Tamiya.... Just toys??

[grusomkis]

After i have started to get cars like Losi XXX-4 and Associated TC3 , B3 I have started to think why dont Tamiya make serious racing cars too? Well i have a TB Evo 3 Surikarn , so i know they make good touring cars. But also they are very exspensive. I also miss cars that can match the XXX-4 or the Associated B3 B4 or Losi XXX Bk2.

My interest in Tamiya cars have dropped seriously since i started to get cars that can be seriously raced , and dont have **** suspention etc.. The Tamiya catalog says "Toys they are not"... Well, i am not so shure anymore.....

[netsmithUK]

I've always thought of them as toys, I guess mainly because I first had them as a kid, but I don't see the 'toy' label as a bad thing.

I'm not a serious racer though, I collect old toys - that about sums me and my hobby up[]

chris

[B@llsie]

The Touring Cars are definately no toys, Tamiya are World Champions after all!

The buggys and trucks don't seem to be able to compete with the big boys tho.

[Virus]

quote:I've always thought of them as toys, I guess mainly because I first had them as a kid, but I don't see the 'toy' label as a bad thing.

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i second netsmith, i have had tamiya since i was a wee lil boy (now 33) my fist tamiya i built wasnt even mine it was my m8's Grasshopper then he got a optima mid and i even built that. my first ever tamiya was his grasshopper after it was roadkilled by a ford granada [] then after lots of hard work £13 in them days its was back and sold for £30 if only i could go back in time an slap myself[] compared to other cheapo brands tamiya is the hilton hotel of them all even if it is just a toy in my eyes []

the brands u do mention are realy only aimed at the RC racer in mind. where as tamiya is trying to cater for the racers,collecters and newcomers in the hobby .and do a fantastic job of it too

Paul

[GPZ1000RX]

Tamiya bridges that huge gap between ready to run RC toys like Tomy etc and serious kit like Schumaker/Associated/Yokomo.

Most Tamiyas are relatively cheap, easy to build and can easily be made to look fantastic. For most buyers this is enough, they are never going to go near a race track with serious intent!

The down side, of course, is that these same cars would be totally outclassed at the track without considerable outlay of time and money on Hop ups, many would still be marginal no matter what you did!

In conclusion they are not just toys or serious kit but in between, a role they play very, very well!

Of course they can cut it at the top, and do, but it isn't where their heart is.

[grusomkis]

Like a guy at the race track said: "I was stupid to use all that money buying that TA03 , and use all that money on hop ups. I discovered this when i bought the X-Ray that was wayyy faster and tuneable than the TA 03. With less cost that the Tamiya too".

[mr_pushrod]

I race a Losi XXX-S graphite and an Associated TC3 rally and can safely say that no equivalently priced Tamiya would be as competitive. I don't think you can call Tamiya toys compared to these though as they offer a great introduction to racing and can be made to go very well. Losis, Associated or the like are great but can be overwhelming for someone starting out with their many adjustments. Tamiya are easy to build, tough and reliable allowing you to concentrate on learning how to drive rather than wrestling with an unpredictably handling car. Also Tamiya offer stuff like the tanks, 1/14th trucks, Clod and TLT that are pretty much unique. At the end of the day though, I have to admit all R/Cs are basically toys[]

[mymonsterbeetleisbroken]

i wouldnt say tamiyas trucks are toys and cant compete with the big boys [}]

a txt doesnt look like a toy, whereas i think and e maxx does []

the terra crusher can comete with a t maxx aswell cant it[?] (i really dont know lol[])

you couldnt compare a nikko with a super clod either - apart from the stickers []

tamiyas arent toys, as the warning sticker on the mammoth dump truck says "scale model intended for adults" [8D]

[theMonster]

I see Tamiya on the level with Traxxas, they build good tough cars and trucks. Everybody laughed at Traxxas and had t-shirts that said "friends don't let friends drive Traxxas" etc... Then came the T-Maxx and now everyone Loooooooooves Traxxas. Tamiya just needs that one *** kicking vehicle to put them back on the top of the name recognition list.

