Did Your Parent Buy You A Tamiya Kit As A Child?

[Thommo 1218]

Great thread revival bx4525, Bravo.

My answer to the title question is no, however my parents fully encouraged me to save on my own and if I couldn't afford it then I had to work harder to earn it. in 1986 my cousin had two Tamiya catalogues that we both read over and over. I'm pretty sure one of them had a Hot Shot on the cover. The catalogues included the Hot Shot, Wild One, FAV, Fox and many others. I was absolutely hooked by that catalogue. Then I met an older kid in the park who had a Frog and my cousin got the Fox he so badly wanted. I spent the next two years saving my paper run money and annoying the shirt out of the LHS. I absolutely loved the Egress, however I never fooled myself into thinking that I could afford one. I purchased the Astute kit as soon as I had the money and the anticipation and exitement at the time, I can still remember now. I painted it Blue, (P4 I think) fitted a Futaba Bionic Gold radio and wheel bearings and went straight after that Fox! I later fitted a Kyosho Mega Motor 16x2, 22t pinion and consequently every suspension part that broke was replaced with the corresponding Madcap part. My next Tamiya was a Mud Blaster and this was awesome fun too. I am now rebuilding that Astute and reliving all of the fun.

I would love to see those catalogues now, I remember thinking that the Wild One just looked so tough. I would love to hear other members memories of the 1980's catalogues. Maybe that is another thread!

[KalEl63 695]

I must agree great thread. Mine is not much different to others in that my parents could not afford to buy me a Tamiya kit due to the price. I bought my first car the Opel Ascona second had for about $40.00 dollars (if I remember right) but it was near on trashed. So hard work of picking fruit, cutting apricots on schools holidays afforded me the opportunity to buy my Terra Scorcher which I restored about 12 odd months ago.

Still find myself tody wanting to revive the inner child in me by getting more kits of some rere’s like a Boomerang, Avante and finding a Falcon, Fox, Astute and Nissan King Cab (to name a few) online to do a resto on. Also waiting for my son to be old enough for him to go bashing with his dad one day and enjoy a great hobby.

[Static Age 65]

It took alot of asking but I got my folks to buy my my first RC for my birthday in 1987. They were put off by the price & I was constantly reminded how lucky I was to receive such an expensive present.

I was the proud owner of a Striker, not the greatest car ever made by Tamiya but as an entry to the RC hobby it was plenty of fun & loved every minute of it.

Infact I used it that much that only parts remain, probably partly to do with that fragile chassis.

[IBIFTKH 1369]

Great thread, really brings back some great memories.

I was about 11 and I can remember drooling over Tamiya catalogues and various model/RC magazines at these incredible radio controlled machines. The names are iconic now, but back then Sand Scorcher and Rough Rider were new and exciting. Both were beyond my price range but I set my heart on a Sand Rover. I talked it over with my parents because I knew it was expensive and times were hard. We agreed that I would save every penny that I could lay my hands on and they would help me when they could. So I saved - pocket money, chore money, xmas money, birthday money. I'd never saved for anything like this before and I think Mum and Dad were suprised but impressed.

Then the day came when I had enough for the kit, the 6V battery and slow charger. I knew I couldn't get the radio gear but I wanted to get the kit and at least get that built. A phone call confirmed that a local Model Shop had one in stock and would reserve it for us until Saturday. I was so excited on the Friday night I could hardly sleep!! Bright and early Saturday morning I was up and out with my Dad to make the 50-mile round trip.

We arrived at the shop and after a brief conversation with my Dad the man disappeared for a moment and returned with a HUGE box! He opened the box so we could examine the treasures within - I was blown away by the sheer size of the thing and was shaking with excitement. He popped the battery and charger in the box and then closed it again. Now was the time for me to hand over my hard-earned pennies - more money than I'd ever had before - but I didn't hesitate for a second.

But my Dad did. He started asking questions about radio gear and paint and spares availability. I didn't really mind, I just tuned out and stared at that big box, imagining building and running this incredible beast!! Then the man disappeared again, and came back with a box with Acoms written on it. Hang on, I thought, what's going on here?

It turned out there was a discount of nearly £10 for a package deal. Great, I thought, but panicking because I was sure I didn't have enough money. Then my Dad brought out his wallet and a couple of £10 notes appeared - he paid the rest so I could have the whole package. The shop guy even threw in a couple of pots of paint. I was so surprised and so, so happy I almost burst into tears!!

