difficult to find a 5 cell 6v pack to fit its battery box and its gearbox kinda melted (an issue that MIP used to make a repair for). The Dolphin shattered a front knuckle on its maiden run. Ouch. I did attempt to grab a Kyosho Maxxum at Tower on closeout but was too slow and missed out. My experience with Tamiya was basically flawless. Some things broke or wore out on my buggies but I always managed to get parts. I guess I got lucky in some respects.

So, aside from the occasional temptations, I was very much in the "world" of Tamiya in my youth. Keeping in mind, that I was pretty much on my own back then, as I am now. I was the only kid who saved long enough to buy hobby-grade RC in my neighborhood which put me over the average Radio Shack, Tyco and Nikko vehicles of others. RC Car Action magazines and a jaunt to the hobby shop while observing some races from time to time was the only person to person contact I had, and those were all adults. Hobby shops themselves were all loaded with Tamiya product with a few RC10s and Kyosho products sprinkled in. Something like a Schumacher or Yokomo? Forget about it. Those were fantasy cars I saw only in the magazines.

So, how varied was your exposure to all the manufacturers back then? Was Tamiya just one of many to consider or was it more dominant?

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I had a Kyosho Ultima and an Ultima Pro. They were great cars, but I missed the 4wd...

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I didn't have much money back then so I only bought cars that were familiar.. which were all Tamiya.   My buddy's dad had a collection of Kyosho cars like the Optima and such, RC10, etc, but those were 'for adults' from a kids point of view.   

So nearly 40 years later I tried my first Kyosho (besides a couple of MiniZ's) and it was a disasterous build for me.  ..so the RC gods are telling me to just stick with Tamiya because Kyosho's are still for adults only.  :lol:

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Heh. I've never been brand-loyal. I had a Grasshopper and a Blackfoot, and then my brother got a Marui Big Bear that he barely touched, so he gave it to me. Then he tried again with a Falcon, same result. Not long after I found an AYK 566B Super Trail at a garage sale, assembled but never run, and stole the Falcon's radio gear and MSC for it, then traded the Big Bear to a kid down the street for a badly-abused Kyosho Optima.

After that I got into indoor on-road carpet racing at a local track and bought a Bolink Eliminator Sport (cheapest direct-drive car I could find) and it was all Bolink and Associated 1/10 and 1/12 pan cars for years. I didn't touch another Tamiya until the mid-90s when touring cars became a thing.

Even now, my collection is 15 Tamiya, 6 Kyosho, 3 Associated, and 12-13 cars from other manufacturers.

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My first nib kit was Mardave Mini stock , but I also bought a second hand Kyosho Big Brute bitd .

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3 hours ago, Willy iine said:

I didn't have much money back then so I only bought cars that were familiar.. which were all Tamiya.   My buddy's dad had a collection of Kyosho cars like the Optima and such, RC10, etc, but those were 'for adults' from a kids point of view.   

So nearly 40 years later I tried my first Kyosho (besides a couple of MiniZ's) and it was a disasterous build for me.  ..so the RC gods are telling me to just stick with Tamiya because Kyosho's are still for adults only.  :lol:

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Nice !!

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Very naive but in the early 80’s I didn’t realise there were any other kit manufacturers. The RTR tycos etc ( apologies to all you Tyco fans) we’re all toys. I do remember Mardave stock cars and minis but they were for racers not kit builders like me. Then I moved away from the hobby. Got quite a shock as to what I’d missed in the middle🫤

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First RC car I ever saw in the flesh was an XR311 one of the "bigger kids" had, must have blasted (seemed like it at the time) for 5 minutes and then the battery died. Then a kid a school got a Rough Rider. Then the local LHS (Beaties) had videos playing of entire SRB range plus others. I really did think Tamiya were the only RC car company on the planet.

Then I met a guy who's dad was into RC "everything" and had a couple of cars, both loud nitro.Mardave Marauders. Oh how he laughed at my loving of Tamiyas, but he kindly told me about the rest of the RC car world, which was an eye opener at the time.

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My fun cars where Tamiya, but my race cars where kyosho (Ultima & Mid Custom), night and day better race cars, although never ran the Egress....🤔

Much the same today tbh, Tamiya are my goto, when out for a fun drive with the kids, but I now run Schumachers and a Yokomo truck on the track.

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I wish I had enough money to be brand loyal growing up.... ha ha ha ha!

