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Toyota 4x4 re-release?

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Screenshot from Tamiya USA Facebook page.

What to make of it?

I would love to see a re-release. Love it!

What's your story with this truck?

hilux.png

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My story about this truck? Well, seeing photos of it from the Nuremberg Toyfair in 1981 or 1982, immediately creating dreams about how much better than the SRB it surely must be and how much fun it must be running it (see that the people at TUSA are clueless as always, refering to it as an SRB!). Then buying one and having great fun building it and being massively disappointed running it and selling it soon afterwards. In my humble opinion, 58028 and 58029 are fantastic kits and display pieces and were revolutionary for their time, but are and have always been poor RC-models.  Based on the disappointment with the 1st gen 3-speeds, I was confident that the Bruiser must surely be much better, so I immediately got one when it was released. Only to get disappointed again and selling it soon after. I haven't owned any 3-speeder (not counting the Hilifts) since 1985 and don't want one. 

That said, I have body sets of 58028, 58029 and Bruiser/Mountaineer with the intention for 3+ decades (so far) to put them on more capable chassises.

As for the 58028 itself, it's still the bestlooking 3-speeder in my opinion and if I pretend to forget how poorly the chassis performs, the visual impression of the axles, gearbox and "watertight" mechanism box is still the stuff dreams are made of. 

Edit: If Tamiya should re-release it (no re-re is impossible, as we know by now), I would want it to be on a 280mm wheelbase version of the CC-02 with a 3-speed gearbox. I would buy that. 

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I realize these are very poor runners, especially with all the other scale options available today but they still look amazing and I would enjoy every second of building a rere if it came along.  Heck I would love to have an original but eBay prices are above what I am willing to outlay. 

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1 hour ago, Mokei Kagaku said:

(see that the people at TUSA are clueless as always, refering to it as an SRB!).

I got a laugh out of that too. I had little experience with this model as the Bruiser was at the forefront when I first entered the hobby. The original just looked like a smaller, less impressive version of the Bruiser to my young eyes (the lack of a bed drop-down, necessitated by the huge radio box underneath bothered me) although I was curious about it as it was important to Tamiya's overall history as well the beginning of 3-speed development. 

Oddly, Tamiya USA's blunder, calling it an SRB chassis does remind me that the actual SRB chassis'd Ford F-150 Ranger was often called a poor-man's 3-speed. Whether that was a put-down or not, the fact that, as Mokei alluded, the SRB Ranger was probably more entertaining to drive than the original 3-speeds. 

To some degree, I think they were all about novelty. 4WD was mostly a truck-thing it seemed back then. I pictured the transmitters in the hands of older men appreciating the nuances and realism of them as models in motion but frankly, rather boring to any youth (or even anyone with youthful exuberance). Seeing the old promo video made me wonder if the tires spent more time bouncing in the air coming down that hill than they did in contact with the ground. I guess the little cartoon picture of the truck bounding in the air wasn't far off from the truth. I'm curious how faithful Tamiya would be to the original if they re-released it. I would guess it would come across as more of a lowered re-re Bruiser somehow, but that's purely conjecture on my part and we never really know with Tamiya. At any rate, it seems most around here would be hotter for the Blazing Blazer.

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3 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

IThe lack of a bed drop-down,....

Funny you mention it. It always bothered me too and for the planned "58028"-bodied model on a modern chassis that I may or may not get done before I die, I got the copy of the Tamiya stepside bed that RCModelex made and which has a full depth bed. It "cures" the problem, but is of course not suitable for the original chassis.

9 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

 the SRB Ranger was probably more entertaining to drive than the original 3-speeds. 

Definitely. I have never owned a Ranger kit, but I got the BPS when it was released and used it on the single SRB-chassis i had back then. By far a better model to run than the 1st gen 3-speeder. Being "underscale" (for 1/10) and having a totally unrealistic chassis (for a Ranger), the Ranger is vastly inferior to 58028 on the shelf though.

13 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

To some degree, I think they were all about novelty. 4WD was mostly a truck-thing it seemed back then. I pictured the transmitters in the hands of older men appreciating the nuances and realism of them as models in motion but frankly, rather boring to any youth (or even anyone with youthful exuberance). Seeing the old promo video made me wonder if the tires spent more time bouncing in the air coming down that hill than they did in contact with the ground.

Yes, I consider them to be more a "technical demonstrator" of what was (in the early eighties) possible to make rather than an RC-model to actually run for one's own enjoyment. The much too stiff suspension and way too high gear ratio (even in 1st) are flaws that Tamiya could have fixed before production if they had developed the model properly and are the two most important reasons why I never really enjoyed running the 1st gen 3-speeders. I really enjoy running the Hilifts though, but I would have liked them to be much lower. I've lowered my Hilux Hilift as much as possible, but it still doesn't look remotely as nice as 58028.