Then the deal was done, everything disappeared into a huge plastic bag and I was the very proud owner of an actual, real Sand Rover!!

The drive home took forever and I think my Dad was almost as excited as I was! I can't remember how many times I said 'thank you' for the radio gear but it was a lot. Dad laughed and explained that he and mum had been impressed with my determined saving and decided this was the way they wanted to help me out.

When we got home I was bouncing with excitement but Mum insisted I eat lunch before I even opened the box. What an inconvenience! In the few seconds it took for me to wolf down my food, Dad had a flick through the instructions and fetched the screwdrivers i would need. Then it was time to open that big box and start building....

It took most of the rest of the day because I went at it slowly and carefully. No way was I going to mess up such an expensive model! Dad was hovering but after I'd turned down the first five or six offers of assistance he left me to it and just checked in periodically. I finished building during the evening but couldn't run it until the following day because the battery wasn't charged - 14 hours to charge a 6V NiCad!! So I settled for the next best thing and my newly-built machine sat at the end of my bed while i slept that night.

I had a bit of a panic the next morning - when I plugged in my fully charged battery the car just took off!! I hadn't got the speed control servo set correctly and needed Dad's help to sort it out. He checked the steering too but that was ok, so finally we were ready to go! The whole family gathered to watch the maiden run - it was awesome!!! And yes, I did let Dad have a go...

Almost as good was the following Christmas. My gift list was mainly made up of bits for the Sand Rover - a gear set, Rough Rider rear wheels and tyres, a 540 motor and 7.2V hump pack and charger. Again I knew it was a lot of money and let my parents know that I wasn't expecting everything but again they surprised me and got the whole lot!! I was blown away and still remember running the car with the 7.2V battery and 'quick' motor - it was soooooo fast compared to the 380 (and to be honest, too fast for such a basic chassis) but it was a blast to drive.

I had so much fun with that buggy, I looked after it and it lasted years. I recently restored it and it now takes pride of place in my growing collection though these days it sits alongside those previously unattainable Special Racing Buggies, the Sand Scorcher and Rough Rider/Buggy Champ (both re-re's).

So to (finally) answer the question, no my parents didn't buy me a Tamiya RC but they helped and supported me and I couldn't have done it without them.

Thanks for the chance to relive some nice memories :-)

cheers,

Rob

[Static Age 65]

Great story Rob. I didnt build my Striker, my dad did. He's one of the most patient people I know & he built it in the evenings over a few days, I was hovering the whole time almost bursting with excitement. I dont think I slept properly those nights of the build.

The first run was carried out in a big open grass area, probably best as I had limited driving experience. With the fully charged nicad & new spiked tyres the Striker would wheelie when pulling away, I was the happiest kid alive.

Some local kids had used a mower to cut a track into the local park, the Striker managed to hold its own against my mates Hornet.

[loco_oso 108]

IBIFTKH, awesome story .

I found a Taiyo Jet Fighter in my basement one day, and was amazed by the sheer awesomeness of the thing. Suspension, differentials, advertised speed, etc. Having been heavily involved in toy R/Cs up to then I searched desperately for the chassis online to see what treasure I'd found, but to no avail. I'd wanted to get a faster, cooler R/C, and felt like this was it. I didn't have the transmitter, though, so I used a Nikko 27mHz one and although it jolted and didn't want to obey, I got to do some full speed 'runs'. I eventually gave up on it and set my sights on a company I had found that had buggies that were similar to the Taiyo - Tamiya . I wished that I could get a QD model, but what I really wanted was the Desert Gator. We were in the process of moving, and my parents didn't want to go through all that trouble then to get a good car or truck, and didn't understand why these R/Cs were so much more expensive than the ones I'd been getting before. Even though I tried to convince them, they didn't really budge. Anyway, with the 60 dollars I had I bought a Nikko street car to satisfy my urge and had fun with that.

A few months or so later we moved, and I was back on the hobby R/C track of mind. I wanted the Desert Gator, so 15-year-old logically, I was going to get it - somehow.

I'd saved up enough money to buy a charger and battery at the LHS which I found after we moved, and bugged my parents to take me there so I could buy them. After getting ready to ring the stuff up, my parents asked what car I was going to put it in, to which I replied along the lines of "well, I don't have it yet". The charger and battery quickly got returned to the owner and we left.

