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Kowalski86

Best and Worst Tamiya

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This might be difficult for some, but I always enjoy reading best-worst threads and they are useful for knowing what to expect with certain models. My answers are all based on personal experience and I'm admittedly still new-ish to Tamiyas.
I tend to group my RCs between how easy they are to work on and how fun they are to drive.

Best:
For Maintenance: Grasshopper, easy to build and re-build (wheels aside), looks cool, with bearings it'll go forever on a single battery, taught me that you can mount your electronics anywhere you see fit (vs screwing everything in pre determined spots) Surprisingly its not all that bad in short grass either.
For Driving: MF-01X, I'm always surprised by how quick these are with a simple torque-tuned motor, and this being my first (but certainly not last) mini chassis I was impressed with the twitchy handling.

Worst
For Maintenance: Tamiya Falcon, rear dogbones, nuff said.
For Driving: TT-01 with friction shocks, but there is one caveat that I didn't know at the time. The wheels/tires were an off-brand Chineseium set that were a tiny bit oversized and had a rock-hard compound which was great for drifting on smooth surfaces, awful for pavement. Someday I'll try out another TT model but with decent shocks and stock Tamiya wheels/tires.

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Hmm, that's a tricky one...  There's so many good and bad points about so many Tamiyas, I'm sure whatever I pick today will change tomorrow.  But, if I had to go with something right now, it would be:

Best:

CC01.  This may not be the "original" scale off-road truck, but it was the one that made scaling accessible for everyone, long before today's crawler scene was active, and invented the whole idea of taking an RC for a walk.  The perfect companion for a stroll through the woods.  A great compact chassis, 4wd and with the correct drivetrain for smaller real-word 4x4s, and buildable in 3 different wheelbases for a variety of bodies.  And what bodies we had, too!  The Pajero, the Wrangler, the Land Cruiser!  All look fantastic perched on that neat little off-roader, plus a long production run means there's never any shortage of parts and hop-ups, and loads of well-documented fixes for all its foibles.  And it's so versatile, too.  Want to keep it stock?  Go ahead.  Want to modify it?  Get out the hacksaw and get creative.  Want to build a rally raid truck, or a muscle car?  Go for it.  Why they bothered to replace this gem with the CC02 is beyond me.

Worst:

CC01.  I mean, really, what were Tamiya thinking?  What the heck is that brick thing even for?  There's literally nothing behind it - it's like someone said "hey, you know, this chassis will be able to go over stones and sticks if we build it this way - we'd best mould this huge lump of square plastic on the front to stop that happening!"  And that plastic steering tube?  Really?  Not even a set of bronze bushings to take the load?  Oh, and the rear axle with more float than a yacht race, with a pinion that'll wear out and slip if you don't shim it out.  And when I say shim, I don't mean like a 0.50 here and there, I mean you have to raid your parts bin for some spare bronze bushings to pack it out and stop it moving around.  How this model ever stayed in production for so long is beyond me.

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36 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

Worst... 
... Falcon

If I stumbled upon my old Falcon now in a shed somewhere, I'd be over the moon. But it's design failings were pretty serious. I have a feeling I kept the dog bones in by adding washers I found in the farm workshop. As for strengthening where the front assembly attaches to the bathtub chassis, I think aged about 11 that was my first application of M3 threaded rod to an RC car. Probably also half a tonne of Araldite and some seriously iffy work with an old hand drill. And still that would reliably be the point of failure. The design of that part of the Falcon remains etched into my brain despite having never clapped eyes on one since about 1992. But still I loved it, and I did rag the bejesus out of it. 

However, I can't comment by reference to other Tamiya - I've only had 2.5 of them (1987: Falcon, 2021: DT-03, 2022: half built XV-01)! 

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I feel like @Mad Ax has nailed this one on the head with his write up.... which is the best/worst Tamiya in MY opinion?  ALL of them!  :lol:

To me, the quirky weirdness is what makes Tamiya's awesome and interesting... but also terrible.

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37 minutes ago, BuggyDad said:

 

If I stumbled upon my old Falcon now in a shed somewhere, I'd be over the moon. But it's design failings were pretty serious. I have a feeling I kept the dog bones in by adding washers I found in the farm workshop. As for strengthening where the front assembly attaches to the bathtub chassis, I think aged about 11 that was my first application of M3 threaded rod to an RC car. Probably also half a tonne of Araldite and some seriously iffy work with an old hand drill. And still that would reliably be the point of failure. The design of that part of the Falcon remains etched into my brain despite having never clapped eyes on one since about 1992. But still I loved it, and I did rag the bejesus out of it.

