Did you obsess over the Tamiya catalogues as a kid?

[Hibernaculum]

G'day,

Did anyone else obsess over the Tamiya Catalogues back in the day? And is there a particular year or Guide Book you consider your favourite? Perhaps there's a particular issue that contains all your favourite cars, and captures what you see as the Golden Age of Tamiya?

For me, the Catalogues were where it all started.....(put the kettle on folks, as this post may require 23598279045612345 pages....)

We shouldn't forget, as we enjoy Tamiyaclub and all the other great sites out there, that once upon a time it was virtually impossible for a kid to even find a picture of a particular old Tamiya car. There was no internet, and magazines were sometimes hard to come by. Sure, in the 1980s when the vintage cars were still available, you could get catalogues and magazines from Hobby Stores. But who knew back in the 1980s that certain cars were going to become collectible and be considered 'vintage'? By the early 1990s, as the cars and parts began to dry up, we reached a kind of "dark ages".....a post-Vintage-Tamiya, and pre-Internet-age blackout, when the only way to find information about the old cars was to rummage through boxes of old second hand magazines at Hobby Stores.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I did this, all I could ever find were old magazines about RC Planes that were misleadingly titled "RC Modeller" or "RC modelling" and things like that. I used to wonder if the RC Plane fraternity were deliberately hijacking the term "RC". Even today, after 30 years of RC car popularity, some RC plane magazines still seem carry this misleading sort of title....

Anyway.

Back in the beginning, I had no Tamiya cars, no friends who owned Tamiya cars, and no pictures of Tamiya cars. My experiences with the Tamiya brand were confined to occasionally seeing one racing around in a dusty car park somewhere in the distance, either in the hands of some kid I didn't know, or someone who was older than me and wouldn't let me have a "turn" at driving even if I had asked.

My knowledge of Tamiya cars was pretty much limited to a handful of mere names carried by the wind..."Hornet", "Grasshopper", "Frog", "Fox" and "Hotshot". Kids talked about them at school occasionally. For some reason, I knew almost no-one who actually owned a Tamiya. They were exotic, expensive toys that everyone knew, and no-one had. So for many years I wondered what they were like.

Then one day at school, a friend of mine brought in a Tamiya brochure (you know, the two-fold, single page model showcase brochure) containing photos of a RC few cars. For the first time in my life, I actually got to look at some pictures of them and study the iconic style, realism and colours of Tamiya's mid 80s buggies.

Kids love to collect things, and in my mind I immediately loved the idea of "collecting" all these different coloured cars - the Green Grasshopper, Yellow/Black Hornet, Pink Frog, etc. Each one different, and yet competitive. Somehow the photos were so good (with that classic, glossy black surface and the car at an isometric angle to the camera) that it made each model seem.....larger than life.

Also intriguing were the opinions I heard from other kids, who claimed that certain cars were better than other cars. Knowing nothing, I soaked it up. Some said the Frog was faster than the Falcon, others that the Hornet was the fastest, or that the Fox was better than the Hotshot, and so on. With so much complexity and detail built into each powerful design, I wondered, as I'm sure we all did, which ones really were the fastest. In fact, I still wonder to this day.

So we studied this little brochure, trying to glean as much information as we could from the small pictures. We did this during class of course (and got into trouble). I think the brochure might even have been confiscated temporarily, before being given back at lunch time, allowing us to continue wishing like crazy that we could own them.

Another kid who considered himself knowledgable about Tamiyas, came over and told us that he thought some of the buggies were petrol powered - which despite the fact that I don't like petrol powered RC cars these days, at the time made the cars seem even more exotic and expensive. This kid pointed at (believe it or not) the rubber bag regions on the Froga and Hornet images and said they contained petrol. (Imagine this in reality - given the notorious disintegration properties of the rubber bag!). But the funny part was that the colouring and lighting of the rubber bags in the images actually made this idea remotely plausible to the untrained, 11 year old eye. The rubber bags actually looked a little brown-ish rather than black - and with the light shining on them in a couple of photos, they looked a little plastic-like. To my imagination, I began to see what I thought was a clear plastic pouch filled with dark reddy-brown fluid (which was what I assumed petrol looked like). If anyone's curious: view the small catalogue images of the Hornet and Frog (the same photos appear in several catalogues). Maybe you can see what I mean, or maybe I was just a delusional 11 year old []. Anyway, this strange illusion lived on in my mind for some time afterward, even though my Dad had doubts about the idea.