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I'd be a whole lot more excited for the Blazing Blazer instead of yet another iteration of the same old Toyota truck body. Yeah, yeah, iconic, whatever. Let's have some variety. It's like those classic rock stations that keep playing "Hotel California" over and over. Let's mix it up a little.

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4 hours ago, markbt73 said:

I'd be a whole lot more excited for the Blazing Blazer instead of yet another iteration of the same old Toyota truck body. Yeah, yeah, iconic, whatever. Let's have some variety. It's like those classic rock stations that keep playing "Hotel California" over and over. Let's mix it up a little.

Although I think the stepside version is by far the bestlooking version of Tamiya's Hilux body and I prefer trucks with "stockish" size wheels and tires, a re-re of 58028 would kind of be superfluous now that the Bruiser and Hilifts are available. Except for the somewhat unique build experience of the 1st gen 3-speeders, of course. A Blazing Blazer as a true re-re or just the body on a different chassis would be fantastic. After all, the 3-speed chassis isn't at all realistic for the type of vehicle the body was modelled after anyway. In fact, if Tamiya would just re-re the body, it would be enough for me personally.  I just have one BB body and would love the opportunity to "bask" in BB BPS parts and run models with BB bodies without feeling guilt.

 

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5 hours ago, markbt73 said:

It's like those classic rock stations that keep playing "Hotel California" over and over. Let's mix it up a little.

You mean the Eagles made other songs aside from Hotel California, Take it to the Limit, Lyin' Eyes, Peaceful Easy Feeling and  Life in the Fast Lane? Wow. I did not know that.;)

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8 hours ago, Saito2 said:

You mean the Eagles made other songs aside from Hotel California...

If you listen to these classic rock stations, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the Eagles, the Rolling Tones, the Beatles and Led Zeppelin only ever wrote 8 good songs between them.

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Yea and Fleetwood Mac only released one album. Or so rumour has it😂😂😂

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I hope this comes to fruition, not just a tease. 
I would be happy to buy a couple, and then 6 months to a year later a re-re Blazer. 

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On 7/31/2022 at 2:37 AM, Mokei Kagaku said:

Although I think the stepside version is by far the bestlooking version of Tamiya's Hilux body and I prefer trucks with "stockish" size wheels and tires, a re-re of 58028 would kind of be superfluous now that the Bruiser and Hilifts are available. Except for the somewhat unique build experience of the 1st gen 3-speeders, of course. A Blazing Blazer as a true re-re or just the body on a different chassis would be fantastic. After all, the 3-speed chassis isn't at all realistic for the type of vehicle the body was modelled after anyway. In fact, if Tamiya would just re-re the body, it would be enough for me personally.  I just have one BB body and would love the opportunity to "bask" in BB BPS parts and run models with BB bodies without feeling guilt.

 

Like you, I really like the original Hilux body for its Stepside bed and front brush guard. My impression. Was that the bed would not fit the bruiser chassis, due to the change in radio compartment box. Am I mistaken in my assumption 

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Would any re re follow the Bruiser - so a tweaked shell on the 2012 chassis or lexan horror on the CC01 ? 

Both just wouldn’t look right to me but others are prob right re nostalgia making either fly off the shelves 

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16 hours ago, Raman36 said:

Like you, I really like the original Hilux body for its Stepside bed and front brush guard. My impression. Was that the bed would not fit the bruiser chassis, due to the change in radio compartment box. Am I mistaken in my assumption 

I fitted the Stepside Hilux body and Blazing Blazer body on my Bruiser around 1985/1986 (sacrilege!) That's a while ago, but as far as I remember, the only real problem was that the on/off-switch was in the wrong position for the holes in the bodies.

I think it would be possible to re-re the Stepside Hilux and Blazing Blazer bodies on the (re-re) Bruiser chassis, but if with tire sizes similar/identical to the originals and unmodified (re-re) Bruiser radio box, the bodies would sit too high. As we know, a similar problem didn't stop Tamiya from releasing the Hilux Hilift.

If Tamiya should re-release the Stepside Hilux and/or Blazing Blazer, I think the most we can hope for is that they will be on the (re-re) Bruiser chassis with a new radio box and wheels and tires of suitable sizes. The original 58028/29 radio box wouldn't make much sense as the linkage for the speed control servo and the space for the 4000mAh battery wouldn't be needed. On the other hand, from a rational point of view, re-releasing the SRB with the original radio box didn't make much sense either, so I guess Tamiya could use the 28/29 radio box for nostalgia.

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6 hours ago, Mokei Kagaku said:

so I guess Tamiya could use the 28/29 radio box for nostalgia.

would that radiobox drop fit onto a bruiser chassis?

I once acquired a homebrew Stepside on a Bruiser chassis but the builder crafted his own rear box out of plywood to suit the original body mountings. 

imho Stepside would lose a lot of charm if it were remade into 1pc, rather than the iconic 2 separate pieces :unsure:

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