How It Started

[Stefan(2)]

At this moment, doing a serie of incredible boring night shifts,

With basically nothing more to do then waiting for 12 hours, to return

Home.

And, while i am sitting here, thinking i should have brought a project

With me to play with. Started thinking how the madness started for me anyway.

The Tamiya madness, that is.

How my rc life started,

As little kid, always was interested in those remote control cars, but

As i was not quite the only child, never quite got one.

But, certainly made up on that one

It started with a Kyosho Pure Ten with a Mclaren F1 GTR body,

bought at Conrad from money made by my first part time job.

That thing was run, rebuild, run, rebuild until death.

When funds allowed, i tuned it. With a sport tuned exhaust, 2 speeds gearbox and

Bearings, who had to bought in pairs as they where so expensive back then.

Even took it to a circuit, but, just could not keep up with those Serpents and gave up

On that quite fast. The guys on that track where quite anti Kyosho so not much help

Anyway to get a guy started.

By that time, got a summer job at Terschelling, a small Dutch coast island. And,

Could not run my Pure Ten there due the bad road.

Stayed with Kyosho, got a Sandmaster II for offroading on the sand there.

This was also my first go at importing a model for myself from Tower Hobbies.

Boy, did i got stung on import duty!

Joined the army, and with this started to make real money, so...

Then, got mad in the head.. thought it was not that hard, and went into choppers..

A Kyosho Nexus 30S , indeed, not so hard when afraid to crash.. Never got any

Further then hopping it around, and the in that time, o so expensive heli dusted away.

But, yet again, a new Kyosho, a Blizzard EP this time, for a little project set in my mind.

Fitted with a large video 8 camera, and the first wireless tv transmitters, made a little recon

Tank. Thing was so heavy it could barely hold itself due the large 12V lead-acid battery.

But.. It worked Had a lot of fun with that first custom job anyway.

By then, next to my job as a soldier, i was driving a big rig as a weekend job, a Volvo F6.

Stung by this, got my first Tamiya, the Volvo FH12.

Had much fun building & running it, but actually this was not the model that got me into collecting. ( But, did gave me that fetish of 1/14 scale Tamiya trucks. )

Up until now, was living like a nomad, being in the army, away for longer periods it

Wasnt really interesting for me to have my own house.

Why bother, if you are out of the country for most of the time.

But, you cant keep up with that forever, and bought a place of my own, more to have a place

To work on the 1:1 cars, then anything else. Was deep into the streetracing then, and.. what you race, you break also.

But, all good things must and, and so was the racing, you usually get away with it, but.. sometimes you are caught also. Lets put it that way ok.

By that time, the rc models came back into my life, and so did the visits to the

Local hobby shop.

And, saw a nice little jeep behind the 2e hand display glass ....

That was a Pajero 58044, got that for a small price from the hobbyshop as a project, but as parts where missing, was using Google to track parts , and.. what it was actually. Never saw that type of rc car before.

That made me discover Tamiyaclub. ( Curse the day ;) )

That, in combination with having a home for yourself, and a sudden space for storing and displaying models ....

The rest, well.. then all badword broke lose, the consequences of finding parts for the Pajero

Are seen in my showroom

In the years, interest did change a bit, from buying anything old & branded Tamiya,

To being more specialised in the 1/14 big rigs and 1/16 armour.

If you really want everything, you need a big wallet & and a large warehouse

And... as i dont have any of the 2, choices must be made.

Funny sideinfo, that Pajero is still a unfinished project up until this date.

Still a bit sorry i never got to fly the helicopter proper, might try it again some day...

Some day ...

In the end, for me is the whole hobby or habit, as some friends describe it,

Just a simple refusal to grow up.

And do have a good day Time, 04:30 close to end of a long night.

Stefan

[[]TEX[]]

It really started with me when I bought a broken Hornet from my friend for $25, radio and all. He had just bought an F-150 kit and from then on we were Tamiya fools.

I've been buying Tamiya and Kyosho ever since then.

[Shodog]

for me it started when I was 12 back in 1982and I saw a sand scorcher run. it was spitting rooster tails of dirt off the tires and I was hooked. Fast forward to 1998. None of the local shops had parts for my busted fox. I look on ebay and find all kinds of stuff. From then on it was over.

[pagedm_f350]

It started for me 23 years ago, I was 10 ....