[Shodog]

Lets face it, until recently when Tamiya started getting serious about touring cars, all of their cars were subpar. I don't think you can name a Tamiya car that doesn't have some type problem or fault. Tamiya has been great about introducing new new genre's to R/C but then they drop the ball as other manufactuers take the concept and improve upon it.

As far as Tamiya coming up with the next big thing, I ask whats left to do? They could have easily made the Micro RS4 but they didn't. They could have also made the Losi Mini T but didn't. I think they are contenet to just stay in the shadows.

Jim

[terry.sc]

On road is the big racing class right now, so Tamiya have got serious in touring cars and proved what they are capable of. Off road is just not popular for racing, especially in Tamiyas home market. By far the majority of cars are bought for fun, not racing, so the racing market is very small relative to the number of cars bought for fun. There is no incentive for Tamiya to devcelop a competitive off roader. Because of the number of places Tamiya kits can be bought from a lot of R/Cers do not even know they can be raced.

Being a racer myself I generally chose Kyoshos for my off road racers during the late 80s/ early 90s (apart from a short lived sponsored Avante - given back as my old Optima was more reliable). No racer used a Tamiya, on the track there were less Tamiyas than there is now, yet Tamiya was still the big seller in the hobby shops. Tamiya had a good go at the UK and Euro championships (see the vintage reviews section for the works cars) but the racers still did not buy Tamiyas for racing and Tamiya pulled out and created its own championships instead. Today Tamiya is still by far the biggest manufacturer of R/C cars, even though in the off road racing world everyone seems to drive Associated or Losi. Kyosho used to be big in 1/10th racing circles, but changed to cheap 1/10th kits which cost less to develop but sell in greater numbers.

BTW regarding the high price of the Evo3, in the UK the Corally Assassin costs £430

[mjohnston39]

I think Tamiya has a serious offroad contender (although under-rated)with its new TNX, seems capable of holding its own with the new Traxxas REVO (a truck appearantly designed with racing in mind)...

Mike.

[El Mexican]

If you can modify it, it´s not a toy.

A Nikko will stay the way you bought it until you throw it in the garbage.

I think´s that´s why Tamiyas are not stictly 'toys', but more of a hobby with childish chracteristics.

(No toy should cost as much as these babies [:0]).

[theMonster]

I don't think the TNX could hold a candle to the REVO. It's not as fast as the T-Maxx, nor does it handle as good. There was a Monster Truck shootout in RC Car Action a couple of months ago and the T-Maxx won out easily, the Savage came next with the TNX tied with the Monster GT and one other truck that I forget and the Mad Force bringing up the rear because of it's poor handling (straight axles) and high center of gracvity (tippy). They said that the TNX did not come out in top in any category but was very good in everything and got a 9 out of 10 rating. Note: The REVO and the new Losi truck were too new to compete in the shootout.

If Tamiya is onto anyhing new and groundbreaking it's probably the TLT-1, but they screwed that up too by giving it too little ground-clearance thus turning it's "rockbuster" moniker into a joke by calling it the "rockhanger", "rockstucker" or the "rocktotterer".

[mjohnston39]

quote:I don't think the TNX could hold a candle to the REVO

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seems to suggest otherwise: http://www.tamiyausa.com/product/rc/setuptips/tnx_race.html

From somebody that actually was at the race (from the RCCA forum)

quote:Jimmy Jacobson checked out at the beginning and had 11 seconds (I was timing the difference between Jimmy and 2nd/3rd) on Steve Slayden/David Jun by the 4 minute mark. Steve and David fought for 2nd from the start. Everytime Steve would get an edge, he'd get caught up with lapped traffic. David always seemed to get through lapped traffic clean (I say it was driving ability, not Karma as others say). With a minute or 2 to go, Jimmy flamed out, giving David/Steve the battle for first instead of 2nd. With a lap to go, David flamed out, giving the hard fought win to Steve. It's too bad they couldn't run more than 7.5 minutes on a 150cc tank (dunno what happened there).