I really wanted to like the Falcon, it had a fairly modern bathtub design that gave much more space for electronics than my Grasshopper and a more practical battery tray. Problem was that I had two incomplete Falcons, one that had a more or less ruined chassis due to the PO using an oversized dry wall screw to attach the front section to the chassis, and another that couldn't hold its dog legs in place. And good luck getting any Falcon parts!

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I think every good car has its greatest and worst thing since they are committed to a category, so that should be a good thing overall..?  

There is just too many mediocre things in the world, being committed to something is a great trait.  :lol:

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Best:

Lunch Box. I waffled a bit on this one wanting to say Avante (possibly Egress). The Avante was probably the culmination of passion Fumito Taki had for RC at the time. For those that don't know, we pretty much owe everything to Fumito Taki as Tamiya RC enthusiast. Still, I decided on the Lunch Box as a better representation of Tamiya as a whole. It has simplistic yet durable mechanics. As such, its easy to assemble yet has a long service life. Atop these mechanics is a beautiful, detailed body that we've come to know Tamiya for. Its a mixture of unique fun and whimsy. Even the box art manages to portray this as its one of the few boxes to show both Tamiya's excellent artwork yet is also slightly stretched imbuing the image with a certain kinetic energy. It looks playful and the van inside is, well, playful. The Lunch Box is not strictly a stunt machine (originally anyway) in the way a Wild Willy was marketed but still pulls good wheelies. Its at home on pavement or the rough stuff but is never meant to be taken too seriously. Its not trying to do anything other than what it promises, which is a relaxed, good time that puts a smile on the user's face.

Worst:

Juggernaut 1. This promised to be an awesome truck. It was poised to be the replacement for the long reigning Clod Buster. The Juggernaut had a huge, menacing presence about it, much like the Clod did in '87. And then when it got into the public's hands, it all fell apart. This gear shredding monster (which it managed to do in multiple sections of the drivetrain) lasted mere minutes after freshly assembly once in hobbyist hands before grinding to a halt. As much as we like to complain about things like Blackfoot gearboxes, the Jugg was a whole different level of bad. How on earth Tamiya could have ever tested a model so faulty and then unleashed it on the public is beyond comprehension. It was just about the only time Tamiya issued repair parts in the form of "care packs" to rectify such a flawed model. They quietly removed it from shelves eventually and replaced it with the Jugg 2 (which I would gladly buy today) but the damage had been done. It wasn't until the TXT redesign (which used the updated and fixed drivetrain and added even better parts on top of that) that the stink wore off.

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56 minutes ago, Saito2 said:

Best:

Lunch Box. I waffled a bit on this one wanting to say Avante (possibly Egress). The Avante was probably the culmination of passion Fumito Taki had for RC at the time. For those that don't know, we pretty much owe everything to Fumito Taki as Tamiya RC enthusiast. Still, I decided on the Lunch Box as a better representation of Tamiya as a whole. It has simplistic yet durable mechanics. As such, its easy to assemble yet has a long service life. Atop these mechanics is a beautiful, detailed body that we've come to know Tamiya for. Its a mixture of unique fun and whimsy. Even the box art manages to portray this as its one of the few boxes to show both Tamiya's excellent artwork yet is also slightly stretched imbuing the image with a certain kinetic energy. It looks playful and the van inside is, well, playful. The Lunch Box is not strictly a stunt machine (originally anyway) in the way a Wild Willy was marketed but still pulls good wheelies. Its at home on pavement or the rough stuff but is never meant to be taken too seriously. Its not trying to do anything other than what it promises, which is a relaxed, good time that puts a smile on the user's face.

For me the Lunchbox is everything right with vintage RCs, let alone early Tamiya. A bit of silly-ness, a bit of scale detail, and none of todays "HARDCORE TORMENT DARK IMPACT!!!" attitude. It isn't pretending to be a race-grade RC or something more than it is.

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From my small collection. 

Best:

1. TT-01(Ra) 

It suffered a cracked chassis thanks to some fool that thought it is fun to drive it into a wall at full speed repeatedly. Other than that, very little had broke even with my stupid hacking to make it to a rally car. 

2. WR-02CB 

I was expecting rubbish Lunchbox handing with this one and it turned out to be far better. I am impressed with this little thing. 

