Getting Anything For Christmas? + Your Christmas R/c Memories!

[Hibernaculum]

Last year I tried starting a thread like this, figuring it was something everyone could respond to. It got a few replies, but then they died out...

But Christmas is nearly here again. About 7 weeks to go (49 sleeps).

And what would Christmas be, without adults buying R/C toys and hobby stuff?

Your mission: To answer the following...

1) Are you getting anything good for Christmas this year? If so, what?

2) Share some of your best (and worst) "R/C" related Christmas stories/memories!

Here's a bit more of my endless supply of R/C memories and babble.... (Skip it and just post your own if you like Key bits bolded to make skimming easy)....

Ever since I was a kid, I've been extra-addicted to R/C toys during the holidays. Best present I ever got was my first R/C car back in 1984.

So in the lead up to Christmas each year after that, I'd always be dropping plenty of hints and hoping for another one from Santa/family members. I'd leave Tandy and Tamiya catalogues lying around the house, and insist on test-driving R/C cars in the shops if I went to shopping centres with the family to get groceries.

We're talking the mid 1980s - when R/C cars were hot ticket items, and even the cheaper ones had great realism and sent a lot of kid's imaginations into overdrive.

Even today, opening a NIB Tamiya kit (or even a Nikko or Tyco, as those were my first) reminds me of Christmas because of the smell of freshly minted rubber, plastic and circuitry. Sad isn't it?

Anyway, to the questions...

1. Yes, but what I do is buy bits and pieces all year round. Then once it gets to about September, I tend to put anything new that arrives in the mail, away for Christmas. I might get my wife to check them, but otherwise I try to forget about them until Dec. 25th. It just makes Christmas Day fun, because I suddenly have long needed parts for projects etc PLUS some time off work to spend putting them to use.

2. Best Christmas memories - well, last year I got a NIB Sand Scorcher, NIB 959 and NIB Wild One. But before anyone hurls abuse, a lot of *******in saving and hard work went toward those. I'm not rich and they were anything but windfalls!

So I had an unbelievable Christmas. But even so, the Christmases you had as a kid, when you had very little, are every bit as good.

I remember one year when I bribed my Dad by offering to tell him what he was getting (a new, expensive Braun electric shaver), in exchange for him revealing what I was getting - which was a Tandy 4x4 Off Roader. This was before I ever had a Tamiya, and when getting any kind of R/C car was hugely exciting (even the $100 ones were major presents for me). We could hardly stop laughing as we tried to negotiate the 'deal' and swap our information at the exact same time (to ensure that neither one was ripped off) It must have taken 2 hours of joking until we finally spilled the beans.

That same year I also raided my sister's wardrobe looking for presents while she was out somewhere (yes I was desperate). And there I found (hidden very deeply) a second R/C car called the Nikko Night Stalker, which was an awesome little 1/18th buggy with a turbo function. So my excitement about Christmas was instantly doubled. (PS - If anyone else has a spare Nikko Night Stalker lying around, please sell it to me!). Christmas Day that year was brilliant, what with two new R/C cars (taking my total collection to 3). Opening them on Christmas morning was pure joy, and they were pretty much carried around with me everywhere I went for the rest of the day (and probably the week).

I spent that entire summer holidays building tracks for them, and pretending they were competitors in the Paris Dakar (which we had started to watch on TV). I didn't have any brothers or sisters my age, so it was just me and Dad (if anyone) racing these little cars around in the dust, and timing them with a stopwatch. To this day, I still have the scribbled timings and scoresheets in a folder. The Night Stalker held the lap record, though one particularly hot lap by my Tandy Jeep Renegade came a close second

This is why I love the hobby

Hope you all have a nice Christmas.

cheers,

H.

[skip665]

I dont think I have ever had a kit for Christmas - which leads me straight into my worst (and only) R/C Christmas. My friend and I had discovered Tamiya (aged 12 - circa 1989) and couldnt afford a kit so asked for one for Christmas - I asked for the Midnight Pumpkin and my mate asked for the Lunchbox. Little did I know that you could get a "Quick Drive" version of the Pumpkin! Was all excited and ripped open the wrapping on Christmas morning all excited about the build I was about to embark on to discover the QD version of the Pumpkin - needless to say I was devastated It just wasnt the same - had some fun with it over the holiday - but compared to the full blown Lunchbox it was just lame I have ribbed my parents about this for years - I know it wasnt their fault - they were just worried it might be too much for me to build! Needless to say by Easter my pocket money had been scraped together and I bought myself a Lunchbox!