A few weeks later we came back to look at Birthday presents for myself. I showed my mom that what I wanted wasn't there, and the owner said that he could order it, but (I think) my mom asked what he recommended. He asked if I was going to race or bash - I said bash - and he said the Traxxas Rustler was the truck for me. My mom made a 'secret' purchase of the truck, and battery and charger if I remember right.

I got them the Sunday before my Birthday, and after running the truck I became part of the R/C Alcoholics Anonymous . I love this hobby (and more especially my parents for helping me get into it, among everything else).

Edit: forgot to say that no, my parents didn't buy me a Tamiya kit as a child, hahaha.

[breck 0]

I remember 1986 or so when my father nearly broke his back ($$$) to watch the smile on my face when he brought me down the the LHS to pick out my first Tamiya a Falcon. Probably one of the fondest memories I have was at that store and the following 3 days while I built it with him. Priceless...

[mtbkym01 4008]

My story is not disimilar to most here:

I first discovered Tamiya at a local Toyworld store back in the '80's where they played those classic promo video's amongst the kits on the shelf, I recall seeing a Frog, Hornet and possibly a Hotshot? I bought the 1985 Tamiya Guide book and studied it continuously. One day I went to the store mith my friend from school and his mum and showed him these awesome machines, and while we were there his mum asked him which one he liked to which he replied the Hornet, and to my dismay, she grabbed it off the shelf and layby'd it for him for christmas. I was horrified as my parents definately could not afford one for me. So along came that christmas where my best friend got his new Tamiya kit (his Hornet turned into a Frog after he looked at the catalogue and changed his mind), and also my neighbour got a hotshot aswell. It seemed I was surrounded by Tamiya's. The best my Parents could do was a 4x4 Jeep called Overland 4x4 (looked like a scaled down Wild Willy).

The next year I got a Turbo Jet Hopper from my parents and it was ok, but still no Tamiya. I dont blame my parents at all now as I understand that times were tough, although back then I was so dissappointed.

I used to study the Tamiya Guide book and Catalogues nightly in bed while listening to Dire Straits Brothers in Arms cassette on my Tape player, and to this day, anytime I hear "So Far Away" or "Money For Nothin" I get the same feeling of reading those books.

So as time went on, other friends from school all got Tamiya Kits, I remember a Grasshopper, Hornet, Fox, HotShot, Monster Beetle, Blackfoot to name a few, and all the while I was saving money from Collecting Cans, Selling "Schmoo's" ( a Balloon filled with flour) at a craft shop, and any other way I can think of.

One day when I was getting close to the amount I would need, BigW (a Dept store) had a sale on Tamiya's which included Acoms Techniplus Radio Gear, A Tamiya 7.2v racing pack, and a Toy Traders (aust Tamiya agents) quick charger, all shrink wrapped together. By this stage it was the Fox that had caught my eye at the Kit I wanted and my parents were the coolest and chipped in the rest to help me get the kit. I remember as clear as day waiting for my Mum to get home from the City with my Brand New Tamiya, and when she did, I started building straight away on the dining room table and did not stop until it was finished that evening. The nest morning I awoke and painted the shell, charged the battery, and drove my Fox for the first time, what a BUZZ! I was so proud.

I still have the Fox as a runner today (along with a few other RC's ) and couldn't be happier

Great thread

[Jonesy76 0]

Superb thread, with some fabulous stories.

My Tamiya worship probably starts as many of you have already stated.

It must have been back in around 1988 when I hd started secondary school and the first of these superb radio control vehicles came out. Now I was no beginner to RC because when my parents lived in Nigeria I had been presented with this red jeep RC car that ran on big fat cell batteries (don't know what the sizing was but like an oversized AA), but these things were like nothing I had seen. My first encounter?

A battered black Hornet that belonged to a guy in my class who came from one of the outlying villages so I hadn't met him before secondary school......he then proceeded to tell all of us excited onlookers about Tamiya and the wonders of their kit built cars, however there was one big problem........

We lived in the middle of nowhere in Wales, and the nearest model shop that sold Tamiya was an hour and a half drive away in Shrewsbury!