A friend at school had a cool looking book, on the inside cover where the words "Toys There Not" in bold white text. Hmmmm, this intrigued me, they looked like toys, they were the size of toys, but this book claims that is not the case. My friend was kind enough to let me borrow it for the weekend..... That was my first encounter with Tamiya and the ledgendary Guide book.

Flash forward 7 years and a few Nikko style toy R/C cars later, I had a full time job as an apprentice mechanic and my pockets were loaded, as a coincidence my friend with the guide book from 7 years earlier was also an apprentice mechanic for another workshop, we got chatting one lunch time and the topic of Tamiya came up "oyeah, that book with the logo, two white stars on a red and blue background" That logo is permanently burned into my memory.

So, this got me thinking, gee I have my own income now, I could go buy one of those kits.....

A few days later I walked out of the LHS with a brand new Manta Ray, it was everything I hoped for! ohhhh, those yellow long CVA dampers, and ahhh that smell that can only be Tamiya rubber tires.......

Flash forward again to 2008 and with a few years here and there away from the hobby I am more into Tamiya than ever before, I think it has something to do with relaxation, having 6 children & two morgages. (we had 3 children but then 2 years ago we had triplet boys, and oyeah they are all Tamiya fans...)

Here is a list of all my 'hobby grade' r/c items, roughly in order that I purchased them, a couple of years ago I sold off just about everything to buy a new motor for my real boat, so I am working hard to get my collection back up. Items in blue I no longer have (remenants of some of them in my junk boxes though!):

Tamiya Manta Ray

GVM Hunter (was called other things in other countries)

Mauri Big Bear

Javelin mono hull .21 Nitro boat

Kyosho Pure Ten Nostalgic MGB

Tamiya Impreza German Rally Champion 99

Tamiya Twin Detonator

Venom Mini Giant

Tamiya Super Clodbuster

Tamiya Wild Commando

Tamiya Ford Aeromax

Tamiya TLT-1 Rock Buster

HPI Savage SS

Custom built 55" 25cc Gas powered mono hull (not sure which brand the hull is)

Tamiya F350 Hi-Lift

Tamiya TamTech Gear Buggy Champ

Tamiya TamTech Gear Fox Mini

Tamiya Coppermix Silvia Driftspec

Tamiya TA05 IFS Ebro 350R

Tamiya VW Race Toureg

Kyosho 1/5 scale Honda NSR500 EP bike

Kyosho 1/5 scale Suzuki RGV500 EP bike

ProBoat Mini-V

Tamiya TLT-1 Max Climber

Tamiya Williams BMW FW24 F201 (my latest ebay purchase)

[taliesin]

I am pretty new to the sickness. I always wanted a hobby grade RC but couldn't afford one, and there were absolutely no hobby shops supporting the habit anywhere in the state, so I just kinda forgot about it. Then several years later I moved to a different town/state where they had hobby shops and club racing.

WAHOOOO. I asked a guy what he had invested in his car and tools and when he mentioned a figure that was considerably more that the price of my real-life drive me to work everyday used car, I kind of forgot about it for several years.

Fast-forward many years and I walked into the hobby shop one day after seeing the parking lot races and walked out with a Losi xxx-t brushless RTR stadium truck. Charged the battery and 8 minutes later I had already hit a secret lamp-post and broke it in two. I went back to the LHS, bought replacement parts and learned about how to fix what I broke.

That was a year and 5 months ago, and I now have:

xxx-t [mostly a retired project or possible trade for future]

mini-baja

micro-baja

E-maxx

tt-01 ferrari f430

dt-02 sand viper

tl-01 twin detonator

m-03 monte carlo mini

gb-01 fox [ runner ]

gb-01 fox [NIB]

tokyo marui tiger I tank

Yup, its a sickness, no doubt about it.

On my list of gotta have'ems:

Mad bull - don't know why, it just looks like fun and appeals to me

cc--01 - maybe the re-re pajero, it looks kinda fun

df-02 humvee - still thinking about this one, but it intrigues me for some reason

cr-01 - because its just as sexy as socks on a rooster; besides, who doesn't want one???

gb-02 buggy champ - see above

lunchbox - why not

manta ray - maybe if i find one at a steal, who knows

And when I win the lottery, yup you know whats coming, a full option 1/16 Leopard or Tiger or Sherman, or maybe ALL OF THEM. w00t!