Anyway, my friend eventually had to give this little brochure back to his older brother. A few weeks later, I remember asking him to bring it to school again, but tragically he was unable to find it. Despite days of searching his cupboards, he or his brother had lost it, and so our single page of Tamiya info had been lost - forever. Imagine that? I had no clue that there would one day be something called an "internet", or that Tamiyas would one day be so collectible that pictures of them would wizz along phone lines around the world. As far as I was concerned, the older Tamiya cars that I had dreamed of were now lost toys that had been enjoyed by others, and once they were gone they were gone. My best hope was of finding some old catalogue or magazine, and eventually, perhaps buy a few old, beaten up cars that I could try to repair.

For about another whole year, I remained crazy about RC cars, yet had no pictures of any of Tamiya's famous array of vehicles.

Then one day I was talking to another kid about RC vehicles in general, and it turned out that he was into RC planes.

As it happened, I had an old RC plane magazine at home, which I had actually got for free. By chance it turned out that he had an old Tamiya catalogue at home. We agreed to bring them both in to school and swap. He ended up very happy with his magazine (which amazed me as I felt I was getting the better deal), whilst I got his copy of the 1987 Tamiya Catalogue. I was about 12 years old.

This 1987 catalogue left an indelible impression on me. The front and rear covers had been torn off, but the bulk of the catalogue was in tact. Obviously, after I had been starved of Tamiya info for most of my childhood, this catalogue was a treasure and was always going to end up being my sentimental favourite. But I also think it's a great catalogue from the point of view that it contains many of the most iconic Tamiya cars of all time. I think I was lucky to have had this particular catalogue to analyse for hours on end, when I was first learning about Tamiya cars.

First, in the RC section, there's a large profile on the Porsche 959 (the 'feature car' of the catalogue). Then there's a page containing the main collection of current models of the time - Wild Willy, Frog, Grasshopper, Hornet, Hotshot, Wild One, Fox, Boomerang. On the opposite page is the Road Wizard, and the Supershot. On the following pages are the Monster Beetle, LeMans type racers, Falcon, Bigwig, Blackfoot, and Bruiser.

All of these are iconic cars, and almost all were the first model to use their particular chassis type. Almost every one of them also represented a breakthrough in RC history (whether small or large), and contributed in some way to the innovation of the hobby.

1987 was a great year for Tamiya cars, and it was a great year to be introduced to what they were all about. It might also have been the last truly great year.

After 1987, Tamiya began to gradually overstock their range somewhat, and make several mistakes (I feel) with their lineup, by doing the following...

- Replacing original cars with cars that were identical underneath, had identical specifications, and simply had new body designs that did little to improve upon their predecessor (e.g. Boomerang --> Super Sabre). Such cars are generally less collectible today as they fall into the "nice to have" category rather than being essential moments in Tamiya history.

- Progressing toward 'spaceship' body designs (e.g. Avante), which while not bad in principal (and I do not mind spaceship designs, per se), ultimately contributed to the demise of realistic RC design by leaving designers with nowhere to go in trying to make each year's new cars seem more 'futuristic' and 'modern' than last year's. However, this is a complex issue that was as inevitable as it was regrettable.

- Creating a few designs that were probably supposed to supercede the Hornet, yet which were outlasted by it (e.g. Striker) and ended up as historical also-rans. Basing buggy designs on Jet Fighter shapes never quite worked somehow...

Anyway, as for my old 1987 Tamiya catalogue, I still have it. At one point, fearing that further pages may come loose, I laminated the front and back page. (?).

At another point, I was worried that the RC pages had become a little creased, and I tried using Mum's clothes iron to iron the pages a little smoother. This worked, but I did it for a bit too long, and despite being on "mild" heat it caused some faint bubbling on the pages []

These were the behaviours of a young Tamiya fan on a shoe-string budget.

I also read that catalogue so many times, I ended up memorising the descriptions of many of the cars....("this aggressive vehicle is aptly named" - Hornet)....("A true off-road bred dirt sprinter." - Fox)....and even other parts of the catalogue, like the quotes underneath the war dioramas....(this is purely from memory: "What did Snubert say?" "He said war is a continuation of politics, by other means.")......

To this day, I think that a large part of my inspiration to collect Tamiya cars comes from those early years of gazing at my first catalogue and longing to own them. And my strange desire to create a display cabinet of the cars is directly inspired by those great photos of mint-built cars posing on a glossy black surface....