My parents worked really hard running a fish and chip shop, and driving their over-excited pest of an 11 year old son to Shrewsbury wasn't going to happen any time soon, so I satisfied myself by buying Radio Control Model Car magazine from our local newsagent and then sinking into a well of misery when I saw the adverbs a the back, and the prices of the cars. I then knew that there was no way I was just going to have one of these brought for me, and it would take all of my pocket money from here until eternity of buy one myself.

Of course this didn't stop friends buying these fabulous cars, and over the course of that first year at secondary school we started to see a proliferation of Grasshoppers, Falcons, Holiday buggies, Fox's, and the odd Frog or two. I would be allowed a go on my friends models, but usually only when their batteries were nigh on dead (and of course we didn't have 5000mah batteries in those days!), but they were still far better than my little red jeep.

Throughout all this time I had been working odd-jobs and saving every penny I could just so that I could buy my own car, and it would preferably be a Frog as they tended to be better than the Grassoppers that others had, and my Dad finally relented and said that if I could raise 3/4 of the package deal funds then him and Mum would chip in and buy the rest for me as part of my birthday present. Being an August baby this meant getting one in my school holidays which at least meant not having to go on a weekend when my parents business was at it's busiest. My birthday duly arrived and off I went to the model shop in Shrewsbury (St Johns if I remember correctly, and I'm fairly sure that's indelibly marked in my mind!) with my Dad to buy my Frog, but something went wrong......

When we got to the model shop there in the front window was a huge beast of a box with this fabulous drawing of a monster truck on it........it was also within my price range, and so I returned home that afternoon the overjoyed owner of a Blackfoot!

Now this of course was lousy for our buggy races we used to participate at on a spot of local wasteland (anyone who has a bog standard Blackfoot knows that they roll over with the slightest of touches to the steering at anything over a walking pace!) but everyone loved it! It even eclipsed the local rich boys Boomerang as the car that everyone wanted to have a go on, which made him very jealous. So jealous infact that he got his Dad to go out and buy him a Monster Beetle, just to wrench the attention away from me and my Blackfoot, and then to rub salt into the wound he then got a Clodbuster, although it's three minute run times did make it less popular than the Monster Beetle with everyone else. I secretly loved that Monster Beetle, but to buy a second Tamiya car was just too much for me, and my pocket money also had to buy parts for my racing bike as I was getting rather good at that, and my Dad wouldn't buy me upgrades for my bike either.......those had to be saved for too!

We still played with the cars for a number of years, and most of the others moved onto 4 wheel drive cars so the spoilt boy had to find a new machine with which to wipe the floor with all of us, so amazingly a fully hopped up Kyosho Ultima suddenly appeared, but none of us really liked it because it looked a bit boxy and very ugly, even if it did wipe the floor with the collection of Boomerangs, Hot Shots, Super Sabres etc that most others had........we were all Tamiya fans and there was only one racing buggy for all of us and that was the Tamiya Avante!

It looked superb, and none of us knew then about its notrious unreliability, we just knew it was the best thing Tamiya made, and it looked gorgeous. I even had posters of the **** thing on the walls of my bedroom along with the usual teenage boy Lamorghini posters, but I knew that there was no way I could ever afford one as even a Boomerang was out of my league then.

15 to 16 came.........The Blackfoot was placed in the loft.........the old bike was replaced by a serious bit of kit with a 531c frame and Shimano 105 gears.........A-Levels came........then came University. The RC cars passed into my history.

Now I'm 34...........

I won't tell my Dad (he'd still go nuts at the expenditure even though he knows I have 2 race bikes worth over £8000 - RC cars are toys in his eyes) but in the office now is a rebuilt original Monster Beetle in all it's glory making me smile like a child every time I have to go in there, even if the TXT-1 is my weapon of choice for monster truck playing.........but..........

Sitting right now in a puddle of dew from the lawn on the kitchen work surface is an Avante...........

If I could put it on my bedside table tonight I probably would, but I think my wife may complain! I've just fulfilled one of the biggest dreams I ever had as a child, and the inner 14 year old is a stupidly happy camper right now.

.................now how do I go about buying a Lamborghini Countach?

[Team Rawlings 9]

Wow some amazing stories!

My first foraey into R/C was in the early 70's I was about 7 or 8 after my parents came back from holidays in singapore, They brought back a toy r/c car for me, Which if I remember wrightly was a honda civic, it used AA batterys to power it and moved about as fast as you can crawl on hands and nees.

