Tamiya Releases 2007 - A Year In Review

[markbt73 5311]

A bit more personal list:

Highlights:

The three wonderfully Zen-like evenings spent assembling my Hotshot

The insane grin and delighted giggles from my wife during the first run of our his-and-hers Lunchboxes

Low points:

Nothing to get excited about (or even care about, really) other than the re-issues

Hopes for 2008:

Re-issue FAV or Wild One, and the resulting begging/rationalizing to my wife to let me buy it

Lots of quality bench time modifying the Lunchboxes, and a decent place to run RC cars near our new home in Portland

[secretasianman 2]

no more DualMotor cars

I agree, too many 'Detonator clones, but I hope you exlude the possibility of a TXT or Clod successor, even if we're only dreaming!

[_miga_ 6]

I agree, too many 'Detonator clones, but I hope you exlude the possibility of a TXT or Clod successor, even if we're only dreaming!

yes, i meant such cars

[HunterZero 76]

Highlights:

Hotshot re-release

VW Beetle M04L

Tamtech Countach - WOW! Looks so cool

Surprise:

Mountaineer limited body set re-release

Hi-Lift Hilux (although it should have included bigger wheels out of the box, the stock ones look awful)

Disappointments:

Avante MkII

Neo Falcon

If any of these are re-released in the future, that will be a great year...

Fox

Super Shot

959

Egress

Cheers, beers and Merry Christmas,

- James

[yamita 0]

It would be interesting for tamiya to release a dedicated drift chassis, considering how popular it is in japan. Tamiya was ahead of the curve by coming up with ta03 ten years too early. . Id love to see a drift car designed from the ground up, instead of just throwing on some drift wheels and calling it 'drift spec'..

[Thunderbug 0]

Highlights: The Vintage re-releases. Keep 'em coming.

The new 3 speeds.

Lowlights: Buggies with zero charm. I'm a bit disappointed in the Neo-Falcon but each to there own I guess.

Looking forward to more vintage re-releases in 2008. Bring on a Wild One, Boomerang or SRB based model.

Lamborghini looks hot as well. Would love that in a 1/10 scale.

[Snake Plissken 0]

2007:

HotShot Rerelease

Durga

2008:

Wild One/FAV Rerelease

A Frog/Hotshot/Wild One ball diff hop up option will be nice...

New, more realistic body for the Durga, maybe along the lines of Associated Protech 4 (1989 'American version' of the YZ10)

[SJKUK 0]

For me the highlight of the year has been the Durga and interesting new design has to be the way forward for Tamiya. Nostalgically, I do like the Brat, but am not inspired by the 3-speed Hi-Lift series - the tyres on the Hilux look too small and both look silly with the massive differential casings. The original Hotshot was a little too late for my then involvement with model cars.

I would dearly love Tamiya to re-release the Holiday Buggy and Sand Rover - both I guess would be void of copyright/trade mark issues and if they wanted to distinguish between the original bumper and a re-release one simply use a different colour for the plastic. Being mostly plastic, I guess manufacture should be relatively easy and the weak-point (front arm and spring mountings) could be addressed.

[andi4x4 1]

2007

Hilux - Great - poor wheel and tyre choice though !

Hot Shot - Great - been promising my self one since it was re-re'd, but, (shamefully) not got around to buying one yet !

TT-01s - I like these as they are a cheap way into the hobby - I returned to RC this year with a TT-01 Lancia Delta, I now have nine TT-01 cars sitting alongside my 1/8 custom crawler and Tamiya Merc 1838 6wd conversion !

Finding TC !

No real downs for me - Not had the oportunity to have a close look at the 2wd offerings, and as I don't bother with the "stadium Racers" I have paid no attention to the Detonater type trucks.

2008

My cockpit kits being released And eventually my own range of bodyshells too Check out this thread for the cockpits story http://www.tamiyaclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=39300

Would like to see FAV or Wild one and a more scale chassis kit for the HighLifts - I always thought the chassis for those was way too over engineered and a bit of a cop out when compared with the old 3 speeds.