Anyone else got any catalogue stories as sad as mine? []

cheers,

H.

[DJTheo]

Ah, the good 'ol catalogues... [H] My Tamiya passion also started with them when in 1984 my dad brought just by coincidence from a business trip to Germany from a hobbyshop where he used to go to get me stuff for my Maerklin modeltrain a 1984 Behringer Tamiya catalogue. Isn't it interesting how a little coincidence can affect a persons life so much, or wasn't it one??

Behringer was the nice previous German importer (before Carson/Dickie [+o(]) and made his own catalogues, using nice pics from Tamiya catalogues and guidebooks as well some extra info he propably calculated  himself, like V-max of different cars (but very exact and precise, not the 30,35,40km/h general and wrong data on Dickie leaflets) or tips how to improve the cars.

I immediately fell in love, especially with the pickups (Ranger, Brat and Hilux), as their realism (Greece is full of pickups) and images of blasting in the mud or sand fascinated me. So everyday after primary school at noon I was taking the catalogue and listening on my walkman my first pop/rock tapes and daydreaming for hours how it would be to drive them. Same I was doing whenever I was at the countryside and seing a nice terrain, mud or water puddle. Also reading the test trip Behringer had organized around a lake (almost 300km) with a Brat made my desire even higher.

My first original Tamiya catalogues and guidebooks where from 85 or 86 and since then I wouldn't miss them a single year, till early 90s when cars got boring and I had a break from the hobby. Unfortunately also somehow lost somehow those first "Behringers" (guess borrowed them to a friend as I usually never loose this kind of stuff) although not all the others, but thanks to ebay I have and collect them all now. Tamiya are masters of marketing, knowing how to attract and addict innocent children!

Cheers

[Corpse Thrower]

I think the first one I saw was at the end of 1983....a boy at school had a sand scorcher, and I was amazed at how its wheels span up the sand in the sand pit. Wow!! A toy car that can spew up dirt like a motorbike!! Needless to say I befriended him immediately, and he lent me his Tamiya 1983 catalogue for a week. I read it every night, marvelling over the remote shock resevoir on the Superchamp, and the dioramas in the war section. Hmmm.....what were the cars I remember out of that one....the Ford Ranger (which I got Feb 1984!!) the Super champ, the Sand Scorcher, the Holiday Buggy, Sand Rover, the Rough Rider, and the Lamborghini Cheetah. Thats all I can remember out of the off road cars....Were there any more that year?

 

The next year I think the "new chassis" came out, which was the Frog/Brat/Lancia.... so I got the Lancia at the end of 1984 (I think....could be wrong)....and I remember some of the highlights in that years catalogue were the Racing pack, and the RS 540 SD BLACK MOTOR!!! Wow!! A motor to make these things faster!!

 

Hehe....can't believe I thought my Ford Ranger was fast....things have certainly changed!!

[mike32]

Hello same story for me too. I grew up as a kid unable afford Tamiya Cars but had a Tamiya Catalog, and used to dream at owning ANY of those shiny cars, i guess this pictures i looked at the most where the Hornet and Hotshot. I'd used to hide them in class and pre-tend to be working, while day dreaming instead, of course my grades dropped abit.....So yes i know what it feels like. I was like in grade 7 or 8 at the time, and for christmas i got a Jethopper....not really what i wanted, but it was pretty fast, and plenty of kids in my street had them too, so i was happy with that.

My first BIG break came in 1988 when  i got a Nikko Rhino for Xmas, the first car i owned with one of those 7.2 racing packs, and was rapped. It was super fast...(some people claim it was faster than the Hornet)?? I got alot of enjoyment out of it, but sady spares where hard to come buy, back then, and i had to retire it from its working life. I'm searching on Ebay for another Bison F10 as they too are becoming collectable.

Next Xmas i got a "full" build it yourself Tamiya Hornet, with a hobby shop near by with plenty of spares, it lasted me 4 years before i totally wore it out.

Thats where R/C cars ended for me, i was busy spending money on other things, dirt bikes, my first car etc, and coundn't afford it anymore and forgot it.

NOW in 2005-6 with Tamiya re-releasing the Hornet, Frog and Grasshopper, my childhood dreams came flooding back, i bought 2 Hornets, 1 grasshopper,and 1 Frog, and the "old days where back" and feel like a kid again, only this time i can afford ( within reason) what i want, i went on to get a mint 2 Hotshots that im currently re-building, 2 mint Boomerangs, a mint fox, and in the future hopefully a Tamiya falcon and Bison-F10.