I was very "Tamiya focused" (obsessed?) as a child, but the best car we could muster was a Tyco Turbo Hopper.  A buddy of mine came from a family with a bit more money (and his dad raced RC), so I lived vicariously thru them.  He had a Hotshot and a Porsche 959, and his dad had a number of Tamiya pan cars, and a ClodBuster.  I eventually saved up enough for a Nikko Big Bubba, and in the mean time watched my Uncle pick up a Midnight Pumpkin and a Clod Buster.  By the time I had saved enough money for my first Tamiya kit (Stadium Blitzer), I had pretty high expectations of the car and the brand... but by this point I was also exposed to other stuff.  I loved my SB, but it was fragile, and couldn't even sort of perform with the Kyosho and Traxxas stuff that my friends were now running.

So I ended up leaving Tamiya behind and getting into other brands (HPI, Traxxas, Losi, etc...) for bashing and racing.  And while it was fun (and many of the cars were better), it just didn't have the same appeal to me.  SO ya.... tempted and forced to go with other brands for various reasons "back in the day".  Today I have a mix of cars, and am fairly "brand open".  I still LOVE Tamiya, and it's quirky kits are still my passion for both building, collecting, and driving.  BUT... no part of me is convinced that they are "better"... just different.  I like different...

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I wanted a Tamiya BITD, but somehow a Losi was cheaper at the local hobby shop and I got talked into that.  Did Tamiya kits sell for MSRP BITD?  Did it vary based on seller? 

I was a poor kid and only had one car.  Which was expensive enough as a kid. 

I might have stayed brand loyal to Losi now, but they don't want to make/sell part to old cars.  Tamiya sort of does.  In fact, with the 1/16 JRX2 coming out and Losi's poor record of long term parts support, I might end up buying my first Traxxas.  (Tell a 90s kid that Traxxas would be the best at anything and watch their head spin!  But they have come a long way while I was away from the hobby for 15-20years.)

I've stayed loyal to Ford for cars all of my life.  But they stopped making sedans, so I guess they recently fired me as a customer.  :(  (Hopes and dreams of a Thunderbird coming back are gone.) 

 

Edit: if only Losi would come out with like a special edition all Aluminum JRX Pro?  Ha.  Oh well. 

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13 hours ago, DTSCB said:

I've stayed loyal to Ford for cars all of my life.  But they stopped making sedans, so I guess they recently fired me as a customer.  :(  (Hopes and dreams of a Thunderbird coming back are gone.) 

Does Ford even make any cars outside of the Mustang for the US market anymore. I have a deep seated hatred for sport utilities, CUVs and big pickup trucks used as daily drivers when the owner never needs or uses one, lol.

13 hours ago, DTSCB said:

I might end up buying my first Traxxas.  (Tell a 90s kid that Traxxas would be the best at anything and watch their head spin!  But they have come a long way while I was away from the hobby for 15-20years.)

There's plenty of criticisms for Traxxas (and some of its warranted) but in the States, parts availability is not one of them.

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10 hours ago, Saito2 said:

Does Ford even make any cars outside of the Mustang for the US market anymore. I have a deep seated hatred for sport utilities, CUVs and big pickup trucks used as daily drivers when the owner never needs or uses one, lol.

There's plenty of criticisms for Traxxas (and some of its warranted) but in the States, parts availability is not one of them.

Ford only makes the Mustang, a coupe, in the US.  No sedans (4 door and a trunk).  No hatch backs (sedan turned station wagon) either. 

They make small "crossover" SUVs, that handle like shopping carts in my opinion.  They want to "upgrade" me to a SUV.  AHAHAHAHAH.  No.

I was ruined by the '91 Ford Thunderbird I had.  Large coupe, low ride, RWD with independent rear suspension.  That car, even when old, handled so nice.  That car just wanted to go fast.  I also had a Ford Fusion, '09.  FWD, but effectively has Short arm/long arm suspension all the way around.  It was no Thunderbird, but was about as close as I could get with FWD. 

Can you share some of the criticisms of Traxxas?  I have a friend who recently got an XMAXX and a Sledge.  They are monsters in 1/8 scale.  He loves them. 

