Hey are these Marui cars any good.

[J3cubfan]

I've some of these come up on ebay from time to time and was curious if they have the same quality as Tamiya.

John

[wldnas]

from first impressions of the MIB kit they do bear a striking resemblence to early Tamiya kits with similar box art and neatly laid out blister packs within, the engineering is a little querky and contradictory on theses cars, at one end the suspension design would be inspired and sophisticated yet at the other end it would be crude and simplistic. they slavisly copy Tamiya designs on some cars yet mutate them with their own ideas. the thing that lets maruis down the most is the quality of the plastic, its a bit hard and brittle, broken chassis on Hunters/Galaxys are very common and the Wheelie cars/big bear also suffer. also the decals dont stick very well and tend to start to lift not long after being stuck down.

the best thing about Maruis cars are compared to Tamiyas of the same period they are quite cheap at the moment and they didnt make that many cars, to the best of my knowlage Marui only made about 15 or so cars during the 80's they are more into making replica firearms now but if your into something a little different then give Marui a try, their 4WD buggies are pretty good.

[mr_lister999.]

i never knew it was the same company making the guns as the cars. I thought it was just the same name but differnt places. Thats my thing i have learnt today. Interesting...

[bholio]

I have a Marui Big Bear. I got it free. I'm about to restore it. I like the detail of the body. The body is hard plastic. The car has a full interior and driver. The front grille is actually a grille, with holes thru it. However, there are no chrome parts (although I don't know if the real Datsun pickup has chrome either). The decals are slogans only, all of the 'real' detail (lights, badges etc) is molded into the body. No decals for lights here. The tires are unusually soft and squishy. They also look pretty good and are a nice size.

The chassis looks like what I think is a copy of a Wild Willy 1 (I've only seen pics of WW1, so not positive). The suspension is springs only. Very cheesy. Lots of room in there for electonics and stuff. The plastic does feel a bit weak. The steering linkages are thinner than Tamiya.

The worst engineering flaw I've found is an axle in the gear box which simply sits in a hole in the side of the gearbox. No bearing or bushing or anything. The hole in the gearbox has worn (actually moved!) significantly, and is causing a major gear misalignment problem, requiring the replacement of the gearbox case. I just received a replacement for $4.00 (USD) +shipping.

Overall, I like the Big Bear. However, it is not up to the engineering quality of the early Tamiya cars. I personally think the body/looks are only slightly lower than Tamiya. If I see a Jeep or Land Cruiser for a low price on ebay, I'll probably buy it.

[RETRO R/C]

I am always interested to hear how people think that Marui copied Tamiya - they may look similar - however I dont think you could say that ANY Marui is a copy of a Tamiya.

The plastics were only marginally inferior - and to be honest the detail on the Jeeps is exceptional or even BETTER than the Tamiyas !!

To my knowledge Marui Made only the following large scale R/C cars, all cars are 2wd unless otherwise noted (in no particular order!!):

1) Samurai (4wd)BUGGY

2) Shogun (4wd)BUGGY

3) Ninja (4wd)BUGGY

4) Hunter

5) Galaxy

6) Galaxy R/S

7) Golden eagle Jeep

8) Super Wheelie Land Cruiser

9) Blue Dolphin Jeep

10) Black wheelie Jeep

11) Big Bear

12) Coors Melling Thunderbird (4wd)

The 4wd's were either shaft or chain drive - the most successfull race 4wd for them was the Samurai. The best 2wd was the Hunter - it hadled a whole lot better than its competitor the frog - there I go again - I am talking in racing terms.

If you look at R/C cars today - can you honestly say that they (off road here guys) dont look complete photocopied versions of the other.

Once you are onto a good formula you stick to it. The essence of a 4wd or 2wd platform will always stick to a basic layout or formula - it is the details that make a difference.

my two cents

Darryn

[wldnas]

I think you missed 1 darryn!!!!