What i missed out in childhood looking at magazines, i can at least make up now, and the excitement is still there, you never grow up! Thats my story...thanks for your time!

Mike30

[Gruntfuggly]

What do you mean 'Did'? I still do...

[SJoerD]

Even I, as a younger generation in TC, hold dear memories of the Tamiya catalogues. I used to look at the King Blackfoot, Subaru Imprezza, and Porsche 993 GT1. And all the other colorfull cars. Maybe not the trivial Sand Scrochers and Frogs for me, but still the idea is the same.

When I bought a Holiday Buggy from a flea market, I was hooked even more. Especially after finding out it is a Tamiya, and a lot older then me! This was mainly due to Theo's site - I remember downloading the big images with my slow modem connection, in order to find info on this old car. []

[Wandy]

Yep, one of the first things I had to get off ebay when I got back into this hobby was the good old R/C guide book. Trouble is if you want to have the photos and literature that covers the whole of the 'Golden Era' ie, roughly 1980 to 1988 then you need to have about 3 catalogues...say perhaps 1981, 1985 and 1989 to cover it, even though they all just repeat the same information! For me the Golden Era started with the Rough Rider and ended with the Avante, and I currently have the 1987 (Bigwig front cover) edition so I need a couple more. The 1986 Hotshot front cover edition is the one that seems to fetch the most money when they come up on Ebay. I think 1985 represented the absolute peak of Tamiya's 1/10th buggy era with the release of the Hotshot so it comes as little surprise that so many want the guide book that represented that time period.

[T.C~Tamiya]

Ahh yes, good old Tamiya catalogues, they were great, the second most exciting type of catalogue to read when you're twelve years old.[6]

[fyra89]

For me, it was Tower Hobbies catalogues.  My introduction to r/c

came in the spring of 1989 when a friend brought home a 1989 Tower

catalogue that his cousin had given him.  We spent hours--no,

days, weeks, months--poring over it deciding which cars to get. 

At the time, Tower had big color ads for Kyosho products but just

little black-and-white boxes for the Tamiyas.  I still found the

Tamiyas more interesting, as they had "personality" that came through

even in that format.  I remember that Tower's Tamiya selection in

the 1989 catalogue was quite extensive--the only cars I specifically

remember are the Hotshot (II?) and the Hornet, but there were probably

two dozen or more, and when I found this site, it brought back the

memories . . . . 

BTW, if anyone has late '80s-early '90s Tower catalogs, I'd love to get copies, or at least scans of the Tamiya pages.

[larbut]

Ok, here's one of my catalogue memories:

Tha Tamiya thing came back to me one summer a couple of years ago, when I found my old Hilux and my old 1983 Tamiya Guide Book in my parents attic.

Back in 1983, being only 14 years, I could not afford the cars I wanted so I looked in the Guide Book, and fell in love with the XR311 []

I actually took it s far that I checked out prices on the spareparts, in case I ever got one, and luckily I wrote the prices in the Guide Book...

Here are the prices I wrote, read them and weap/laugh...

(prices are converted from NOK to USD in today's exchange rate)

SP-1026, XR311 Chassis Set, USD 4,70,-

SP-1027, XR311 Underguard Set, USD 2,30

SP1028, XR311 Bevel Gear Set, USD 4,00

SP1029, XR311 E-Parts, USD 4,70

SP-1030, XR311 G-Parts, USD 3,60

SP-1032, XR311 D-Parts, Wheel, USD 2,00

SP-1033, XR311 Gear Set, USD 3,00

SP-1034, XR311 Shaft Set, USD 4,00

SP-1035, XR311 Universal Shaft Set, USD 2,65

SP1036, Ball Bearing Set, USD 4,70

SP-1040, Cheetah Wheel Set, USD 2,00

SP-1117, 1/10 SRB Universal Joint, USD 9,00

SP-1118, 1/10 SRB Damper Set, USD 9,00

SP-1052, XR311 Spare Tyre Set, USD 2,00

SP-1060, Cheetah Spare Tyre Set, USD 2,00

And now to the real high priced items:

SP-1053, XR311 Body Parts Set, USD 17,90 !

SP-1061, Cheetah Body Parts Set, USD 17,90 !