The TNX and the Revo both impressed. To me, the TNX is more intriguing as it seemed to run flatter through the rough stuff and turn quicker and sharper, which is amazing when you look at the size difference

---

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quote:There was a Monster Truck shootout in RC Car Action a couple of months ago and the T-Maxx won out easily

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Didn't think the TNX was out a few months ago, infact I can't find a monster truck shootout since the TNX has been made public...

[DJTheo]

I am happy Tamiya isn't just another "serious racing" RC company, you can find more then enough of them, but what you miss is the realism and innocent bashing fun that almost only Tamiyas provide [] How many people want or can afford to race? Very few, the rest has more fun with some fun or realistic vehicles in their back garden or parking lots.

Cheers

[Metallo]

Hi everybody

I've been smiling good reading the posts []

Seems like we all consider ourselves as "overgrown children"... That's true for me too (age 35): I've been owning a Tamiya since I was 12 and I've seen them been overtaken by the 'newcomers' every now and then.

My first Tamiya (a BRAT) was nice looking and sweet but definitely not a racer: at that times I was dreaming of a Rough Rider or a Super Champ, because they were REAL RACERS. Then I got a Turbo Optima and I suddenly changed my mind: They (Kyosho) were making REAL RACERS!

Then it came a CAT XLS: they were the new REAL RACERS (it was '88 world after all...)...

To make a long tale short, now I own a BRAT a FROG a BOOMERANG a TURBO OPTIMA a CAT XLS and a TC3.

TC3: these are definitely REAL RACERS []

So don't waste your time, nerve and £ looking for REAL RACERS: just have fun! []

Ciao

Metallo

[mud4fun]

LOL, great topic! I'd actually call them MODELS rather than TOYS, after all they are kits which require some skills to build. (RTR's are toys) However, I'll also agree that I'm re-living my youth, I'm now 36.

To be honest though, I get more fun from building the things than running them. Yes it is fun to get out and occasionally run them but that is only when there are others about to have some fun with.

I don't race my cars as such, used to but got bored when touring cars took over everywhere.

I find it mildy amusing when I see fellow members, who obviously love racing and competing at clubs, assuming that the majority of RC cars sold are also raced. The fact is hardly any RC cars sold are raced, probably less than 1% so to be fair to Tamiya why should they focus their designs on such a tiny minority.

The vast majority use their cars for bashing about. True, Tamiya do compete at certain levels but that is really only a marketing ploy to allow them to sell more of their base models just as the full size manufacturers do. They build custom rally cars, win a few rallies and then claim that all their normal road cars use technology from their race cars [)]

Losi and Associated are different, their market is very much that small 1% of racers whereas Tamiya is the 99% of Bashers. A little unfair to compare the two really although I'm more guilty than anyone for complaining about bad design from Tamiya [:I]

Also to be fair to Tamiya, although many of us might be old men reliving their youth, most buyers of Tamiya cars are genuine kids. I don't know about anybody else but I've noticed with my both my own and my sisters kids that they have an attention span to rival a goldfish. When I was a kid a major part of the fun with a Tamiya RC car was the building and painting of it. Now, kids aren't patient enough for all that 'hard work', they just want something that they can unwrap and run, which has the unfortunate effect of forcing Tamiya to concentrate on QD/XB cars. Kids of today are also not interested in fixing their 'toys' when they break, they have the 'throw away' mentality. If it is broke then they just buy a new one. This has led to poorer designs that are not either easy to fix or long lived. Tamiya are only producing what the market (majority) wants which is cheap RTR stuff. Sad but true, the good old days are gone.