3. Thunder Dragon/DT-02 

Quite undecided on which one is better for my third place.

Worse:

1. Frog 

Poor molding. Poor fit. Gearbox issues requiring a brace from a few member. Dog bones issues requiring an expensive hopup part to fix. Need I go on? And this is all on a fairly recent rere. 

2. M-06

Feels like a bunch of parts thrown together without thinking it through. If building LWB, wires routing issues. 

3.  Any Tamiya requiring hopup to correct problems OOB (which more or less means almost  Tamiya RC kits. 

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1 hour ago, alvinlwh said:

3. Thunder Dragon/DT-02
Quite undecided on which one is better for my third place.

Worse:

1. Frog
Poor molding. Poor fit. Gearbox issues requiring a brace from a few member. Dog bones issues requiring an expensive hopup part to fix. Need I go on? And this is all on a fairly recent rere. 

2. M-06
Feels like a bunch of parts thrown together without thinking it through. If building LWB, wires routing issues. 

3.  Any Tamiya requiring hopup to correct problems OOB (which more or less means almost  Tamiya RC kits. 

I'm curious to know more on your choice for the DT-02, I have a Holiday Buggy that I need to get around to once its a bit less chilly outside. Anytime I hear about issues with the M-06 I'm always surprised since its just a rear-engined RWD on-road car, it should be a pretty basic design. Yet when I look at it it just looks like a mess (whats with the side mounted servo?).

As for 3, for me it depends on the extent of the problems and the RCs intended use, if its just a steel pinion and bearings thats no big deal, but I really don't want to dump $20+ in upgrades just to drive an RC up and down the street without something going wrong. I think the Holiday Buggy release does a good job of mixing an old design with a modern chassis.

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4 hours ago, Kowalski86 said:

I'm curious to know more on your choice for the DT-02, I have a Holiday Buggy that I need to get around to once its a bit less chilly outside. Anytime I hear about issues with the M-06 I'm always surprised since its just a rear-engined RWD on-road car, it should be a pretty basic design. Yet when I look at it it just looks like a mess (whats with the side mounted servo?).

As for 3, for me it depends on the extent of the problems and the RCs intended use, if its just a steel pinion and bearings thats no big deal, but I really don't want to dump $20+ in upgrades just to drive an RC up and down the street without something going wrong. I think the Holiday Buggy release does a good job of mixing an old design with a modern chassis.

DT-02 - Cheap, simple chassis that is durable and easy to maintain. Mine is a HB too BTW. 

M-06 - if you think the side mounted servo is bad design, wait till you see the switch (as per instructions). 

Thing is, steel pinion and bearings and oil shocks (the "big three") are often included in standard stock form with many other brands, meaning needed to spend nothing to get it running from the get go. 

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Best -

DF03 (MS  - with slipper, everything needs a slipper these days), although questionable reliability of the rear diff in stock form (simple cheap mod, makes it pretty much bullet proof, so does that count? Or stock form only?? 🤷‍♂️)

Mainly as it was my first car when I got back into RC, and we've grown from brushed/nicad ,brushed /nimh to brushless/lipo , bonkers brushless / lipo!! 

Worst -

Frog , mainly the gearbox was a nightmare. From stripping the splines, to the daft hex driveshafts falling out, (although, still find myself lusting after a re re brat....🤔).

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Fun topic!

Best: TA-07MS

  • This kit merges the flexibility of the TA07 with the racing pedigree of the TRF series.
  • Adjusting weight balance with the three motor positions has a drastic impact on setup, and it's easy and quickly done.
  • The two vertical top decks offer the ability to adjust the flex/rigidity of the car very quickly with aluminium posts.
  • In general, maintenance and setup on this car is straightforward and easy.
  • You can argue the TA-07MSX that came out afterwards might have more potential, but the MS uses the same belt and other parts as the "normal" TA07 making it very easy to get spares and increases the longevity of the platform.
  • Upgrades are available that make sense and actually improve the car, for example adjustable suspension mounts or the TRF420 suspension upgrade set
  • It handles really well and I find it easy to adjust the setup to each track/condition.
  • I love the unique top-deck and single-belt drive, it's just the right amount of Tamiya quirkiness.