[Mad Ax]

I have just spent over 15 minutes writing a long, detailed and descriptive reply to this thread, starting with my very first interest in cars right through to my current-day RC (in fact I'd made it to mid-teens and the Mud Blaster era) when IE7 decided to freeze.

Somebody is not a happy bunny now.

Please forward me a free NIB kit to cheer me up. Thank you

[pagedm_f350]

I have just spent over 15 minutes writing a long, detailed and descriptive reply to this thread, starting with my very first interest in cars right through to my current-day RC (in fact I'd made it to mid-teens and the Mud Blaster era) when IE7 decided to freeze.

Somebody is not a happy bunny now.

Please forward me a free NIB kit to cheer me up. Thank you

Argggggh, thats a real pain. You know what to do now, always keep a NIB kit in storage for such times. I had a stressed out month at work in January so I started on my EBRO I bought last year, doing a bit each night was as good as headache pills if you ask me.....

I personally am enjoying very much reading what other people are posting on this topic, so please return and do it again when your in the mood.

P.S. I used to have trouble with a webmail client so I got into the habit of writing all my long replies in notepad first, then it was just a quick cut and paste, if it crashed I had it saved in a text file so no drama.

[Mad Ax]

P.S. I used to have trouble with a webmail client so I got into the habit of writing all my long replies in notepad first, then it was just a quick cut and paste, if it crashed I had it saved in a text file so no drama.

I normally hit CTRL-C right before hitting the Post button after any long post, but on this occasion I was only half-way thru and had opened a new tab to check something in another window. While popping open an image from that tab the whole IE7 just totally froze, it seems to be doing that a lot where IE6 never did... On top of all my other vista-related problems this morning I'm rather stressed - might have to start on my NIB TT01 tonight to take the stress away...

I will definately reply later with a very long and wordy post when I have time

[Singapore_959]

FAV !!! @ 15

ooooooh man it was COOOOL!!!!!

My friends all had foxes and bigwigs and some brats had optimas and 959s, but the FAV could do THE BEST tailslides on the downhill asphalt steet we played on!!

From there it was madness I think over time I eventually took over most of my friends cars as they moved on to other interests. Teenage beer spending or r/c cars was no contest for me!

Uni overseas and girls killed it from 18.

FWD 11 years to 29, in a new city on another continent in starting a new job I found ebay and somehow thought of my old Super Astute, and ..... the madness sorted amplified itself 11 times with the passing of the years, LOL!

Quickly followed by TC and life has become so much Fuller :-) Amazingly I find that vintage Tamiya is a well recognised aliment and scientists are spending millions every year, supported by ebay Tamiya sales hidden paypal subsidies, trying to find the DNA source to replicate into a vaccine that will make everyone just as obsessive and attentive to their spouses and jobs as they are to Tamiya.

:-P :-D

Thanks Chris/Netsmith!

Nice thread topic.

[Singapore_959]

Hi Stefan!

Does your post mean you have internet in your rig?

[Stefan(2)]

Hi there, Yep, GPRS & a PDA. Have to keep connected right?

Even at 90 km/u

But at the moment having the confort of a little office & dail up connection during the night.

Had to make coffee somewhere right ?

So i cheat a bit, hard to type there postings on that little keybord anyway.. and no spellcheck on it eather

Stefan

[Singapore_959]

Hi there, Yep, GPRS & a PDA. Have to keep connected right?

Even at 90 km/u

But at the moment having the confort of a little office & dail up connection during the night.

Had to make coffee somewhere right ?

So i cheat a bit, hard to type there postings on that little keybord anyway.. and no spellcheck on it eather

Stefan

Cool. Love the gearboxes on your big rigs. Safe trip!

[taliesin]

There should be a spouse's remember when thread, lol.

My wife could reply with something like, "I remember when we didn't used to have massive credit card debt and zero discretionary income, when he didn't spend all night on TC, ebay and the Web looking for Tamiya. I remember when there weren't parts and tools and batteries being charged on every flat surface in the house. I remember when the spare bedroom could be used by guests to sleep in, rather than looking like an offroad racing paddock. I remember when I wasn't aware of every hobby shop across the country, and every reputable dealer internationally regularly ships boxes to my doorstep, etc.."

