How "aggressive" were you with your Tamiya BITD

[Saito2 6686]

When reading stories about how others saw there first Tamiya in action, its interesting to hear about the amount of punishment those cars undertook at times. Now kids will be kids and pushing the limits of ones RC car is not a rarity. Even the Tamiya promos showed some questionable activities (just how far does that Super Champ drop in the one scene of its promo and is it really a good idea to be jumping a Bruiser?). For my part, I saved a long time for my first Tamiya Lunch Box and I was quite careful with it. I managed not to break a body mount for years and aside from the axle springs, didn't really break much of anything. I wore it out, with plenty of slop in the suspension before retirement but the body remained mostly unscathed. The few times it went on its lid were in grass fortunately. I crept up very slowly and carefully to its limits, as it was so expensive and blindingly fast compared to the other kids' toy-grade hardware at the time.

On the other hand, I saw kids who were given Tamiyas by their folks who thrashed them mercilessly. There's always the rich kid who doesn't appreciate what they have. Hornets launched off stairs, through rings of fire etc. made me cringe (still does actually) but we were all young once. So how did you treat your Tamiya? No judgements, just curiosity as everyone's different and the 80's was a long time ago.

[bRIBEGuy 3045]

I drove my Stadium Blitzer like it was stolen... and it paid dearly for the abuse.....LOL.  Pretty sure it ended up being one of the most expensive cars I've owned if I factor in how many parts have been replaced... 

[Jonathon Gillham 4606]

I wasn't particularly careful with my Boomerang, but also avoided things like stairs or making big ramps. We had a gravel driveway at the time so there was a lot of use on that, or at a local park which fortunately one summer had a load of dirt brought in for maintenance which made a great track for a friend and I to run our cars. He had a Kyosho Outrage.

In saying that, the best motor I could afford was a Sport Tuned and we only had 1400mah NiCd packs so not much was going to happen anyway. I find that today as well,  the Tamiya's don't break much as we run silvercans so breakages are usually from misuse (being stood on, and theres one kid who always wants to use them for a demo derby) and then the race cars are all set up for the slower stock classes so they don't break either, unlike people who run mod classes. They wear out and need parts replaced, but very rarely do they break.

[SlideWRX 785]

I think in 85 or 86, my Hornet got fairly beat up - I replaced the bumper several times, and the rear axle housing cracked a couple times.  My Dad fashioned a skid plate for the rear axle to help it survive.  The original body got beat up enough that I switched to a Parma one.  I don't remember crashing it intentionally, but trying some jumps.  Eventually my friend and I dug out a track in my back yard.  I even asked my mom if we could!  She didn't think we would dig up the yard, but said yes, and the next day when she came home from work the track was made.

[Willy iine 18806]

I drove my RC cars hard to the ground, but not abusively.   They all had road warrior scars.  It was more about the driving pleasure  than decorating the cars back then.  

[MadInventor 3884]

'Throttle to the firewall' was my general driving style, although I didn't put them through unrealistic jumps, my models did suffer a lot of grip rolls, and a lot of bodyshells received damage from this. I was also not shy from fitting hot modified motors and 9.6V batteries, and running them on mechanical speed controllers as I couldn't afford ESCs 

 

[Juggular 4964]

14 hours ago, Jonathon Gillham said:

the Tamiya's don't break much as we run silvercans

Yep, I only had the Grasshopper.  

Between a 380 and the rubbery bumper, I couldn't really drive hard.  Even after upgrading it to a 540, the worst things happened to it were like breaking the front suspension stay, scraping the roof by sliding it upside down, or losing an eye (headlamp).  I didn't try the staircase, though. Landing the plastic shell upside down from a 5 foot bounce while going down, wasn't my idea of fun.  Driving off a curb was enough.  But I was all for grinding the spikies flat after swapping in a pair of Hornet tires. It was rather easy to do when you were a bored teenager without game systems like kids have nowadays.  I did wish I could take action photos, but back then there were no autofocus cameras you could use with one hand. And I couldn't take my hands off the stick transmitter.  Do I sound old if I say, "nobody drives a stick anymore?"  

 

[Re-Bugged 10148]

9 hours ago, Juggular said:

 Do I sound old if I say, "nobody drives a stick anymore?"  

 

A what, sorry?? 😉

 

I never abused, mistreated or run a Tamiya hard in the 80’s mainly as I never had one. The toy grade 5 c type battery powered Beach Buggy I had saw plenty of use, that thing went where ever I could take it. But as of it’s low speed/power it was virtually impossible to break. That was until one unfortunate mishap driving around on the upstairs landing I accidentally went off the top step and it cartwheeled into the living room. I felt sick to the pit of my stomach. It put a crack in the bonnet and the steering got twitchy after that. Well and truly gutted as I always liked to look after what I had. My Dad kept the car, pulling it out the loft not long ago having a clear out. Turns out the twitchy steering was a wire that got hooked up and works fine now!!