However, I personally believe that there is a growing market for more detailed, scale, complicated kits that involve far more quality engineering. Many of us 30+ year olds are on significantly higher salaries and can more easily afford to spend hundreds on something like a 3spd. This is confirmed by the high prices being paid for such kits on ebay etc. Our generation grew up with airfix and Tamiya plastic model kits and LEGO. We have the patience and we get the enjoyment from such model kits which the kids of today just don't understand. My Father spends a fortune on train sets and highly detailed accessories, vast amounts of money and he is 65!! so fear not, you can still 'play' with your 'toys' for many years to come [8D]

[Virus]

aaahhh im [] now. i just had a worrying thought i was going thru a midlife crisis wanting to own lots of tamiyas [}] glad to see im not the only oldie here []

Paul

[theMonster]

MY BAD, I didn't read the forum write-up just the article you linked to which made no mention of the REVO, still you're talking about a guy who was at the race vs. a unbiased magazine who had not 1 but many professionals drive all of these trucks and give them a rating based on their professional opinions. If Csaba Cserre of Car and Driver says that the Ford Taurus is a better car than the Chevrolet Impala, I'm going to believe him over a dude that watched the cars racing at sactioned event.

[Chris Shontz]

There is something about Tamiya.

[mjohnston39]

quote:you're talking about a guy who was at the race vs. a unbiased magazine

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

Your calling RCCA unbiased, no publication will be unbiased if they accept advertizing, infact they've dedicated an entire special issue to the Tmaxx. Head over to the RCMT boards and see what people who actually know monster trucks think of RCCA's monster truck issue.

http://p083.ezboard.com/frcmtnet44998frm56...icID=4596.topic

http://p083.ezboard.com/frcmtnet44998frm56...icID=4578.topic

TNX in its first race from the people who actually drove it...

http://www.radiocontrolzone.com/forums/sho...3&highlight=TNX

quote:Dave Jun, Jimmy Jacobson and myself (David Anderson) had the chance to race the Tamiya TNX at the 2004 Pro-Line Maxx Challange. The trucks qualified 1st, 2nd and 4th. After leading the A-main by almost a whole lap, we ran out of fuel and ended up finishing 2nd, 3rd, and 4th

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

quote:If Csaba Cserre of Car and Driver says that the Ford Taurus is a better car than the Chevrolet Impala, I'm going to believe him over a dude that watched the cars racing at sactioned event.

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

Since this thread was generally focused on the potential for Tamiya to compete, I'll look at race results instead of RCCA's "unbiased" opnion. Infact other magazines have had nothing but glowing reviews for the TNX.

Mike.

[theMonster]

Yeah and they loved it too, it just lost out to the T-Maxx and ws not tested aganst the infinitely better REVO. Had you provided a link to the thread where the guy who was there talked about it, I would've read it. The only link that was there was to Tamiya's webiste which made no mention of any other vehicles. Anyway, the REVO is $130 more than a TNX and $200 more than a T-Maxx so it's a bit pricey and probably unfair to comare in that manner as well. In that issue of RC Action the REVO got a 9 out of 10 whereas the T-Maxx go a 9.X and so did the second place trucks. I'm not slighting the TNX one bit, it just isn't in the same class as the T-Maxx and especially not the REVO, plus there is a PLETHORA of hop-ups for the T-Maxx and only a few for the TNX and it'll be that way after the T-Maxx has been discontinued and the TNX has been out for 3+ years too! BTW there a quite a few Tamiya ads in RC Action, probably more than anybody else except for Trinity.

[mjohnston39]

quote:I'm not slighting the TNX one bit, it just isn't in the same class as the T-Maxx and especially not the REVO

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How can you justify that statement, in it's first race it qualified 1st and nearly beat the REVO with drivers who haven't reaced MTs previously. Afterall we are talking about competition cars/trucks here, not bashers...

quote:there is a PLETHORA of hop-ups for the T-Maxx and only a few for the TNX

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

True, but for racing/competiton, most of those hop-ups are not going to be useful, they'll add additional unneeded weight over the plastic resin parts. Looking at Tamiya's past record of hop-ups for their more competiton oriented cars, I would suspect we'll see some from them...

[theMonster]

I'll not argue the point any more. I like Tamiya stuff but time will tell who sells the most trucks and wins the most races.