Worst: TC-01

  • I bought this kit while getting back into the hobby, I was enticed by the prospect of having a low profile touring car that could run the Toyota TS050 body.
  • There is so little space to fit electronics, apart from the necessity to use a low-profile servo, the chassis requires a very small ESC and receiver. Using a fan on the ESC is close to impossible.
  • Building is finicky, you need to pay a lot of attention to some steps f.e. you can end up with too many shims in the differential assembly which can lock it under load.
  • Setup is just horrible. Adjusting camber will affect the whole suspension geometry, in fact almost every adjustment you do will impact something else.
  • Maintenance is a nightmare. Not only will you have to unscrew half of the chassis to get access to something, and mostly you're fiddling around with the pushrods, outdrives and kardans/dogbones all at the same time.
  • Some Hop-Ups are making the car worse. For example the aluminium steering bridge is so brittle that it will bend on impacts, and you're much better off using the stock plastic part.
  • Due to its weight the TC-01 is just not competitive with other touring cars, it can only run in it's own class.
  • What disappoints me the most however that Tamiya doesn't do more with it. Despite all the downsides and quirks it's still a fun car with fascinating engineering, and offers the ability to use a wide variety of bodies. But apart from the Formula-E and the TS050 there's just nothing special on shelves. Why not do more prototype bodies? Heck, Tamiya even sponsored and put their logo on a LMP2 car at last years Le Mans 24h race – I was sure that would end up as a TC-01 kit. No, after more than 2 years there's nothing new.
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I've not owned that many different models, so I can't comment on a worst in terms of long term care. For me one of the best is the GF01 I've come across - it's quirky like a Tamiya should be with a chassis that's one giant gearbox and interesting looks, but it also just works really well. Zero issues running, can take a much hotter motor, handles well and uses well established arms/dog bones that stay put. Even the stock friction dampeners work well (which is good, cause you'll need the money you save on replacing those for all the bearings). It's fun off road, but on road can do wheelies, stoppies and stunts.

 

 

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Well, you can all say whatever you like from the comfort of your keyboard, but,.... 

Some say that the Clodbuster was Tamiya's greatest truck, so great in fact that in 1986, Great Britain renamed itself to great Clodbuster, but in fear of retribution, swiftly retracted the renaming ceremony after a cease and desist letter from Tamiya lawyers.

All we know, is that it's called the Clodbuster.

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1 hour ago, Nikko85 said:

one of the best is the GF01

Oh you just reminded me. My new absolute worst is the SW-01! Hopped up or not, it is just completely useless. Can't drive straight, can't wheelie, can't steer, can't wheelie steer (with optional hopup kit). 

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Taking away the nostalgia of always wanting a avante/egress so when I eventually got the re-re's they were the best rc's ever made no argument (obviously I'm looking through the biggest pair of rose coloured spectacles you can buy! Because they are far from perfect) 

Best 

Has to be from my user perspective the topforce I think it was way ahead in the design back in its original days just basically uses perfect weight distribution and very low centre of gravity on a simple chassis design! Yes it has its Achilles heel of standard rubbish pinion gear and equally rubbish spur gear but after market parts soon remedies that! And I've used my evo and considering its design age it's well capable of keeping up with my worst tamiya (which I'm coming to) 

Worst

Has to be the super avante and it totally pains me to say this:mellow: again it's from my user perspective and the first point is the diff nut! Sorry tamiya but to have the hop-up option of a alloy diff nut straight from day one says to me they knew that it was going to be a problem? Also the obvious question of battery access can't be ignored but you could put that down to tamiya quirkiness last thing was the build it just left me a bit uninspired (a bit mmm:unsure:) again totally my personal perspective:D but ironing out all its short falls also servo mounts and flex on the chassis it is a very good performer even with brushed set up it's a very rapid buggy!

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2 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

(although, still find myself lusting after a re re brat....🤔).

Me too. It's one of my 80s itches to scratch, although I probably won't. 

But do I read correctly that this is on preorder for 2023? Is it a new re re release? 

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4 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

DT-02 - Cheap, simple chassis that is durable and easy to maintain. Mine is a HB too BTW. 

M-06 - if you think the side mounted servo is bad design, wait till you see the switch (as per instructions). 

Thing is, steel pinion and bearings and oil shocks (the "big three") are often included in standard stock form with many other brands, meaning needed to spend nothing to get it running from the get go. 

Good call, when I saw the HB initially I had to have it, no one builds buggies that detailed anymore! Ll

Yea...coming from Traxxas (which already isn't super fancy), it is irritating having to require basic parts. The steel pinion is a big deal, since replacing the spur gears can take a long time on some chassis. 