Had a CC-01 Touareg for my 30th birthday this year and hope to get a few things for Christmas - but apparently we are "running out of room for your RC stuff"

[Saito]

Great thread! To keep this thing going, I'll try to "release" one memory at a time. My first off-roader I got for Christmas was a 1/14 Nikko Mosquito (an earlier version of the Lobo 2). My friend and I both asked for off-roaders. Being young, we told our parents "you know, off-roaders, the ones with the big squishy tires." I got an awesome little buggy with "turbo speed" no less. He got a slow, boring Nikko Big Brutus with, you guessed it, big squishy tires. It had 4wd and 4ws and NO suspension. Boy, was it slow. My Mosquito ran rings around it.

[Wireless]

Great post Hibe...

For me, Christmas has always been about r/c. As my TC name suggests, I have always been fascinated by anything that could be effected remotely. This includes a wide range of thing from r/c models to walkie talkies to wireless LANs to Amateur Radio. As a young boy I was car mad and all I ever wanted for a Christmas gift was a "remote controlled car" (my parents will testify to this).

As such, I was very fortunate to receive several r/c cars since I was young. They included:

- A large scale F1 car that was operated by a controller on a wire when I was four or five years old.

- A Matsushiro "Faces Vette" r/c car model of Templeton Peck's Corvette in "The A Team". My brother got the KITT.

- A Tandy (Radio Shack) Porsche 935. I remember it had proportional control and ran on four or five 'C' batteries.

- A Tamiya Falcon for my 1986 Xmas gift.

- A Kyosho Optima for my 1987 Xmas gift.

There were many other lesser models scattered in between. A couple of years ago, my mum asked me what I wanted for Xmas. She said "don't tell me, a remote controlled car", jokingly referring to back when I was a boy. I said, actually that would be great. "What...!???" Came the response and I thought nothing more of it, assuming a joke. God bless her, when on Christmas day, I opened up my mum's gift to me only to find she had bought me a pair of small-scale Nikko rally cars (a Subaru Impreza and a Peugeot 307CC) that came in a set from of all places, Marks and Spencer...! Complete with batteries and a few cones and wheels to set up your own tabletop racing course.

This year, following our move to Switzerland, money is tight so gifts will be limited and will not likely include any r/c, but hopefully normal service will resume for Xmas 2008...!

Cheers,

Roop

PS: I have been looking for another "Face's Vette" - will post elsewhere about this...!

[WillyChang]

Mounty HiLift might be on a few ppl's lists... but think i'll wait a bit to avoid all the Xmas parcelpost crazyness.

[markbt73]

Christmas, 1986. I got a whole box of parts for my Grasshopper, my only car at the time, and sorely in need of some help. The front tires were completely worn through, and the rears were slicks. The plastic bushings wobbled and the front springs sagged. But Dad went to the LHS and asked what I needed. I don't remember everything I got, but I know there were ball bearings, an RS540SD Black Endurance motor, You-G oil shocks, Parma chrome wheels, and new tires (probably You-G also; they had spikes).

I spent all day December 26 tearing the car apart and installing all the goodies, then late in the aternoon I charged up the battery and went out to give it a spin. This was in Chicago, and it was about 10 degrees F outside

I dropped the car on the driveway, smiling at the complete lack of bounce from the suspension, hit the throttle, and immediately discovered two things:

1. The car was much faster. So fast, in fact, that it got to the flowerpot at the end of the driveway before I knew it.

2. Plastic parts are very brittle in cold weather.

The Grasshopper hit the flowerpot full-on with the left front wheel, instantly shattering it. I was crushed. I went back inside, pulled the new tire off the broken wheel, and installed it on the old white wheel. Later, I tried to paint the white wheel silver so it sort of matched, but from that point on until I got my Falcon and retired it, the Hopper had three chrome wheels.

I didn't mind the mismatched wheel too much a week later when I raced the kid down the street. He had a Fox that had routinely beaten me in the past, but the new infusion of horsepower and stability to my Grasshopper tipped the scales in my favor; I blew his doors off.

Last year, my wife bought me a new re-issue Grasshopper. It has so far remained stock, but I might buy myself a box of goodies for it soon...

[Wandy]

1) I really, really want a Mounty High Lift for Xmas, and no doubt about it my girlfriend would get me one without hestitation, but the problem is I have other things that I really need more...so justifying asking for the Mounty is gonna be a struggle.