5122, Sand Scorcher Spare Tire, Rear, with wheel, USD 7,00

5162, Toyota 4x4 Pickup tire with Wheel, USD 9,00

5165, Blazing Blazer Spare Tire Set, USD 14,00

5161, Toyota 4x4 Pickup Body Parts Set, USD 27,20 !

5164, Blazing Blazer Body Parts Set, USD 27,20 !

Imagine me sitting there counting my weekly allowance, only to discover I could not even afford the spares... But It lead to somthing good anyway... Later, I believe in 1984, I bought the 58028 Toyota 4x4 Pickup, and I still have it []

I still remember cycling the 3km to the regional post office on a Saturday, because I had gotten the notice that the parcel had arrived there, and could not wait until Monday, when It sould arrive at my local post office. So, my mum called the regional office, explained, and asked if I could collect it, and sure I could []

It was then I learned the the Hilux came in a very large box, and that it was very heavy.. I remember walking all the way back home, afraid the box would fall off the bike if I cycled...

So that is the kind of memories I get when looking at that particular Guide Book []

Lars

[Thunderbug]

Well, it wasn't quite the catalogues for me. After I bought my first Tamiya, which was the Hornet back in the day, it came with a small leaflet in the box advertising all the buggies available at the time. From memory I believe it included the Super Champ, Frog, Hornet, Grasshopper, Brat and a few others I can't remember. I used to look at this leaflet for ages thinking how good it would be to own all of them.

I thought it was the entire Tamiya range at the time and had no idea there were guide books as well. That soon changed when I discovered a guide book in a local Toy Store. Little did I know how it would affect my future. Ahhh, such fond memories.

[tamartin]

For me it was not only the Tamiya catalogues.

I had a Kyosho one, here in Austria you normally had a Graupner to have a look at the cars, but I could managed to get a original Kyosho one, with the Land Jump and Scorpion !!!! in it with wonderfull pics.

I dreamed to have a Scorpion and to demoralize my friends with their SRBs and Ayks.

I had a Scorcher at that time.

But in the Tamiya catalogues you had much more pics of cars running with different paintshemes aso.

Most other ones had only static pics.

It was almost impossible to find nice color pics of other cars, so we always headed to the annual Hobby convention here in Vienna, where private people showed their stuff.

Nowadays it is only for sale, only shops show up. Boring!!!!

But in 1984 or 85 you could see so much different homemade cars or altered ones. Was really impressive and to bring up new ideas.

[pleiku68]

My favorite was the MRC Catalog printed in 1987..It had like 20 of the vintage cars like the Frog, Big wig and Bruiser, that MCR was sell for Tamiya at the time..My dream was to have one of each but back then I was broke and trying to build a business..but 10 year latter I bought them all and then some..Funny but there are no SRB's in the Catalog and that is what I collect now. I still have the catalog which is somewhat worn and coffee stained..Maybe even a few tear drops..Yes those were the day but today is not half bad either....LOL...jerry

[TWINSET]

I remember years ago when they had the half-width inside page, there was something about "being synonymous with an Tamiya kit" - Not a Tamiya kit, an Tamiya kit - always made me wonder how 'Tamiya' was pronounced [:^)]

I'm pretty sure it's the catalogue with the Super Champ parts laid out inside, could be wrong though, was a long time ago

[bangstick]

I never had the luxury of a whole catalogue devoted to tamiyas, but my 1st expirience of them was a few photos on a page of a normal catalogue in the toys section at the back. I remember seeing the pictures of the cars running and it would be on some dusty track somewhere. I always asked for one but due to the cost never got one. They always looked so **** good!

[wilrayca]

Wow, I don't know how many hours I spent looking at the catalogue back in 86/87.  I wanted a Falcon so bad it was all I could think about.  My cousin had just gotten a Frog and that made it worse.  The funniest thing I can remember was telling my dad that the Falcon was made out of the same material as a bath tub.  Remember the Tamiya description: "ABS bathtub type chassis".  After a year of nagging my dad took me to the store to pick out my car.  I still go back and look at that same catalogue, brings back great memories.

