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Shadow Vs. Hotshot

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Hi,

I was watching Kyosho Shadow promotional video and wondering how is it compared with the Tamiya Hotshot ? I didn't use either of them so if anyone knows I would to see a comparison.

Kyosho Shadow

020.jpg

Kyosho Aero Streak (ARR Shadow)

018-1.jpg

Hotshot

tamiya_58391.jpg

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The Shadow was Kyoshos reply to the Boomerang. The Hotshot was Tamiyas failed attempt to match the Optima as a race chassis, with the Boomerang being a cheap beginners version. The Shadow was made in the same way, as a cheap beginners alternative to the Optima, but unlike the Tamiyas there is quite a difference between the two Kyoshos.

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Radio Control Car Action magazine hosted a shoot out between these two.

From memory, the Shadow won, on the pure fact the Kyosho 05 engine put a fist full of M/ph advantage, but the Boomer' handled better.

I can dig it out from under the house and do some scanning, if required :lol: .

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Interesting :lol: Tamiya should know that the Hotshot is not a racing buggy, hence cannot compete with the OPTIMA it is more like a beginners type of car, that's why I thought of how it is compared with Shadow.

B.M.T. I would really want to see the comparison article I appreciate if you can share it with us.

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OK, will have to go dig it out... Well, I did move 7 months ago, I should of opened those boxes by now :lol:

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the Hosthot was supposed to be Tamiyas first competition 4wd and it was competitive at the time of it's release, considering Kyosho just had the progress and gallop at the time. Unfortunately for Tamiya the release of the Optima showed everyone that the Hotshot was rubbish. Many Hotshots were raced, but they tended to throw away most of the car, just keeping the gearboxes and suspension arms and they looked a lot more like my Hotshot Evo than the original kit.

Once the Boomerang was released those who hadn't extensively modified their Hotshots discovered the Boomerang was a much more capable and better handling car and moved to that, which worked great until the steering rack got full of dirt :lol:

And the Supershot was supposed to be a match with the Turbo Optima B);)

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that is funny ;) your Hotshot looks great B) "Hotshot Custom special" :D

but I have to say that Tamiya buggies for beginners is better than Kyosho, although slightly more expensive but I found that beginners enjoy Tamiya more, their manual speed controller is much better and trouble free, their buggies are more maintenance free than Kyosho, now I'm talking here only about beginners buggies.

I remember that one of our friends have a Blackfoot and me having a Big Brute in 1988, the Blackfoot was far more reliable he was simply charging and driving again and again and again

but me all the time I was adjusting the radio box cover screws to allow free movement of the manual speed controller servo :blink:

see the Shadow in action here:

th_Shadow.jpg

the Hosthot was supposed to be Tamiyas first competition 4wd and it was competitive at the time of it's release, considering Kyosho just had the progress and gallop at the time. Unfortunately for Tamiya the release of the Optima showed everyone that the Hotshot was rubbish. Many Hotshots were raced, but they tended to throw away most of the car, just keeping the gearboxes and suspension arms and they looked a lot more like my Hotshot Evo than the original kit.

Once the Boomerang was released those who hadn't extensively modified their Hotshots discovered the Boomerang was a much more capable and better handling car and moved to that, which worked great until the steering rack got full of dirt :lol:

And the Supershot was supposed to be a match with the Turbo Optima :lol: :lol:

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the Hosthot was supposed to be Tamiyas first competition 4wd and it was competitive at the time of it's release, considering Kyosho just had the progress and gallop at the time. Unfortunately for Tamiya the release of the Optima showed everyone that the Hotshot was rubbish.

If the Hotshot was "competitive at the time of it's release", then by your own admission, it wasn't rubbish. And don't say "it was rubbish compared to the Optima". Was the F40 rubbish compared to the Enzo? It makes no sense to call something rubbish just because it isn't as good as something that came out afterward.

FYI it's no fun when people dismiss the Optima as rubbish either (because plenty of people do). I have great admiration for Kyosho cars too.

Disclaimer: And yes, we all know Tamiya didn't win any major buggy titles at the top level, and the most they ever won were club races. They were quickly superceded by everything that came out after them, and they were never of the calibre of Kyosho or Associated, in competition. They never won anything.

cheers,

H.

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It seems like it happens over and over again to Tamiya: They have a stroke of genius, come up with something that takes off like crazy, and have a brief time in the sun as "competitive," because their vehicles are the only ones in the class. Then the rest of the industry plays catch-up, improves dramatically on the concepts, and leaves the Tamiya originals in the dust in terms of performance. And anyone running a Tamiya car at that point has to put up with it being called "slow" or "rubbish."

It happened with the 2WD buggies vs the RC10 and Ultima, the 4WD buggies vs Kyosho and Yokomo, the Blackfoot vs all the buggy-to-truck conversions, and the TA01 vs all the later touring car designs. And now it looks like Axial is poised to steal a good chunk of their solid-axle crawler/monster thunder. They innovate, the rest of the industry perfects. It's annoying, but what can you do?

Fortunately, for those of us who don't compete, Tamiya vehicles are exceptionally durable and reliable, and they have a "soul" that other manufacturers' vehicles lack. I love RC10s, but they're appliances, made to perform. My Lunchbox bounding awkwardly over a speed bump makes me happy in a way that no optimized Ackerman angles ever will.

Now, Kyosho is unique in that they were able to live in both worlds; the Super Wheelie Boogie Box came from the same factory as all those sleek race-winning Ultimas and Lazers. They have had more than their share of duds over the years (take it from someone who owned a Raider), and their gambles haven't paid off as well as Tamiya's have, but I think a nice Shadow would probably excite me more, at a vintage meet/race, than any Tamiya at this point, just because of its rarity.

But if you're going to run it, do yourself a favor and get an ESC. Kyosho mechanical speed controls were outlawed as torture devices years ago in most civilized nations.

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And now it looks like Axial is poised to steal a good chunk of their solid-axle crawler/monster thunder.

true, although out of preference the majority of the scaler/crawler community would still buy the tlt due to their axles being the the narrowest out there, but tamiya could be making a come back with their fj40 :lol

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