2) I have always been spoilt at Christmas, especially as a child, but 1985 still remains one of my favourite, if not the most favourite af all Santa times. It was the year I got my Hotshot after discovering Tamiya in the summer of that year. I swear I counted down the days for six months to Christmas Day. The Hotshot package was not at all cheap back in the day...180 for the full deal from Beatties..and my parents were anything but rich but after much pleading they agreed to buy me it. To this day the Hotshot remains my favourite Tamiya and even if I once more depart from the hobby there will be no way I will part with the Hotshot that I have now. (I sold my original car to help fund my 1986 Chrimbo present...a Bigwig! ).

[gozone]

With my birthday coming up shortly, i might get some sort of combined b-day / x-mas pressie from myself, in shape of the new Hilux, LOL..

From other people, i always get "useable" stuff, meaning NO rc related things. Really boring..

However, i am going to wish for a welding-machine this year, to start being more "productive" when it comes to custom creations..

I remeber 1 "rc-related" x-mas, wich was awful. I got this little, nice Nikko rc-car, but what had been forgotten at the store?? Yes, the BATTERIES, so no running until the 26th of December... Awful.. I remember being terribly disappointed, just being able to sit and look at the nice car in the box, without being able to use it.

Thats it from me.. Hope you all have a nice december and x-mas when we get to that.

Cheers..

Michael

[qatmix]

I got a Jaguar XJS "the saint" car when I was young, then got my first full frequency car the year later (this was a long time ago, tamiyas were really out of my families budget). Then when I got to 14 I got a Second hand boomerang with my Xmas money... Loved that car and it got me into rc (and won the local championships over teh schmacher cats and pb mustangs of the time).

This year, as im back into it again, I might get a few more ta02 hop ups and a Durga, its the first tamiya that has excited me since the ta01/2 series. The Hi-lift doesnt interest me at all

[ryanbored]

I asked for a RC car in about 1989, and got one with a wire attached to it. I was devastated that i had to chase the thing around, whilst all my mates ridiculed me..

Kids can be so cruel!

[crispy]

Christmas 1986 for me. Tamiya's R/C's were always out of my families budget, but my mum had negotiated a deal with the LHS to pay weekly during the build up to christmas - I'll always remember opening up the hornet christmas morning - what fun building and painting the thing while the rest of the family slept off the christmas excesses! Fantastic memories...

[civilguy]

The first r/c I can remember wanting was the Hotshot-- I got one for Christmas 1985 and spent my vacation building it. Then I learned the hard way how brittle that plastic bumper was in the snow!!

Off topic the Tomy Verbot was so cool-- not a car, but a remote-controlled voice-activated robot (space age for the time!!). He still works!!

This past year I got my vintage Grasshoppers running for the kids and they have the bug!!

They are asking for Micro-Ts for indoor fun this winter. Looks like at least 3 of them will be under the tree!!

Christmas and R/C go will forever go hand in hand at our house!!

[Shodog]

Christmas of '82, all i could think about was getting a shinsei honda ATC. I stared for days at the toy section of the Sears catalog. Imagine how happy I was when I found this under the tree.

[markbt73]

You don't look too happy...

[Shodog]

You don't look too happy...

you see that is the look of extreme concentration. Look at how precise I am hangin that wheelie'

as for this christmas, i don't know what I want. I was able to score a HPI 5b already so iguess if I were to choose, it would be the new Hilift/Hilux truck

[pearce_jj]

Was lucky enough to have a Brat for christmas one year, 83 or 84 I think (was it out then?) - completely out of the blue, I'd never seen a 'proper' one (as my dad described it!) before. He'd had it built already (I was only about 8) so straight out the front. Needless to say it went massively out-of-control and wrecked my dad's ankle for the rest of the day. Oh and the 380 motor burnt out too :-(

[Rabiedmushroom]

Its not vintage memories but...

I buy myself a new kit to build when we stay at the Out-Laws over Xmas It keeps me occupied!

2 years ago it was a M03 New MINI (which I stabbed a screwdriver through my hand on Boxing Day OUCH OUCH OUCH slightly squiffy and blood everywhere...)

Last year its was a chrome Wild Willy. No self maiming!

This year I have a DF-03 coming from Stella

[ryanbored]

Its not vintage memories but...

I buy myself a new kit to build when we stay at the Out-Laws over Xmas It keeps me occupied!

2 years ago it was a M03 New MINI (which I stabbed a screwdriver through my hand on Boxing Day OUCH OUCH OUCH slightly squiffy and blood everywhere...)

Last year its was a chrome Wild Willy. No self maiming!