[Scorpn]

A friend of mine had a Grasshopper, Must have been one of the first ones out and let me drive it - wow after that I was in the LHS  after school all the time looking at the catalogues - The Tamiya catalogues just have a look that made the cars so good especially after driving the Grasshopper you wanted to try the Hornet with the big bad 540, My father owned a Bike shop and wanted to expand into another line of Products - guess what he chose!!!, my first car was the Falcon which I paid Cost for (can't remember how much) but all the new catalogues and pictures I was the first one in the area to see them and also to build them as many of our customers paid me to build their cars - Joy Joy Joy, (The first car I restored was a FAV which I just ordered the parts I wanted (imagine that), airbrushed the paint scheme and everything - was a terrible car to drive at the track, so I sold it to buy the new Thundershot - Boo hoo hoo)

I even got to go to the the new product launches and sneak previews of the cars - this was the best time a teenage boy could have had at the time - I often took the catalogues home even though I could open the actual boxes - sad really

I think that I was probably the first one in NZ to get the Avante (I still have it) as I ordered it from the preview launch! I was probably the first one to touch it as security wasn't tight so I was able to pick up the Tamiya display model and look at that! - I am still surprised I was able to get away with that.

However it was not long after that that the business was sold and along with it all the catalogues pictures etc, and I discovered real cars/girls/Beer! - I still think about the Golden age though

Glenn

 

[jerrywasaracecardriver]

I remember waiting for the UPS man for must have been 2 weeks straight,, to deliver my Audi Quattro Rally. Each morning lingered on for slow hours till about 11:30 wich is when the UPS man usually made his rounds in my neighborhood. Then every day the time would pass, and I knew he wasnt coming today. But I hoped mabey he was just late. Then the next day came,, and same thing. It seemed like 2 weeks lasted a whole year! I got into the habbit of calling the UPS office to see if the package was waiting. One day, I called, and it had arrived, but was in transit, on the local delivery truck! It didnt arrive that day. Ohhhh so sad. What a way to start. Too many deliveries that day, or perhaps it was burried in the truck and overlooked. My Mom took me to the UPS office early next morning, and the kind route driver dug it out of his truck before taking off on his daily trip.  I had to wait till we got home before opening the plain brown box it was packed in. I had to sit, obediently in the car, holding my new prize, not being able to see it for a whole 15 minutes!! When we got home, I opened one end of the box, and there was the end box art. It was packed tightly in its plain brown shell, so was difficult to remove. Once out in the open, I carefully tore the shrink wrap off, and pulled off the lid. MMMM, yes, it was worth waiting for! Yes, I was obcessed, but not over the catalogs.

[Hibernaculum]

G'day,

Great posts, lads. []. Nice stories and memories...

Behringer was the nice previous German importer (before Carson/Dickie [+o(]) and made his own catalogues, using nice pics from Tamiya catalogues and guidebooks as well some extra info he propably calculated  himself, like V-max of different cars (but very exact and precise, not the 30,35,40km/h general and wrong data on Dickie leaflets) or tips how to improve the cars.

Theo, do you mean to say they calculated the top speeds of all the cars to a precise figure? Any chance you could list all the cars and their speeds as they appear in these Behringer catalogues?

Hello same story for me too. I grew up as a kid unable afford Tamiya Cars but had a Tamiya Catalog, and used to dream at owning ANY of those shiny cars, i guess this pictures i looked at the most where the Hornet and Hotshot. I'd used to hide them in class and pre-tend to be working, while day dreaming instead, of course my grades dropped abit.....So yes i know what it feels like. I was like in grade 7 or 8 at the time, and for christmas i got a Jethopper....not really what i wanted, but it was pretty fast, and plenty of kids in my street had them too, so i was happy with that.

My first BIG break came in 1988 when i got a Nikko Rhino for Xmas, the first car i owned with one of those 7.2 racing packs, and was rapped. It was super fast...(some people claim it was faster than the Hornet)?? I got alot of enjoyment out of it, but sady spares where hard to come buy, back then, and i had to retire it from its working life. I'm searching on Ebay for another Bison F10 as they too are becoming collectable.

Just about everything is becoming collectible these days. Jet Hoppers (aka Turbo Hoppers) can fetch a nice price too.

In recent months I've managed to get NIB examples of both a Rhino and a Turbo Hopper.

As to whether the Rhino was faster than the Hornet, that's a question for the ages. The Rhino was essentially the same car as the Radio Shack Golden Arrow too, which was popular in Australia. A lot of people have fond memories of the Golden Arrow's speed back in it's day (1987-1989). I managed to get a NIB Golden Arrow a few months ago too, though it didn't come cheap.

cheers,

H.