2 hours ago, alvinlwh said:

Oh you just reminded me. My new absolute worst is the SW-01! Hopped up or not, it is just completely useless. Can't drive straight, can't wheelie, can't steer, can't wheelie steer (with optional hopup kit). 

I was debating on a comical Lunchbox once upon a time, looks like I dodged a bullet! Then I learned that Tamiya has an unhealthy obsession with their "comical" line up, which really should be sold as cheap toy RCs imo. "Comicals" seem like a sad cash grab to me.

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43 minutes ago, Kowalski86 said:

 

I was debating on a comical Lunchbox once upon a time, looks like I dodged a bullet! Then I learned that Tamiya has an unhealthy obsession with their "comical" line up, which really should be sold as cheap toy RCs imo. "Comicals" seem like a sad cash grab to me.

I'm not sure I agree with that. The mini - yes, but the comicals (GF01 and WR01 based) are pretty good performers and have no shortcuts that would make be think they are worth any less. Put it this way, if a GF01CB is a toy grade then the CW01 should be found in a Christmas cracker. :D

 

 

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I'll limit my choices to what I've owned at some point in time.

1. Best. How do you categorise this ? Model I had most fun with ? The one I think has the good design features ? The ones I would buy in a heartbeat that I don't have now ? The question requires as much debate as the answer really. I can't think of a single car that I wouldn't want modify in some way to improve it. My TXT-1 is the model I've owned for the longest, but I've heavily modified it to get it reliable so it's only really part Tamiya now. If I had to buy a car and use it as stock (not including bearings and pinions), off the top of my head I would probably go with an original hotshot II (Not a fan of the new blockhead colour scheme)

2. The worst one for me personally, and I know this is going to be a controversial opinion, is the hornet. I bought one back in the 80s after owning a hotshot, and although I really liked the looks of the Hornet, I was instantly disappointed in it after having driven it for the first time. The handling is just appalling.  Then in the early 2000s when the pound was worth about $2, I got another one cheap off EBay, realised my first impression back in the 80s was correct, and after having it languish in the loft for a couple of years, sold it on and haven't looked back since.

As a complete aside, there are loads of models on this forum that have been built / modified by members that would grace the Tamiya catalogue. Just some of the colour schemes that people come up with look so much better than stock. I sometimes think they must block the site for all employees that work in the design office...........

 

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Best?  It has to be something iconic, something affordable, something fun, something very Tamiya and something easy to run/maintain/modify etc.  For that reason I agree with @Saito2 - it has to be the Lunch Box.

Worst?  It would have to be the opposite of all the above so something like the VQS would get my vote.  It seems to me to be an expensive and utterly pointless re-re!

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34 minutes ago, Nikko85 said:

I'm not sure I agree with that. The mini - yes, but the comicals (GF01 and WR01 based) are pretty good performers and have no shortcuts that would make be think they are worth any less. Put it this way, if a GF01CB is a toy grade then the CW01 should be found in a Christmas cracker. :D

Point taken on the CW01, for what its worth I view my Grasshopper as more in line with neat old toys than "hobby grade", more in line with a Nikko FS10 than an RC10.

20 minutes ago, MadInventor said:

I'll limit my choices to what I've owned at some point in time.

1. Best. How do you categorise this ? Model I had most fun with ? The one I think has the good design features ? The ones I would buy in a heartbeat that I don't have now ? The question requires as much debate as the answer really. 

2. The worst one for me personally, and I know this is going to be a controversial opinion, is the hornet.

1. I catagorize "best" as which is the most fun and easy to maintain.

2. I've never had a Hornet, but I remember trying a 15T motor on my Grasshopper (just made it roll over alot), a basic 540, now I just run a 380. I like mine but objectively speaking there are modern toy-grade buggies that are cheaper and quicker.

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29 minutes ago, Twinfan said:

Best?  It has to be something iconic, something affordable, something fun, something very Tamiya and something easy to run/maintain/modify etc.  For that reason I agree with @Saito2 - it has to be the Lunch Box.

Worst?  It would have to be the opposite of all the above so something like the VQS would get my vote.  It seems to me to be an expensive and utterly pointless re-re!

I just looked up the VQS, I can't imagine why you'd pay so much for one of those. But then again I'm not a big fan of Tamiyas more stylized buggys.

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Can only speak to what I own/have owned:

Best > Blackfoot, I love this thing and has a great look to it. 

Worst > CC01,  Garbage little thing that is, what a terrible platform.  I bought one a few years back and sold it before I even put electronics in it.  

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