This year I have a DF-03 coming from Stella

Build a kit over xmas... Couple of fatal flaws:

1. I'll be drunk (tools are sharp!)
   
2. The rest of the family will be drunk and want to have a go
   
3. I wont join in with any obligitory Xmas fun and games and my other half will cry (in a drunken state)
   
4. I'll have to move out
   
5. I wont have anywhere to put my toys
   

Apart from that i might get a kit to build!

[Hibernaculum]

Great thread! To keep this thing going, I'll try to "release" one memory at a time. My first off-roader I got for Christmas was a 1/14 Nikko Mosquito (an earlier version of the Lobo 2). My friend and I both asked for off-roaders. Being young, we told our parents "you know, off-roaders, the ones with the big squishy tires." I got an awesome little buggy with "turbo speed" no less. He got a slow, boring Nikko Big Brutus with, you guessed it, big squishy tires. It had 4wd and 4ws and NO suspension. Boy, was it slow. My Mosquito ran rings around it.

Great stories all Keep them coming.

I sympathise with all those who broke their toys. Here's a catalogue scan of my Tandy 4x4 Off Roader, from the 1988 Australian Tandy yearly catalogue:

On Boxing Day (26th Dec, for you non-Commonwealth country people), I was driving my 4x4 Off Roader along the front verandah, when an ill-timed right turn sent it straight into a verandah post. *Smack*! Hard plastic front bumper snapped straight off. I was devastated, but at least the truck was still driveable. But I had to wait 3 or 4 weeks to get a replacement bumper from Tandy.

Few quick replies. (Feel free to pm, to keep the thread on topic)...

Saito - It's hard to track all the varieties of those little Nikko buggies, but I do have a Lobo (and there were several other different buggies at Tandy based on that car)

Wireless - I know Matsushiro AND I have three of those Porsche 935s (attempting to restore one). It was the most expensive car at Tandy between 1981-1984.

Shodog - Great pic, and you're quite lucky to have it (not all parents think to capture those moments). I have a NIB Shinsei Dustrunner (as I'm sure you would too) and they were really beautifully made toys. Made in Japan.

Wandy - Hotshot's rule

civilguy - I have an Omnibot, and a Robie Jnr stored away. Got them a couple of years ago for Xmas for nostalgia sake, as some of those Tomy robots were waaay expensive back in the 80s, and I never had a chance of getting one from Santa.

cheers,

H.

[Saito]

Does anybody remember the non-full function RCs? I mean the ones that only went forward and turned right in reverse. The following Christmas my friend asked for specifically for a buggy and I for a truck. I got the Nikko Big Bubba (what a name!). For its day it wasn't too bad: 4wd, twin shocks per wheel, pistol transmitter, that ever important "turbo" selector on the transmitter, and it took REAL battery packs. Unfortunately my friends parents had already bought him numerous presents so his buggy was um...not so great. It was the smallest buggy Nikko made with no suspension and no full function. The Big Bubba could run that little thing down in a heartbeat and drive over it like it wasn't there.

[mike32]

Hi there, i remember getting a bison F-10 for Xmas in 88', tho i really wanted a grasshopper, but i had alot of fun with the F-10 it was fast. In 89' i got my first proper RC kit , an optima Mid, took dad and i 2 days to bild it. great memories.

I got pretty much what i want was far as RC cars go at the moment, would like a sand scorcher or rough rider in the future if i can affored them?

But i also like RC WW2 Tanks...i got '3' 1/16 Tamiya Tiger-1s, a sherman, a pershing, a panzer-III, a T-34, so im finally getting Tamiyas new Panther this Xmas ....cant wait!!!

Mike32.

[mike32]

Back again, almost forgot, dads getting a grasshopper for Xmas, im building it when he's not around (his hands dont work too well after his stoke)..besides he dosent have the patience for fiddly things so im currenty building the kit, so all he has to do it master driving a pre-built car, not too hard, any repairs i'll of course have to do. Im custom painting it in bigwig colours and decals, plus i used a spare bigwig scoup form an extra A-parts tree and molded it into the grasshopper body,taken quite abit of work..., looks different, quite wicked..i'll post pics of it when its done, i think he'll like it.

mike32.

[SaxoChris]

Hi fellow TC'ers, Im hoping to get my hands on a NIB Honda CRV XC & NIB Golf VR6 can't wait Santies coming! lol. My first memory of Christmas RC presents was a Kyosho ( don't hate me lol ) Lancia Delta paint all red to get the job finished so i could play it survived a fair few major beatings of brickwall kerbs etc.. Until i decided to rebuilt it. Being 13ish it definatley got stripped down but never got put back together like most RC until a few years ago.