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It was tamiya all the way for me back in the 80s we (me and my cousin) went every Friday night to the local school hall club and we had a mixture of rc10s, Optimas, etc also a marui ninja I remember superb looking:wub: me I had a hotshot and before that it was a Ford ranger my cousin had a grasshopper followed by a wild one and we raced all them against said rc10s Optima's and the likes! Can you imagine doing that these days at clubs? and no such thing as modified class stock class it was just turn up and race whatever you have:D bit like scalextric you can race bart Simpson on a skateboard with Lewis Hamiltons F1 Mercedes! Now I'm interested in rc cars as a whole not just tamiya although tamiya is in the centre of everything I have thats rc!

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8 minutes ago, moffman said:

It was tamiya all the way for me back in the 80s we (me and my cousin) went every Friday night to the local school hall club and we had a mixture of rc10s, Optimas, etc also a marui ninja I remember superb looking:wub: me I had a hotshot and before that it was a Ford ranger my cousin had a grasshopper followed by a wild one and we raced all them against said rc10s Optima's and the likes! Can you imagine doing that these days at clubs? and no such thing as modified class stock class it was just turn up and race whatever you have:D

That sounds like heaven.:)

48 minutes ago, DTSCB said:

I was ruined by the '91 Ford Thunderbird I had.  Large coupe, low ride, RWD with independent rear suspension.  That car, even when old, handled so nice.  That car just wanted to go fast

I still have an '88 Fox Mustang I daily drive in the summer on nice days. Newer stuff doesn't appeal to me. I'm with you there.

49 minutes ago, DTSCB said:

Can you share some of the criticisms of Traxxas? 

Personally, I've never had an issue with them design-wise. I feel they're tough with tons of parts support in the States. Most of the criticisms come from them as a business (and not meaning with the customer). Traxxas, with their almost exclusive RTR line-up of crazy go-fast machines has been accused of dumbing down our hobby (once, primarily kit builders). They go crazy with copyrights on features that, at times, they didn't even invent, often bringing lawsuits against of other companies in our hobby. This extended as far as going after Hobbico, Tower Hobbies parent company, which some believe was the final nail in the coffin. Hobbico went bankrupt (though they had issues extending beyond their troubles with Traxxas) and Tower basically got scooped up by Horizon Hobby. So, its not really Traxxas' products, parts availability or customer service that's an issue, but rather their business practices.

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Define other manufacturers?:lol: My first NIB car was a Cox Gallop. Yup, go find that one. I believe this was actually a rebranded Kyosho, comparable to the Hotshot, but actually barely in my price range. Sold my Honda ATC 110 three-wheeler, because my parents moved from 6 acres in the country to a more urban neighborhood .15 acres, to buy it. Then I traded the Gallop for a Wild Willy, which I destroyed from use. Otherwise I was too poor to do anything other than stare at the Tamiya RC guide and dream. Most of my adolescent cash went to a Tony Hawk skateboard and upgrades until I got my drivers license and my life changed. Always dreamed of the Bruiser, finally bought a built unit 21yrs later, which I still have, and just bought a NIB Bruiser so I can finally check that box. If my kids like building their Hornet and Grasshopper, I’m thinking of getting and building as many 1985 models as they like. Probably a Hotshot and Frog next. Which ones would you get?

 

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My very first "hobby grade" r/c car was a Bolink Digger, because i couldn't afford the Tamiya kits at the time...  everything since then has been Tamiya

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I guess I am not brand loyal. :D My first rc was the Frog. I have cars from Tamiya, Associated, Kyosho, Losi, Academy, BoLink and a couple other weird ones. I always wanted an AYK. Who knows, maybe I'll get one of those Schumacher Cougars?

 

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T don’t sponsor my habit, so why is there any need to limit to T products? :blink:

Associated

PB

Delta

Kyosho

Serpent

Garbo

ABC

Yokomo

HPI

etc etc etc :) all good toys 

 

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Forgive me TC, for I have sinned. 

I've always been very much a Tamiya guy (including their plastic kits) but I did stray once when I bought a Kyosho Mini Cooper S. I promise it was only the once, and honestly it meant nothing to me, it was just a fling that  wore off very quickly. I felt quite disgusted with myself afterwards and I've never strayed since!

Considering the Mini just had a stock silver can motor it was stupidly quick and it looked absolutely brilliant. However, the build quality was pretty terrible. The plastic chassis seemed to be made out of lightly warmed blu tack, with the screws stripping the holes instantly. It fell apart after each run. I know people consider Tamiya to be more a hobby brand rather than a race brand, but I don't think poor quality materials should be a pay off for anything other than cheapness. I love the fact I can take my cars apart time after time and know they will go back together just as before and I won't have to replace a set of parts after each run. 