What about the Fabled Mitsubishi Pajero Wheelie Jeep that Marui Made, I know that nobody has ever seen one of these cars let alone a photo but they must exist cos the word "Pajero" is clearly printed on all the Parts bag labels of the Marui Wheely Jeep spares.

its gotta be the Holy grail of Marui RC collecting, If anyone ever comes across one, gimma a call []

[bholio]

The reason I said the Big Bear chassis was a copy of the Wild Willy was the fact that is is very similar. I don't really buy the notion that there is a forumla for this type of vehicle.

The chassis has a lower and upper section, although the Bear looks like it has a longer wheelbase. The rear suspension has long control arms which go from almost the middle of the chassis to the rear. The rear spings sit on a shaft which protrude thru the chassis. It's front bumper has big springs.

There is too much similarity here for them to have been developed independently. Maybe the Wild Willy copied Marui, I dunno.

[RETRO R/C]

hehehehe - first of all - I was not having a stab at anyone in particular with my comments!! [][:0]

The wheelie car formula in those days(in fact it still does), dictated that the battery had to be at the back - and double wishbone suspension was not really the norm back then - so I guess they used trailing arms - if you look at it that way =- you will see what I mean !

There were not alot of differences between any of those type of cars back then - it is only now, with the advent of the Wild Willy 2 that we see any type of "new" thinking at all to the off road "wheelie" car.....

I am not saying anyone here has done so ( in fact this just comes from other threads on other boards and this one) - however I hate to hear a brand ratted on because it is not Tamiya - there are other brands that are every bit as good as Tamiya in every respect - however they do not have the following that Tamiya have..not because the other brands are worse - because more people remember Tamiya from their childhood...remember - they were the best marketers of the product - and still are.

As for the Pajero - I have heard that they were all ready for production, the bean counters at Nissan wanted more for liscencing - and it all fell through - the labels had been printed already ![V]

There goes that fable ... then again - perhaps there was a pajero kit - however I know of no one that has one - and certailnly no one that has even seen one.wierd.

Cheers

Darryn

[DJTheo]

quote:As for the Pajero - I have heard that they were all ready for production, the bean counters at Nissan wanted more for liscencing - and it all fell through - the labels had been printed already !

id="quote">id="quote">

You mean Mitsubishi, right?

[RETRO R/C]

LOLOL - my "passion fingers" are hard at work ........ I was looking at nissan R34 Skylines while writing the post.....wooooops !! [xx(]

Cheers

Darryn

[njmlondon]

my LHS used to have a Ninja in the window which I lways loved the look of...

does anybody have one of these? what are they like to build and drive?

[wldnas]

Actually Id say that the Ninja is probably one of the best Buggys that Marui has produced.

The chassis was a more simplified and conventional shaft drive arrangement that was quite light and rugged and proformed quite well, back in the late 80's it was by far the most popular buggy that Marui have ever sold, I can remeber quite a few ppl at the local club owning and racing a few of them with some success and I think it was popular cos of its futuristic looks, it came out while the Tamiya Hotshot variants were at their hight but they were chunky and clumsy looking when placed next to the lean and nimble Ninja.

The only *** in the car armour that Ive found was the rear drive train gears, especially the bevels on the shaft drive, they were prone to jumping as the bearings wore thin and increased the mesh gap, which could lead to some unsavoury nosies of chewing gears from the back end of the cars.

so sucessful was the Ninja chassis that it was modified for use in the Coors Melling Thunderbird and the last Marui 4WD Buggy the Shogun.

[RETRO R/C]

Nicely put wldnas!!

Cheers

Darryn

[slimleeroy]

On 12/10/2002 at 4:01 PM, wldnas said:

I think you missed 1 darryn!!!!

What about the Fabled Mitsubishi Pajero Wheelie Jeep that Marui Made, I know that nobody has ever seen one of these cars let alone a photo but they must exist cos the word "Pajero" is clearly printed on all the Parts bag labels of the Marui Wheely Jeep spares.

its gotta be the Holy grail of Marui RC collecting, If anyone ever comes across one, gimma a call []

I think due to licensing issues the pajero never made it to sale. Check out "RC for old nuts" site. They have a brilliant page on the history of marui RC cars.