Had that for about 3 years until we moved, then it disapeared. I was devistated

At this stage I was onto my first 10 speed racer, which meant that a ride into the city was possible we now lived in the northern suburbs of Darwin NT, Australia. A mear 45 min ride with a tail wind! Auwsome! A great mate of mine had told me of a hobbie shop that was apparently in the city that sold r/c planes and kits, So of we went to check it out. Well when we finally found it it was like aladins cave! Woohoo baby!!!

I remember riding in to town every saturday morning and just ohgling all the different kits and hobby parafenalia that was in the store from floor to ceiling! (The store was called Yees Hobbies)

This went on for a couple of months as I could never really afford to buy anything at this stage as I was in my 2nd last year of primary sch and pocket money was pritty scarce. I remember one day the shop owner Mrss Yee had recieved a set of new tamiya catalogs and asked if I would like the old ones, Heaven is all I can say! Many hours spent purrusing those cattalogs dreaming of the endless possibilities!

I particularaly remember drooling over the rough rider and sandscorcher, And one day there they where in the shop for the first time and thinking to my self I have to have one.

My parents werent going to just buy it for me with out earning it and so started my working life, which at that time was cleaning the trucks at my parents freight companey. Nothing like slave labour!

So after a couple weekends I hade enough to put a complete kit with radio ,battery and charger on layby. It took obout eight mth's or so to pay it of, each month id ride in and pay a bit off until the final payment when Mum took me in so that I could get it of layby and bring it home oh joy! and the rest is history as they say.

I have know been involved in the hobby/sport of R/c for nearly 40yrs on and off.. And I know have a 5yr old daughter who has shown great interest in the hobby so when I saw the re er of the sandscorcher I new this was going to be fun and what a blast we have had, I am looking forward to another 40 years of this most excelent hobbie of ours.

Cheers all!

[Percymon 2184]

What a great thread, and glad i'm not the only deprived child amongst us.

My first recolelction of RC was in around 1980, aged 11, at a great 'toy' shop in Chester - it was in the Grosvenor precinct shopping centre. It had a fairly small frontage (maybe 15 feet across), but the window display was crammed with railway, steam engine, static models, dolls (ugh!) and the odd RC model. Inside the shop floor was jameed full of static car models and dolls, but down the staircase into the cellar was Hornby, Scalextric and Tamiya heaven - 20'x40' floor to ceiling !

I remember many great models on display from buggies to monster trucks - sadly i never knew the names back then, and my parents weren't on my wavelength (i missed out on Atari games consoles too!). I had lots of electronic games, bikes and computers for presents back then.

Then September 2010 arrived, and i found this place, mainly to find soem info before buying a Tamiya RC for my 8yr old for Xmas. I decided to buy a battered Manat Ray from ebay, to give me a bit of insight into the build processes and the quality of Tamiya kits. I t was a great learning curve, helped my no end at Xmas with the boy's rising storm kit, and meant i also had a car to use with him.

Everything went pear shaped from then on, my wallet is a lot thinner now.

Since September and the first Manta Ray...

i've bought a Hotshot wreck and restored it to as new with brushless system,

a Blitzer Beetle wreck that will be complete this weekend

completed a Clod conversion with a Gmade spider kit and beadlock wheels (for my son's 9th birthday this weekend)

got a half finished Fighter Buggy resto

got a new Gmade R1 kit to keep me happy over the next month

several parcels of lipos and radio gear coming from Hobbyking this week , plus other stuff from Modelsport and ebay

I've even had to buy a small greenhouse/covered shelving unit to keep them all on in the garage

Reliving my youth - NO, living my youth later in life - YES !!

[tamiyoman 2]

I remember being 11 and my father buying me and my brother a USED sand scorcher off our neighbours son who had just been bought a Jac Rabbitt by his father (he was now almost 18, I recall).

Me and my little brother bashed that thing like crazy, breaking ot constantly, until finally 2 years later we both got kyosho raiders for christmas (by then my father had started his new job and was coining it lol), we were not spoilt kids, FAR FROM IT, we got nice xmas pressies but never got pocket money, we had to wash cars and windows for money, in fact i remember starting a "Co-Operative" at age 13 with my brother and 2 friends and we went up our respective roads and knocked on doors offering our services for washing cars and windows, in the end between the 4 of us, we had around 25-30 cars or house windows to wash on Sunday mornings, it was great as we all got about £20 each from that and back then being 13 and having a £20 note in your wallett meant we were rich LMAO. I also had a Paper round before school and also did the "Dreaded" Sunday papers first thing (Imagine being a scrawny 13 year old hauling bags of papers with all those sunday supplements around lol), then when finsihed it was straight off to wash cars/windows then when that was finished at 1pm, it was off for a 8-10 mile walk with my grandmother with the dogs (sunday nights i always SLEPT WELL!!!!!!!.