More TT-01's or even a TT-02 Like to see a carbon chassis conversion for them too - I have one from 3Racing, but it is a little longer than the Tamiya original and needs body mods or complete new shells cut to fit properly.

Great to meet you all too !

Merry Christmas !

[terry.sc 16]

It would be interesting for tamiya to release a dedicated drift chassis, considering how popular it is in japan. Tamiya was ahead of the curve by coming up with ta03 ten years too early. .

They did, two years ago, the TA03F Pro Drift Spec Chassis Kit. http://www.tamiya.com/japan/products/49377...drift/index.htm I guess it wasn't that popular as they didn't follow it up with a lower spec TA03.

My own high points in r/c in general are easy, Associated bringing the B44 to market at a reasonable price and the Ultima RB5 bringing an alternative to 2wd. On road it has to be the Team Magic E4, at last something different, and the new Xpress Mini.

Regarding Tamiya this year they have to be the 501X and Durga, (and the return of 4wd buggies in general) and the TamtechGear Countach and GTO.

Low point has to be the lack of a B4 clone in 2wd to go with the 501X.

At least the Durga is the one new Tamiya kit I would be interested in buying.

Mixed feelings over the Hotshot re-release. A good point was all the faults in it they fixed, but impossible to fix them all. I suppose it depends on your own point of view whether you consider it good or bad that the myth of the Hotshot being a great buggy has been killed off. If anyone still believes it's a great performer just try an Optima, Cat or Dogfighter of the same era.

[yamita 0]

ta03f drift spec was nothing more than a 03pro with drift wheels. Ta03f drive train is very inefficient by today's standards and the suspension setup is outdated. I really doubt the re release of 03 was unpopular, as people still look for those kits, old or new.

They did, two years ago, the TA03F Pro Drift Spec Chassis Kit. http://www.tamiya.com/japan/products/49377...drift/index.htm I guess it wasn't that popular as they didn't follow it up with a lower spec TA03.

[4wdmt 2]

Hi for 2007:

Complete / Full set of re-released original Mountaineer body.

Low for 2007:

Limited production of the re-released Mountaineer body.

For 2008:

TXT-2 please. Isn't time already?

[Bassbluesman 0]

Hello brothers and sisters,

I'm brand new here, so a big HELLO!! My first post.

High for 2007:

*Continuation of the High Lift Series! Hilux would have been PERFECT if it came with 2.2 wheels, re-re Bruiser/Blackfoot tires, and an extra re-re set of Bruiser & Mountaineer decals, no? How hard, expensive would it be for Tamiya to re-print and pack some vintage decals? I run my High-Lift with 2.2 RPM revolvers and Bruiser tires, no mods necessary. Looks great!! The Hilux would be sweet if ran like that, especially with the high mounted body...

*I now have a 2nd Shelf Queen High Lift and a NIB one. Sorry, I'm a HLHead what can I say?

*HotShot re-re

*Durga-finally a real bullet-proof belt-drive 4WD

Low for 2007:

*No official High Lift hop up parts, not including the MFU.

*All the buggies with whacked out body designs. They're pitiful looking, look more like children's toys than something you'd see in real life, or at the least hardly memorable in any way...

For 2008:

*Do you guys think that the King Blackfoot is too new for a re-re? I think that was the best of the series. The Extreme Blackfoot just doesn't have the proportions, although I think it's a good truck, just sell it as something else for the 2WD version, it takes away from the name, but I guess the bean counters need something recognizable, if in name only.

*I'd love it if Tamiya came out with a scale modern muscle car series chassis- 2005+ Mustang, 2008 Challenger, 2009 Camaro. I'm thinking front mounted motor with driveshaft-driven rear axle.

Well, happy hobbying, and ya'll have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!! (or Hanukkah! Kwanzaa! Oshogatsu! ...)