I think we should seriously consider banning everyone who who has or currently owns more than one other brand car...... ;)

 

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On 6/14/2022 at 3:43 PM, DTSCB said:

Can you share some of the criticisms of Traxxas?  I have a friend who recently got an XMAXX and a Sledge.  They are monsters in 1/8 scale.  He loves them. 

I know you didn't ask me specifically, but I am also very unhappy with Traxxas as a company as well. I have three main issues. My biggest issue is how they are very litigious. They filed lawsuits against multiple companies for patent infringement when other companies had been using the designs longer. They currently have a lawsuit against HBO for their HBO Max streaming service. They are claiming that it may get confused with their Maxx line. The next issue I have is that they like to strong-arm small hobby shops into selling more of their products. My local hobby shop avoids selling Traxxas batteries and chargers are they're borderline junk. Traxxas revoked my LHS's corporate discount in retaliation. My final issue is that they sell 30 year old designs at premium prices. I do own 5 Traxxas products: 3 I won in raffles, one was a gift from a friend, and one I actually purchased as a gift. The electronics are all mediocre at best and the durability is meh...

Now, to the actual topic.

I got my start with Tamiya. I owned a TRC Spec 10 for a little while and then went back to Tamiya. Once I started racing stock class touring cars in the early 2000's, there wasn't an affordable option from Tamiya that was competitive. I ended up with a Yokomo MR4TC Pro. I loved that thing. I did very well with it with low end electronics for the time. I own a handful of other brands, but end up gravitating to Tamiya.

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I arrived a little late to the party, and my first hobby-grade RCs were a Tamiya and a Traxxas that were given to me in the same big box, so they have always been equals in my eyes (blasphemy for some of you, I know).

Also in the box was nearly all of the 1993 issues of RCCA, a few Tower catalogs, and a few other random magazines which I read over and over cover to cover. Those magazines were my window to the wide world of RC, and there was definitely plenty of variety!

At first I thought I liked Kyosho because of the gorgeous product photos in the catalogs, but the more I read the details and reviews, the more I gravitated to stadium trucks, which led me back to Traxxas. Traxxas was still relatively new back then, and had the image of an underdog punching above its weight (at least that was my interpretation from the way the reviews were written).

So that's it. The only reason I became a bit of a brand-loyalist was because of parts compatibility with the old cars I already had. It was really nice that the old Traxxas cars shared all the same bearing/bushing sizes and even their style of rear wheel hub adapters with Tamiya, so everything was interchangeable (within reason). I could put Traxxas wheels on my Frog if I wanted to, or Blackfoot wheels on the Sledgehammer.

To this day I've stuck with Tamiya and Traxxas, and that's probably where I'll stay. At least the last 3 cars I've bought have been Tamiya ;)

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After a couple of toy grade cars my first was a Boomerang, but back then my friend had a Kyosho Outrage and was scathing of Tamiya. That was because the Super Hornet was the Tamiya competitor to the Outrage and clearly the Outrage was far better. Down here it seemed like Tamiya and Kyosho were the only obtainable options, with Losi being the incredibly expensive unobtainable cars. I didn't really mind what brand as long as it was considered good, and that was determined by what friends said.

I had a few Kyoshos back then and have had some modern ones too. Now I buy Tamiya for fun (Kyosho rere prices are much higher) and whatever brand for racers, currently HB and Ae.

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5 hours ago, El Gecko said:

Traxxas was still relatively new back then, and had the image of an underdog punching above its weight (at least that was my interpretation from the way the reviews were written).

That's pretty much how Traxxas was before they became the evil empire. Simple offerings like the Cat were moved aside for more competitive ones like the Bullet leading to upstarts like the TRX-1 and Eagle trucks. Traxxas had an honest to goodness racing program and became a legit contender against Losi and Associated. Now, well now Traxxas is suing HBO for their use of the name HBO Max, Max being too close to Traxxas Maxx in their eyes. Yeah, right. Good luck with that.

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BITD, I had all Tamiya cars, but can't say I didn't lust after others that I saw ads for or read articles about in RCCA mag. I mean, I really would have loved a Schumacher Cat back then but they were pretty expensive, and no one anywhere near me carried them. Otherwise, I probably woulda picked one up at some point. Maybe I should pick one up now to scratch that 30 year old itch...heh

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