My first Tamiya was a second hand King Blackfoot with a 15t double motor in it that I bought in the mid 90’s (I think it was). That was soooo much fun to thrash around at work. It would wheelie for days, and a wheelie bar I’d fabricated saved the rear bumper. It would get jumped over the fire pit (closely followed by my mates GH2) and it never broke. It had a few scuffs on it but was complete and 100% working order when I gave it away sometime later. Many happy memories with that one. 

[markbt73 5316]

I don't think I was abusive, but I definitely drove the wheels off them (literally in some cases). The only things I remember actually breaking were a gearbox housing on the Grasshopper and a couple of steering knuckles on the Blackfoot. Finally got wise and bought the yellow CRP knuckles, and never had another problem. I replaced the diff gears a couple of times too, but that was more or less a wear item on Blackfoots.

I definitely knew people who beat their cars to death. I got an Optima for free from my neighbor after he bent the chassis rails into roughly the shape of a banana jumping it over things. The chain was gone and the final drive pinion had no teeth left at all. I got it limping again as 2WD only, but couldn't afford to fix it right. He moved on to an RC10 and trashed it, too. Never could understand it.

[moffman 5752]

On 6/14/2022 at 3:05 AM, SlideWRX said:

I think in 85 or 86, my Hornet got fairly beat up - I replaced the bumper several times, and the rear axle housing cracked a couple times.  My Dad fashioned a skid plate for the rear axle to help it survive.  The original body got beat up enough that I switched to a Parma one.  I don't remember crashing it intentionally, but trying some jumps.  Eventually my friend and I dug out a track in my back yard.  I even asked my mom if we could!  She didn't think we would dig up the yard, but said yes, and the next day when she came home from work the track was made.

I never abused any of my tamiya's back in the 80s as I don't now but I used to race the life out of them in the Friday night rc club then all weekend on the makeshift street race circuit but what I kept on doing was replacing the chassis on my hornet then its successor the boomerang because of a nasty little part of my street circuit a small gap in a fence not big enough to get the whole car through and yes I don't know how many times the buggies went head first and jammed into the whole and the Hornets front suspension mounts got clean ripped off and boomerang because of the hp suspension set it ripped the screws out of the front gearbox housing cracking the chassis mounts! You'd think I'd have learned but I can't tell you how many chassis I replaced because of that whole in the fence

[SuperChamp82 743]

Great thread @Saito2 👍

I raced my Super Champ in the early 80s - and it ended up with awful homemade repairs whilst spares arrived from Japan 😂

Front arms, rear  arms and rear suspension uprights all snapped with stupid regularity …

I remember ordering CRP plastic substitutes from the US - which worked way better but never looked the same !  

[Mrowka 495]

There was no BITD for me, but I apparently am too aggressive with Tamiya right now.

Just rebuilt the transaxle on my Fox. Again.

[DTSCB 96]

Like it was stolen until the battery died. 

The only thing that slows me down is knowing how expensive some parts are for some of the cars. 

I'm starting to shelf cars where the parts are made of pure unobtainium. 

[EsotericRC 98]

I totally abused both my Frog and my Supershot, BITD. I mean, I think I built my frog when I was 10 or 11 and my Supershot when I was 13. No way 13 year old me could not drive it like I stole it. Upgraded both with stronger motors and drove the sh*t outta them. Used to jump the Supershot off of my buddy's skate ramp...like 3-4 feet high to asphalt, and it would land solidly and just keep on going. Of course, that same Supershot (that I recently re-found and started a restoration/build thread on) has cracked plastic on the wishbones/arms now (surprise, surprise!), but it was totally worth it. Was so much fun. Can't wait to do the same with my 10 year old son (though i'll probably coach him to be a little less punishing than I was on my stuff back then. Heh)...

[El Gecko 1344]

I was definitely aggressive, but it was because I couldn't even afford a new MSC, so I had an on/off switch hooked up to a servo as a makeshift speed control for the first few years. Then I figured out how to remove the first 2 steps from a broken 3-step MSC for full 100% forward or full 100% reverse (drag brake at neutral). That setup unfortunately led to some drivetrain parts wearing out, which took some of my cars totally out of commission after awhile, and meant I had to start bush mechanic parts-swapping just so I could drive one of them.

But because my RC junkyard was given to me, even though everything was already used and abused, I still respected it and didn't really jump any big jumps or slam into things on purpose like some other kids did. I always know the weak points and the general limits of the cars, because I was the one who put them all together, and I knew I couldn't afford replacement parts (or to fabricate them at that point in my life), so I tried not to exceed those limits when driving them around.

My old NiCd batteries never lasted very long, anyway. I've done far more damage in the last few years than I ever did as a kid, just as a result of driving more (more often and further/longer on each drive).

[Ziddan 947]

I was rough on my toy grades back in the nineties, with the tamiyas ive just started collecting im somewhat more careful but they still do some jumps and the occasional rollover.

Of the cars i have now ill only really be taking it a bit easier with the terra scorcher as it just looks too nice. (its no shelf queen tho, ive accidentally rolled it once already and the underside is a bit scratched from landings)

[Scorchio 139]

I was very careful with first car that was bought for me (2nd hand Holiday buggy) eventually turned it into a Sand Rover & put a 540 in it. Looked so pretty I couldn't bash it.