Anyhoo we got the raiders and bashed those for a couple of years and even raced them a little too (they both ended up pretty much being Turbo raiders), then when i was 15 my father bought us both Tamiya terra Scorchers NIB, which we built on our dining room table with one of us at each end and my father in the middle (very patient man!), my best mate at the tme also got a Thunder Dragon for christmas and my other mate got a Thundershot so we had fun racing at "Our Buggy track" up at my friends grandfathers farm.

when i was 17 i bought myself my 1st tamiya a Tamiya Mud Blaster and loved that truck!, when i was 19 I sold it to the local Postamasters son wwho went on to become an actor in Hollyoaks and Emmerdale LOL.

[berman 5315]

My first RC was a well used turbo hopper that I swapped with a school mate for some slot car stuff. When i got it, it had the wing smashed off and was painted with house paint in a french blue, man that thing got abused!

Circa 1988, The first time I had heard about Tamiya was two classmates had them, one had a hornet and the other a super sabre, it wasn't long after that I think I was at my Dad's house and Tamiya was on the brain (not helped by frequent visit's to Heritage Models in Glen Eden), that I came across two broken and abused RC's, a Boomerang and a Porsche 959 both stripped down to parts in a boomerang box for $50NZD (now about $70usd), my memory is vague but I'm pretty sure I got these from my Dad's mate.

I went to Heritage Models and bought the manuals for both (with saved pocket money), and the 1987 tamiya catalogue! My goodness, the print was worn off all the RC section where my fingers had rubbed them from turning the pages, and the staples had worn through the spine making the pages fall out by the time I had finished (many years of swooning and dreaming that came after!) In the years to come I had even put little 'ticks' and 'asterixes' next to the ones I'd had, and the ones I'd wanted!

I got the boomerang going first, I believe as it required the least amount of parts to fix it, and found a club in the next suburb (Bancroft Crescent RC Track) that had an offroad track in which I raced my Boomer at for some time there, my father (or the power station!) would come along every weekend to help out and so I could use his Mitsi Sigma to clip my charge leads onto!

I eventually got the porsche going and the then realised that little gold motor in it made it go like a rocket! Why hadn't I got this going earlier?!?!?!

In 1991 I sold my boomerang to help fund a used Nissan King Cab chassis. I bought a Blackfoot shell to go on it and proceeded to race it in the monster truck stock class.

I sold the porsche and bought a JG shell for my king cab (lighter than the blackfoot shell) and had some of the buggy guys help me learn to set up my KC.

On the way to my Mum's house (different town) I had to get a lift with a family friend in Onehunga so went to Bill Leckie RC cars and proceeded to swap my then minty restored King cab for a NIB Lunchbox and $50 change!

When I got to Mum's I built that Lunchbox like a crazed kid and run it up and down the street. My new neighbours heard it and came out for a look. As it was they were into RC car's aswell and had a mint Clod Buster, Bullhead, and Midnight Pumpkin inside on their shelves! This was the first time I had seen a Clod or Bullhead in the flesh! The father was into American culture (car's and trucks, country music, elvis hair etc) and had a SWB 80's Ford Bronco. When he saw the dodge van, I proceeded to tell him I had an RC body the same as his bronco. He wanted it! A deal was struck and I ended up taking home the Clod Buster and had to make frequent payments for the remainder or it. I eventually did the same with trading the Bullhead for the Lunchbox and paid that off too. This is how I got into Monster truck's.

His son and I used to bash the lunchbox and pumpkin and then the clod and bullhead up and down the streets and in the parks (at this point I owned the clod and the lunchbox, he the bullhead and pumpkin). He wondered why my lunchbox would pull wheelies and his pumpkin didn't. We took his pumpkin back to my house and found his father had put talcum powder in the wheel beads to stop it pulling wheelies and so it was easiler to control for him (he had cerebal palsy), we took it back to my house and glued them up, his dad wasn't impressed but HE was!