I envy you cats who had the pleasure of getting started early. I wish I could have, but there just wasn't any way to do it. It would have been grand to have 4-5 mates all with fast cars to bash around with, and a rc pimp at the local corner hobby shop feeding our addiction with spare parts and shiny new models. Then again, I might not have ever made it to college....

[Stefan(2)]

Fully understand regarding the spouses

Last female victim roaming this rc dungeon did not quite understand

The madness / passion / time / money wasting for the hobby.

Nothing could be done, so had to let some things go.

I do miss her ...... sometimes..

[taliesin]

LOL!

[Singapore_959]

My living Toy doesn't mind.

Just so long as there are no hotties turning up at the track/races.

[pagedm_f350]

lol, funny reading there.....

My wife gave me a hard time about my hobby addiction when we were first married, I took a poll at work on how much the guys at work were spending each week at the pub on the slots drinking beer, etc, etc and then compared it to my Tamiya-ddiction, I presented my findings and she didn't complain for years after that .......

Mind you, since ebay came into the picture Tamiya crack is far to easy to get ......

[Stefan(2)]

LOL!

Can't really say that was here response no sir, not at all

( ok, ok, got to have the fact's correct, wasn't married )

[Taman]

It first started for me back in the 80's when I was at High School. I remember seeing on the back of an RC Magazine, an ad for the Tamiya Countach LP500S (wow what a car). If memory serves me right all I did was look at that magazine during class When the Frog came out I begged (pestered) my parents to buy me one for my birthday, they werent cheap but I finally got one and had to wait two weeks till my Birthday before I was allowed to build it. I think this is where my love of NIB came from as I used to just open the box and poke and prod all the parts waiting to build it! Finally got to build it and run it, didnt run for long as I only had one battery (long grass) and a 12 hour charger but the bug really hit me.

Next car was a Toyota Toms 84C, which I loved cleaning as much as I did driving, used to love getting it home and pulling it all apart again. From there it was an Avante, which used to break the front shock mounts a lot! After that I had a long break until I found the Bay and couldnt believe I could still buy a Toyota Toms 84C NIB (it has pride of place in my spare room). I've also got a swag of Group C cars (all 4 of them) Love the R91 CP (1xNIB, 2 x built). Also managed to get a NIB 956 wow cant believe I can still buy all of these great kits.

The other day I was lucky enough to get a NIB Adpec system (P110F) so thats going into the R91Cp. I really get a lot of pleasure tinkering with my runner Mercedes C-11 and just opening the lid of my NIB 956/ Toms 84C and my Group C collection and of course my re-release Frog.

I feel very fortunate that I can own these kits still and it gives me hours of pleasure just looking at them. It's also great to see that this website exists with like-minded people.

Hope you all are having a great day

[markbt73]

For my 12th birthday, I got a little Radio Shack (Tandy) Lamborghini Countach. It was "full function," but not proportional, and it went about as fast as I could run. I loved it, drove the wheels off it, coated it in several layers of paint, wore the front bumper completely off driving down the curb (it wouldn't make it back up; I always had to go retrieve it).

Then about a year later, walking through a store with my dad, I saw the premiere issue of Radio Control Car Action magazine on the shelf. I bought it, read it cover-to-cover many times, waited eagerly for the next issue, and did the same thing. I spend an entire summer mowing lawns and doing other odd jobs to save up $150 for a Grasshopper kit and all the trimmings. (I really wanted a Wild One, but I wasn't patient enough to save the extra $30 it would have taken.)

20 years and I don't know how many kits later, when I got a re-release Grasshopper, I assembled it without the instructions because I still remembered how it all went together. I've left RC behind a few times (for real cars, guitars, girls) but I always seem to come back.

[Rabiedmushroom]

At the age of 20, you would have thought most girls would sob their precious little hearts out, following a terminal bust up with their boyfriend.

Me? I bought a Bearhawk the next day. Yes, I replaced my boyfriend with my first Tamiya and radio gear.

I still have the buggy... but certainly not that guy!

[taliesin]

good trade!

[taliesin]

just a sidebar, but i've seen bumper stickers that are on this frequency that made me laugh:

1. i got a gun/fishing pole [insert tamiya here...] for my spouse. GOOD TRADE!

[Corpse Thrower]

for me it started when I was 12 back in 1982and I saw a sand scorcher run. it was spitting rooster tails of dirt off the tires and I was hooked.

EXACTLY the same here!