Then a couple of years later I bought another HB off a mate (with spares and 3 battery packs) who moved on from RC with my own money, that thing was regularly thrashed and bashed to within an inch of its life. The most janky kludged repairs possible were experimented with. Then I'd get a new chassis tub and be sensible again for a couple of weeks, at this point the downward spiral begins again.

In an early 20s drunken with friends "Lets crack our old RC cars out" evening, we launched a battered old SRB chassis held together with god knows what into the Thames. No regrets, it looked spectacular.

Later on I bashed some vintage SRBs pretty hard but always with Lexan bodies and never with the intention of killing them. I had surprisingly few breakages. I can only recall 1 shock tower and 1 lower arm. Oh and many many straightening front arm pin evenings.

I still like to push it these days but not with anything vintage, but the thought of waiting ages for back order parts to arrive keeps me in check.

[gavin67890 12]

Me 42-years old: Like kid gloves. A steady run-in period building up to max speed once ‘warmed up’ (after a lengthy rebuild of a vintage Manta Ray).

My son 12-years old: immediately tested the full extent of the transmitter’s travel, minimum mechanical sympathy and it ended on its shell with the steering arm broken off.

Me 12-years old: Attempted to make my The Hornet fly and shattered the gearbox. There were cogs all over the place and I had to take it back to my dad to put it back together.

History repeats itself!

The thing I noticed the most was that with a modern ESC and battery the fun lasts much, much longer. And that’s the point. Ultimately, what’s the point in having it and not using it. Once he’d dinged it, I was like whatever, let’s go!

The onlooker’s interest was very surprising and maybe that’s the key to the future. Show it off, make it public and, most of all, enjoy it!

[EsotericRC 98]

16 hours ago, gavin67890 said:

The thing I noticed the most was that with a modern ESC and battery the fun lasts much, much longer. And that’s the point. Ultimately, what’s the point in having it and not using it. Once he’d dinged it, I was like whatever, let’s go!

Yes! I recently got back into the hobby after a LONG hiatus and one of the best things about the advancements in technologies while I was away is the run times. My old hopped up Supershot with the Trinity Monster Power motor I had in it back in the day was stupid fast (for the time), and a TON of fun...BUT...on a NiCad battery only ran like that for MAYBE 7 minutes. 10 minutes if I didn't mash the throttle every second.  Now, I get at least 20-30 minutes of run time, and am only using 5000mah NiMh batteries. I haven't even switched to LiPos yet! Love it!

[GeeWings 2830]

14 hours ago, EsotericRC said:

Yes! I recently got back into the hobby after a LONG hiatus and one of the best things about the advancements in technologies while I was away is the run times…

Amazing isn’t it! Wait until you try LiPo, It’s like witchcraft!

[EsotericRC 98]

48 minutes ago, GeeWings said:

Amazing isn’t it! Wait until you try LiPo, It’s like witchcraft!

Heh, a fried recently switched to LiPos and was amazed. Even longer run times, shorter charging times, lighter weight, AND more punch. What sorcery is this?! That DOES sound like witchcraft! Hah.

Honestly, the only reason I haven't switched yet is because of the potential hazards with LiPos. I know with responsible use and some pretty basic ground rules the risk of a fire is pretty minimal, but I like to be completely prepared and will likely build a fireproof LiPo bunker charging station for the house out of a steel cabinet. Also gonna build some portable ones out of .50 cal ammo cans to use while out and about to minimize the potential risk of a fire. 

[Nick G 54]

My Sand Scorcher got driven very hard back when I first got it back in the early 80's. Handbrake turns (full forward to instant full reverse with steering hard over) , rolled it several times , flat out over sleeping police men to see how far it would jump. Went through several sets of the original brass U/J's and replaced the front arm pivots, not to mention umpteen bumpers. Even drove it into a pond once to see how good the waterproofing was .  It's been rebuilt a few times, but still going strong.

[GTodd 1349]

I was and and am very aggressive with my Tamiyas. Granted I had race oriented ones that although more stronger than their earlier stuff still broke. I never broke anything on my Monster racer or Too force, the Astute had some issues.

[TurnipJF 9192]

I too didn't have a Tamiya BITD, but when I got my first one as an adult, it was with racing in mind, and I drove it to finish as high up the rankings as I could. This meant driving hard enough to do well, but not so hard as to break it - "to finish first, first you have to finish" as they say. So yes, I certainly drove it agressively, but not excessively so I don't think.

[alvinlwh 5895]

Think the only original part of my TT-01 is its body shell, every other major part is either hop up or broken before, including the chassis. 

Lunchbox got a new body (melted in the oven) and ESC (salt water damaged). 

Those are my "BiTD" Tamiyas. 

I think all my cars rolled and/or flipped on their first real outing. Torn body parts & posts, bumpers, turnbuckles off. Melted a few motors with grossly inappropriate gearing deliberately (wanted to see what it takes to kill a silver can giving me the excuse to upgrade). 

Now reactivated my TT-01 for kids "fetching" duty, the 3yo boy just grab it and throw it back on the ground.