In short, no my parents never bought me a Tamiya RC (too expensive!), plenty of video games, battery operated toys and other kid stuff came and went, I wheeled and dealed to get my RC's as only a kid with an RC addiction could!

My Dad died 11 years ago yesterday, and this thread has sparked all the memories of the awesome things a solo Dad could do when me and my siblings were kids, I may not have gotten NIB tamiya, but he did help me by supporting any and every hobby I took up and that I am eternally thankful for

Some really cool stories guys, love reading them

[dan12 1]

My first RC was my fighter buggy rx when i was 7, i used it for 2 years then moved on to nitro stuff. 6 years later im modifying it and bashing it hard!

[taliesin 260]

No they didn't and I'm still not happy about it, which explains why I have 27 or so now.

Seeing this old thread just made me laugh. My parents STILL haven't bought me a ruddy Tamiya Kit and I'm a long way from being a kid, but 3 years on following this post I've got 70+ Tamiyas and still buying.

Overcompensating? Naw....

[fatboyslim 11]

Great thread

My parents never bought me a Tamiya either,their excuses were pretty much the same as the rest...

too expensive...

you'll get bored...

it's a toy and we're not paying that much for a toy car

So when I was 14 and living at RAF Brize Norton (yeah my dad's ex-RAF) I had a friend who had a sand rover and that was what started my addiction

I decided I wanted a better car than his so it had to be a Sand Scorcher,the local model shop (Giles Sports and Toys) had a good range of Tamiya stuff and

I was in ther almost all the time drooling over Scorchers and being in awe of the 3-speed Hilux and Blazer,always realising I'd never have the money to buy one

Anyway my brother had started babysitting and then got a girlfriend so when he had to let one of his customers down, they asked could I do it

So I said yeah why not and that was it,6 weeks later I walked in the shop and came out with a NIB Scorcher,battery,quick charger and Futaba RC gear

Best £125 I ever spent

And now aged 42 I still have Tamiyas only 2 atm as I had to sell some after being off work for 3 months last year,but when funds allow I WILL be replacing them

In fact I recently bought my first ever None Tamiya model and it felt sooo wrong,like i was being unfaithful to a very old friend

But it's a Traxxas Slash so I made the excuse that as Tamiya don't make an SC truck I'd have second best,made me feel better thinking that way!!

[SteelRat 46]

As most probably know my first hobby grade RC was my Monster Beetle which I got for christmas at the age of 17 in 1987, and is still running to this day, albeit in a much modified guise - the only original parts being the red ladder chassis and the body. I'd had various toy grade ones up until then, including a Bond Bug, and a car that looked very much like a Chevy Camaro (I actually remember getting this aged about 14 and getting tearful because my parents had told me a "proper" radio controlled car was way out of their financial means, and so was absolutely made up when I opened it on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, being a toy grade car it was a bit naff, but even so I still loved it). After that came another slightly better yellow buggy that had two speeds. It looked very much like a hot shot from memory, although I couldn't tell you what the manufacturer was.

At the time my father was getting into RC planes and a friend of his owned a model shop in town. I'd ask to go with him every time he went in so I could look at the Tamiya cars on the shelves, both the boxed ones and the built ones in the display cases. I'd been eyeing up the Monster Beetle for about 6 months before my parents were telling me they'd been considering buying me one for Christmas. I think the final clinching factor with it was despite their cost, they figured in the long run they were getting more for their money buying a "proper" RC car, than spending £20 on a toy grade one that would stop working after 6 months, or end up in a situation where you'd get 10 minutes of play time for every 12 hours of battery recharge.

I do still remember building the MB over Christmas Day and Boxing Day though. In particular being absolutely astounded at the complexity of the CVA dampers and the fact they were oil filled. Painting and creativity was never my strong suit (and I have to say, still isn't ) so the initial paint job was awful. I remember also the only ever upgrade I did on it was putting in metal bearings and being amazed at the difference in run time and speed.

Of course I also remember the 1987 Tamiya Guide Book Catalogue with the Avante on the front. The Avante never really grabbed me even then for some reason. I remember being more interested in the Fox and the Falcon, and thinking just how much of a beast the Clod looked.

[Wez-li 1790]

I remember discovering Tamiya in a shop called Beaties in Romford, Essex. I'm sure some of the English guys on here will remember it, they had a big RC display, dominated by Tamiya, like many stories on here my family wasn't rich so I couldn't afford a new one.