[DJTheo]

Hibernaculum, when I have time some day will post them, although actually it would easier and precise to calculate them ourselves, knowing the RPMs of the old motors, gearings and tire diameters. The one I remember of by heart is the Can Am Lola as its impressively fast, 49km/h! [H]

Cheers

[technical.burP]

I was obsessed with the Tamiya Guide book from 85/86 with the Hot Shot on the cover. Before I went to bed, I took a look at those great photographies, especially the action pictures fascinated me very much.

Before I was a Tamiyafan, I used to fly RC planes and so Graupner was important for me too. The Graupner catalogue from 1984 was also a good night lecture when my interest shifted towards buggies.

[Corpse Thrower]

Because of this website, I went to my parents place today, and found my Ford Ranger, Lancia Rally, and Sand Scorcher body, plus nearly enough parts to make a chassis for it.......and a 1993 catalogue!!!

 

Hehehe....campus friends set....[]

[HunterZero]

I first became aware of Tamiya cars through a friend who brought a handful of the Moko Chan RC Lecture sheets to school, and the RC handbook that had the Hotshot on the front. He also had the 1987 catalogue, which he gave to me. I read over that catalogue cover to cover loads of times, but I particularly liked the glossy colour pictures of the Tamiya line-up of RC cars of the time... Super Shot, Hot Shot, Fox, Bruiser, Falcon, Grasshopper, Frog, Hornet, Grasshopper, 959, Bigwig, Road Wizard... Sensational pictures. Some of the pictures had models with cut-away gearboxes showing the insides, which were very cool.

I'm lucky that I was a child that kept his things in good condition, because I still have that catalogue, intact in excellent condition. And I still have my Frog too, which I kept all complete, even the box and inserts. Didn't lose a single part. Even some of the worn and broken bits I kept!

The catalogue didn't have any of the SRBs in it though. I had never seen an SRB at the time, so when I received some new spare tires for my Frog, and the boxes had the SRBs on them - Sand Scorcher fronts, Rough Rider rears, and rear buggy spikes from the Super Champ - I wondered what they were, and what they were like. Now I know!

- James

[Saito]

What I found interesting about the '87 Guide Book was a section on selecting Tamiya vehicles.  It seemed to give a rating system and a clue as to which cars were meant for which market.  The Grasshopper and Brat were entry level.  The Hornet, Wild One and Fast Attack Vehicle were intermediate.  Tamiya touted the Fox and Frog as the ultimate in 2wd drive performance for those seeking a true racer.  There was even a bit for those who wanted a dynamic stunt and off road vehicle.  They were refering to the Wild Willy and Pajero at this point.

The other thing I used to study (often with a magnifying glass) was the vintage pictures of races around the world.  Most of the cars on the track were Rough Riders with an occasional Sand Scorcher thrown in.

[Hibernaculum]

It's funny when someone else posts something, and you just go..."that

was exactly like me". HunterZero, yes, the cutaways []. And the SRBs

on the parts boxes - exact same thing happened here! And nice to hear

I'm not alone on the 1987 catalogue.

I actually bought a set of Padlatrak rear tyres (in the original

coloured box) at my local hobby store at one point, who was selling

them off cheap (about $10 a box) and wondered what a "Sand Scorcher"

was, assuming it was the Beetle buggy on the box. Though at first I

thought that Beetle might have just been a generic stock drawing of an

atypical Baja Bug, to symbolise the kind of car that might use such

tyres. When I eventually woke up and realised, it was like making some

great archaeological discovery....

I also managed to get front tyres and wheels in boxes. And later, Rough

Rider fronts in boxes. Now that I see people selling these mere tyre

set boxes on ebay, I'm glad I got them when I did. Amazing to think

that particular Hobby Store had a plastic container full of old tyres,

in boxes, on sale and sitting on the floor in the early 90s....what a

shame those days are over. Wish I could go back and buy the whole

container load.

Incidentally, I did score a brand new Hornet body set (original with

original stickers) at a 'lost' little hobby store in a country town

recently. Together with some Manta Ray, Lunch Box and Bearhawk parts

trees, I paid AU$55 for the lot, which was pretty good. The 'finds' are

thin on the ground these days, but there are still some good things out

there.

So says the guy with the $65 NIB Super Champ discovery from late last

year - but that was sheer insanity, let's face it. In general, an

original Hornet body set is enough to give you a smile as you walk out

the door.

cheers,

H.