Chris

[bfaulguy]

Okay, you asked for it. I Thought I was alone with this Christmas/RC connection. Apparently not, since Ebay prices on the old stuff go up around this time of year.

I got my first R/C car for xmas back in 82 or 83, a Sears (Taiyo) Offroad buggy. It was a jeep like vehicle with full proportional control, and had an engine sound generator linked to the speed control. The body was metallic brown and it said "Diehard" across the hood. It also had a selectable lever actuated 3 gear range. After that car I was hooked. While the sears ORB was a neat car, I learned there was much better after a friend with a Rough Rider slammed into it at full speed, seperating the non-removable body from the chassis. And that's how I learned of Tamiya.

I got a Radio Shack/Tandy R/C Sherman tank for xmas in 84, that was a pretty cool toy. You used to see them come up on Ebay every now and then, but now they're quite scarce. I remember driving it all over the back yard in the week after xmas, and on about the 2nd day rolled through a pile of dog mud. It took forever to get the track cleaned with hot soapy water.

I got my Hotshot in 85, but that was for my B-day so I didn't get anything R/C related that year at xmas.

In 1986 I got this Kyosho Vanning (here's the video of it running)

that I restored a couple of winters ago. Back in 86, I built it mostly by myself, and kinda rushed it together. My dad and I spent hours trying to get it running on a cold and overcast New Years day. After wearing out an electric airplane starter, we tried using a drill to start it, but that didn't work either. It fired a couple of times, then died. It was a bummer not being able to run it, but I didn't really know what I had; the car was really too much for me at 12. The few times I ever got it to run it shook itself apart,. and eventually was cast aside as a failure. When I restored it, I took it all the way apart, then polished every piece of aluminum, put everything back together with Loctite, and adjusted and lubricated everything per the manual. It runs terrific today, and will start by flipping the flywheel by hand. It's amazing what following the instructions to the T and using the correct fuel can do. I took on the costly and time consuming process as a winter project mostly fueled by my fond memories of getting the car for Christmas, despite looking at the experience through rose colored glasses. Now it's a shelf queen that joins the Hotshot.

For xmas of 87 I got a Cox Canario electric R/C plane. Turned out to be a pretty big dissapointment. My dad and I built it, then on a clear but chilly day during winter break took it down to the local college, and launched it from a hilltop. With the super heavy (yet recommended) R/C gear of the day, it more or less fell into the valley at full power, then crushed the nose on impact. Back then, they made you install a seperate NiCad power battery and receiver pack. I bought a NIB one on Ebay about 6 years ago, but installed all the newest and best lightweight R/C gear in it, submicro servos, LiPo battery, pull-pull flight control setup. Flies terrific today; it can even find thermals.

I think the last R/C thing I got for xmas was this Kyosho Burns

in 1989. Regrettably, I know longer own the car; kinda wish I had kept it. While it turned out better than the Vanning, it still lacked the cool scale feel to it that many of the older Kyosho and Tamiya cars had.

[pikachoo75]

hi there,i guess i may have put my full story of xmas tamiya fun in the wrong discussion,if you would like to read it,its in the "long time listener...first time caller" thread.

so i guess i'll put another one here!

Twas the 3rd Xmas o' Tamiya...i received a Tamiya Adspec handset for my Terra Scorcher i got the year before.It was the set that had the pistol grip type with a little stop watch in the steering wheel part.

I tried my best to "time a lap" of the school parking circuit,but i kept pressing the buttons to start/stop or reset on the timer!they were located on the steering wheels edge.

I also discovered that ,just like games console controllers,that it didnt matter how much you turn the handset.it still didnt increase the cars ability to steer!!

It's a shame really that all i have left from my first Tamiya's are an aeriel straw from my Grasshopper 2,box keys from both and the Adspec( even put a new battery in the watch and it worked!).but i guess i was seduced by the competition stuff and carelessly traded away some good Tamiya stuff.

This year ,on a brighter note,i would love a Tamiya Perfect 30 year book? the one in japanese but has all the pictures of all the Tamiya's.that would be great.

though i guess i may have to buy it myself as my family may not wish to "add to the Tamiya collection"!

Im so glad that there are great site's such as this,with great like minded members,to share the magic of Xmas and Tamiya! they do go hand in hand!

thanks for thread,and for reading! Ho Ho Ho!