I managed to get a second hand Striker, back when I was 11 but it was obviously ready built.

My first new Tamiya was a Manta Ray, bought by my parents in 1990 after a lot of good behaviour by me! I only ever really got toys for Christmas and Birthdays, and It still ranks as my favourite ever Christmas present!

My wife gives me a hard time for "messing around with those toys" lol, so I can't wait for my little 2-year-old boy to be old enough to buy him a Tamiya, he's already operating a 2ch rc (wired) truck that he got for christmas, and it will be a nice excuse to get some more Tamiya stuff

[MrUnlimited 0]

I am 35 years old now, but as a child my parents were not well off at all. I remember watching other kids at the local track with there Tamiya kits. I was envious to say the least. I mean who can afford a $100 kit plus another $80 for electronics not to mention the cost of the battery and charger. That was a lot of money back then. Not so much now.

I started purchasing kits at around the age of 25 when I got my first real decent job. Feels so good now knowing when I see a kit or re-release I can purchase it without a second thought.

Just wondering if others were in the same boat?

I was 12yr (I am 44yr) when I got my first car and radio. It was a 2 stick accoms and an associated 12e 1/12 pan car. Motor was a mabuschi 540s motor with sanyo 1200 yellows. Later we raced with AYK brushed 27t stock motors and Sanyo red 1200scr nicad's.

My son is 7yr and has a Tamiya Super Fighter G with Sanwa MX3 radio. Here he is bashing with his car today: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BPm2-Vc5V4

[chris350z 0]

Did they buy me a kit NO

BUT my dad brought the monster beetle when he was a kid with his own money. He has given it to me now. So he sort of brought it for me.

[spudtrooper37 1]

It is strange how things turn out, i never thought about RC cars but back in '84 for Xmas my Mum & Dad bought me The Hornet.

I did not know much about RC cars but it was such a joy to build and run.

I went to a local RC meeting at a comunity hall where i raced against Fox's, Hotshots, Grasshoppers etc, on a wooden floor. We put a number on the the aerial of the car, 1 to 6 and someone ticked it of as we went round

looking back it was perfect!!!! there i learnt to get extra grip on the wooden was to put bathroom silicone on the tyres.....

The following year i got a Super Shot then after that i saved up for my own cars, Subaru Brat, Monster Beetle, Wild Willy and the Avante

All the best everyones quest, i just want the 6 original cars i had when i was a kid and will be very Happy :-)

[Dimsum 0]

This is a great thread. I have really enjoyed reading through everyone's posts. My parents never had a lot of money, and like some otherr member's situations, I had to save 1/2 of the money for a kit. At the age of 10 I did enough chores to have part of the money for a Blackfoot. It was such a great feeling to actually have a kit and not need to spend endless hours at the hobby shop drooling on the windows lol. I just purchased a Lunchbox kit to build with my son, for both of us, and if he wants to get another kit, he'll have to save up 1/2 the money for it to continue the tradition! Can't wait to start the build

[matman 1499]

No , My mum didn't have a great deal of money .

So i had to buy it my self & all i got was a 2nd had hornet for one week

then changed it to a Boomerang as i did have the choice at the time .

I had to work on the milk run for weeks/months to fix it up to race .

Had to buy , motor ( 480 gold ) , new dog bones , axles set , body & other parts .

But loved doing it & racing it . Not too sure what i did with it , but i did get a 2nd blackfoot off the same M8

that sold me the boomerang . Then i swapped that for a kyosho optima mid , was sad that i got rid of the

blackfoot , But swapped that for the fox that i still have today .

All of my 80's cars was 2nd hand . But i still had fun playing with them & that's the main thing .

NOW i have got so meany NIB cars , vintage & re re . Had to make up for what i didn't get back then .

I think that's what most of use are doing now , Buy all the cars that you wanted . I wanted them all

[Tamiya Era 778]

Yes. Only 1 Kit ( Vanquish )

[taliesin 260]

No they didn't and I'm still not happy about it, which explains why I have 27 or so now.

No they didn't and I'm STILL not happy about it, which explains why I have A LOT MORE than 27 now.

Every time I see this post my BIN finger gets twitchy because I remember that, NO THEY DIDN'T buy me a Tamiya kit, but I'm all grown up now and have a very good credit card.